📚 2 Books mentioned in "Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours | Episode 55" of People I (Mostly) Admire

My guest today, Jared Diamond, has written some of the best-selling popular science books of all time, including "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and "Collapse."

In this episode, host Steve Levitt introduces his guest, esteemed author Jared Diamond, highlighting his renowned works, including the book "Collapse."

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So many listeners know your books like "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and "Collapse," which are massive bestsellers.

In this segment, Steve Levitt highlights the popularity of Jared Diamond's works, calling attention to "Collapse," which stands out as one of his massive bestsellers.

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I think I've read all your books, and my single favorite passage is when you write about the Norse Greenland settlement, and I found that part of your book in "Collapse" so remarkable because the mistakes that the settlers in North Greenland made were so preposterous, but somehow they were incredibly familiar as well.

In this episode, Steve Levitt discusses his fondness for a specific passage in Jared Diamond's book "Collapse," which talks about the Norse settlement in Greenland. He finds the mistakes made by the settlers both absurd and surprisingly relatable.

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After "Freakonomics" came out and we had some success in terms of publishing, there was a historian that I knew, and I was at a seminar he was at, and clearly within my earshot, he grumbled that he would never want a wide audience to read his scholarship, with clearly a reference to the fact that I had somehow degraded myself by writing for a popular audience with "Freakonomics."

In this segment, Steve Levitt shares a personal experience where a historian criticized him for appealing to a popular audience through his book, "Freakonomics." Levitt reflects on the disdain the historian had for writers who prioritize accessibility in their work.

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