Highly Recommended Reading. This is a great book for anyone interested in understanding more about the history of societies and more specifically, how humans evolved from hunter/gatherer societies into the modern domestic societies which cover pretty much the entire planet today. My dad originally turned me onto this one and it had been in the book queue for about a year until I got hooked on audiobooks and finally got through it.

It's a pretty intense read, so be prepared. I ended up with the abridged audiobook form and I loved it. It only took me a few days to get through the whole thing (6 hours) and I believe it was far easier to listen to than it would have been to read. The book is chalked full of history explaining the evolution of humans around the planet, how humans expanded to different continents, and ultimately why some societies became the most dominant on earth. All fascinating stuff.

In addition to Guns, Germs, and Steel I would also recommend The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell, the two books actually complement each other very well. The Tipping Point does't really focus on history or societies, but it does explore and breakdown those exact times in history when things seemingly start to "tip" and result is massive change. I'm sure that Jared Diamond would agree that there were "tipping points" in the history which affected the evolution of societies.