Thursday 30 May 2019
19:00
Jared Diamond
Crisis and resilience in an age of change
In conjunction with Intelligence Squared, we present Jared Diamond, ‘the master storyteller of the human race’. A Pulitzer Prize-winning polymath who speaks 12 languages, his work has drawn on history, geography, economics and anthropology to transform our understanding of how civilisations rise and fall.
In this talk he will show how countries as diverse as Japan, Chile, Indonesia and Germany have survived major upheavals in the recent past through a process of self-appraisal and adaptation similar to the ways in which individuals learn to cope with personal trauma. And looking ahead to the future, he will voice his concerns about the potential shift of the United States and other successful countries away from democracy.
Jared is a Professor of Geography at UCLA. His work has been influential in the fields of anthropology, biology, ornithology, ecology and history, among others. His books include the seminal million-copy-bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, which was named one of Time magazine’s best non-fiction books of all time; Collapse, a No. 1 international bestseller; and The World Until Yesterday.
"A riveting and illuminating tour of how nations deal with crises - which might hopefully help humanity as a whole deal with our present global crisis."
Jared is a Professor of Geography at UCLA. His work has been influential in the fields of anthropology, biology, ornithology, ecology and history, among others. His books include the seminal million-copy-bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, which was named one of Time magazine’s best non-fiction books of all time; Collapse, a No. 1 international bestseller; and The World Until Yesterday.
