How are the chapters organized, and how does it develop his point?

was
mindful in how he organized his chapters in . He allows a feeling of suspense
and makes arguments for why each culture could easily have been the dominant one. Even knowing
the history, I found myself learning something new and being surprised while reading this book
due to the thoughtful way Diamond lays out his research. Essentially, we are asked to bet on the
winning continent, and our choices are Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Then, as
the book continues, Diamond reveals the "winner," Eurasia, and gives the reasons why
it ended up dominating the others.

He begins by focusing on a specific human
development in each chapter and using this to argue for which cultural practice ends up
dominating. Diamond ties his arguments directly into the geography of each continent. First, he
focuses on food production. Not only did agriculture allow more food to be produced, but
domesticated animals introduced germs that strengthened human immunity over time. Then, he
discusses how writing (for communication), technology (a necessary step in solving problems of
limited resources), and government and religion (organizing people and ideas) contribute to the
relative success of certain cultures.

Then, Diamond zooms in on the various
continents one at a time. He describes how human interactions changed every part of the world
individually, even before significant cross-continental interaction. Finally, he concludes with
looking toward the future and speculating on how guns, germs, and steel will continue to
influence human societies in years to come.