Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (2001, Abridged, Compact Disc)

A brilliant collection of interesting facts. Diamond started as a biologist, but is clearly very interested in cultural anthropology. He is trying to figure out why western civilization is wealthy, while the rest of the planet is much more poor. He persuades the reader that it is not genetics or similar convenient causation, but the abundance of ancient natural resources (domesticatable animals and edible plants). He does not do so great at constantly building an argument, but his collection of factoids are fantastic, and made it a really pleasurable listen.

Because of the timliness of delivery and contition I would rate ths book on CD as excellent. However, I have not listened to it yet. I am familiar with the title and bought it for use during road travel. I wish it had been not been abriged but still look forward to listening. I appreciated that is was as described.