Jared Diamond's Reading List

"Sabine Kuegler, “Child of the Jungle.” This unique book is the autobiography of the daughter of a German missionary linguist couple, who moved when she was a child to live with a Fayu clan in a remote area of swamp forest in Indonesian New Guinea."

"Primo Levi, “If This Is a Man” (original, “Se Questo È un Uomo,” 1947). At one level, Levi’s book is about how as a young Italian Jewish chemist joining the resistance during World War II, he was captured, sent to Auschwitz, and survived."

"Howard Steven Friedman, “The Measure of a Nation: How to Regain America’s Competitive Edge and Boost Our Global Standing.” … it’s thought-provoking, and good reading."

"It would be Niccolò Machiavelli, “The Prince.” Machiavelli is frequently dismissed today as an amoral cynic who supposedly considered the end to justify the means. In fact, Machiavelli is a crystal-clear realist who understands the limits and uses of power."

"One is “The Complete Sherlock Holmes”: all 1,122 pages, containing four novels and 56 short stories. I read them first as a child and have reread them about every 10 years since then, including reading them to my own sons when they were children."

"The other book is Thoreau’s “Walden,” which I read once when I was young, and which was the single book that has most influenced me. Thoreau’s message that I took away was: Be honest with yourself, think clearly, decide what is most important and do it regardless of what other people think."

"I believe that I’m being realistic, not egotistical or self-promoting, when I answer: my own book “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.” The book explains the long-term effects of geography"

"It’s the series of Don Camillo stories, by the modern Italian author Giovanni Guareschi, collected in three volumes. The Don Camillo stories range from gut-wrenchingly tragic to hilarious."

"Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” — even though the love goes sour and the book has a sad ending."

"I read Thucydides every decade or so, about as often as I read “Sherlock Holmes.” The reasons why Thucydides is still widely read today, over 2,400 years after he lived, are that his insights into politics and war are universal and still relevant"