Jared Diamond Speaks on the Theme of His Upcoming Book

What’s the simplest thing we each can do to help the United States meet our challenges? Vote! That’s the counsel of Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientist Jared Diamond, who spoke to a packed Roth Hall on Dec. 2 about personal and national crises, the theme of his upcoming book.

 

Citing examples of significant national challenges throughout history, from the Meiji Restoration in Japan to the collapse of the British Empire in the 1950s, Jared turned the lens on the United States in an effort explore why so many Americans are doubtful about the future. Jared outlined what he sees as the four fundamental problems facing our democracy today: the breakdown of compromise; a lack of economic mobility; limited government investment in education, infrastructure and non-military research and development; and low voter turnout.

 

Jared, author of “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies,” is the parent of Crossroads alums, twins Max ’05 and Joshua ‘05. He divides his time between teaching geography to UCLA undergraduates; doing field research on the birds of New Guinea and other Southwest Pacific islands; writing books about human societies, aimed at the broad public; and promoting sustainable environmental policies, as a director of the international environmental organizations World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International.

Jared has been awarded the National Medal of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Japan’s Cosmo Prize, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the Lewis Thomas Prize Honoring the Scientist as Poet. He has also published more than 600 articles, and his work is truly far-reaching in fields such as anthropology, history, ecology, geography, evolutionary biology, ornithology, biophysics and physiology.