Books & Brunch to discuss ‘Germs, Guns and Steel” this Saturday, June 17

The National Press Club's Books & Brunch group will meet at noon this Saturday, June 17, in the Fourth Estate restaurant to discuss "Germs, Guns and Steel" by Jared Diamond.

Diamond won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for the book. The National Geographic Society produced and broadcast a PBS documentary based on the book in July 2005.

In the book, Diamond argues that geography and environment determined which societies came to rely on farming and animal herding as their primary food source instead of hunting and gathering. This freed more people to specialize in such activities as making tools, defending the group and governing.

The groups that became strongest, Diamond writes, lived in places with large mammals that could be domesticated into today’s horses and cows, among others.

However, writes Diamond, these animals are also reservoirs of viral diseases such as smallpox and measles. Many of the humans who lived close to these animals caught these diseases and some died of them. But, the survivors became immune for life while remaining carriers of the diseases.

Diamond writes: “When the Europeans arrived, carrying germs which thrived in dense, semi-urban populations, the indigenous people of the Americas were effectively doomed. They had never experienced smallpox, measles or flu before, and the viruses tore through the continent, killing an estimated 90% of Native Americans.”

If you expect to attend the discussion, please email Jack Williams, the Books & Brunch chair, at [email protected] by Thursday, June 15. The Club's Fourth Estate restaurant, site of the event, needs to know how many plan to attend.

Nevertheless, if you decide at the last minute to come, don’t worry. We always have plenty of room. Books & Brunch is for Club members and their guests. In fact, members are encouraged to bring guests.

Looking ahead, at its July 15 meeting the Books & Brunch group we will discuss a novel, “The Commonwealth” by Ann Prachett, at the Fourth Estate at noon.

For more information or to say you plan to attend this Saturday's event, contact Williams.