re: Guns, Germs, and Steel on PBS
I read the book, which was excellent. Although I do not agree with all the points Jared Diamond asserts, I think he got the big picture right. Western civ was the fortuitous beneficiary of good geography which led to readily available crops and domesticatable animals. Left out of his analysis is the fact that Western civ (also fortuitously) developed several memes that were at worst less destructive and at best vastly superior to those of alternative societies at the time.