Civilization and its Discontents

Just finished A Short History of Progress by Richard Wright. It reads like a slightly more eloquent and more concisely argued (if also less detailed) version of Jared Diamond's Collapse, which came out at almost exactly the same time. I highly recommend reading both, but if you only have time for one, I would reluctantly choose Wright over Diamond. While they don't agree on all counts, the two authors cover much of the same territory and advance roughly the same thesis: that great civilizations -- from Sumer to Easter Island to the Mayan kingdom -- are often trapped and ultimately undone by their own success. Both authors place their hope in our ability to learn from the mistakes of the past. Inshallah.