'm reading "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond for AP World History. ?

Question

Why is it important to differentiate between proximate and ultimate causes?

What is the importance of the order of the chapters? Why, for example, is "Collision at Cajamarca"—which describes events that occur thousands of years after those described in the subsequent chapters—placed where it is?

Why did almonds prove domesticable while acorns were not? What significance does this have?

What were the advantages enjoyed by the Fertile Crescent that allowed it to be the earliest site of development for most of the building blocks of civilization? How does Diamond explain the fact that it was nevertheless Europe and not Southwest Asia that ended up spreading its culture to the rest of the world?

How does Diamond refute the argument that the failure to domesticate certain animals arose from cultural differences? What does the modern failure to domesticate, for example, the eland suggest about the reasons why some peoples independently developed domestic animals and others did not?

What is the importance of the "Anna Karenina principle"

How does comparing mutations help one trace the spread of agriculture?

How does civilization lead to epidemics?

Answer 1

How about you get the Cliff's Notes and read that instead.

It will make things easier for you.

Answer 2

"How does Diamond explain the fact that it was nevertheless Europe and not Southwest Asia that ended up spreading its culture to the rest of the world?"

The clue is in the title: guns, germs and steel.

Furthermore, you've got your time frames mixed up. The world is not endeavoring itself with building stone-circles etc. (the culture of europe at that time). No, they're posting messages about all sorts of things in a writing system using an alphabet. Guess what...that's at least one thing that originates from south-west asia. The list can go on.

Answer 3

Too many questions.