Well, there�s Jared Diamond�s _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ which has been
mentioned here several times. There�s a nice bite-size version of
this (along with fairly recent comments from many people such as Greg
Benford and Kevin Kelly) in Diamond�s paper "Why Did Human History
Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years?"
at http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/diamond/diamond_p1.html
It�s interesting, although it may not have the academic rigor you
might be looking for.
Mark Crosby
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