A look at why ancient civilizations have collapsed. While the proximate causes are war, weather and germs, Diamond traces all collapse back to over-consumption of local resources and he draws on ecology to prove it. Fascinating read. He also gives his prognosis for the future. One hint: he says the world should not be able to support more than 10 billion people and our current population is meant to slow down before reaching this level. However, this was based on the assumption of today's consumption of resources. By bringing China, India and Brazil up to Western standards it would be the equivalence of having 30 billion humans on the planet.
The Full Ratchet