Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, joined us to talk about his new book, Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis. In this wide-ranging discussion Jared speaks about the COVID-19 crisis, as well as authoritarianism, and the need for nations to have the humility to see their errors -- and hopefully learn from them.

Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.

His recent book Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, could hardly be more timely. And it has a fascinating twist, seeking links between how individuals deal with crises – with insights from his clinical psychologist wife – to how nations succeed or fail when confronted with a crisis.

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Jared Diamond is a geographer and author of many bestselling books about civilisation, including Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. In The World Until Yesterday, he combines his scholarship and his personal experiences in the New Guinea highlands to discuss how non-state societies of hunter gatherers and subsistence farmers and herders differ from modern industrialised state societies. In so doing, he sheds a light on the differences between our modern world and the way that humans have lived for the majority of our existence on this planet.

Although the whole book is fascinating, there is only one chapter that is really relevant to the themes of this podcast: the one entitled Bringing Up Children. In it, we can get a much broader perspective on the ways that different societies approach childhood and education than we ever could by comparing industrialised state societies with one another (say, comparing the People's Republic of China to the United Kingdom).

The chapter deals with the following themes: childbirth; infanticide; weaning; birth interval; breastfeeding; infant-adult physical contact; fathers and "allo-parents"; responses to crying infants; physical punishment; child autonomy; multi-age playgroups; and child play and education.

There are two reasons that I wanted to talk about this topic. The first is that I want to understand the range of human societies, cultures, and attitudes as well as possible, to make sure that my own understandings and viewpoints can take a broad perspective and discover and challenge any assumptions I might have rather than myopically studying the same society all the time. I believe that this makes me less likely to be an "accidental extremist" - somebody who holds an extreme viewpoint but doesn't realise it because everybody around me assumes the same as a matter of course, since we belong to the same culture. One potential example of this is the assumption of the need for school itself, as most humans that have ever lived have not spent a single day in school, nor have they ever felt the need to.

The second reason is actually to do with other people's arguments around what is "natural". For example, the unschooling movement, an offshoot of homeschooling where no instruction takes place, is largely based on the idea that copying the way that children have been brought up for hundreds of thousands of years is a better way to do things than to submit to modern assumptions about the necessity of schooling. By understanding something about the societies that inspire this line of thinking, we can both come to appreciate their perspective, and be in a reasonable position to engage with their ideas.

Enjoy the episode.

From the Wall Street Journal’s national baseball writer, the captivating story of the home run boom, following a group of players who rose from obscurity to stardom and the rogue swing coaches who helped them usher the game into a new age.

Swing Kings is both a rollicking history of baseball’s recent past and a deeply reported, character-driven account of a battle between opponents as old as time: old and new, change and stasis, the establishment and those who break from it. Jared Diamond has written a masterful chronicle of America’s pastime at the crossroads.

JARED DIAMOND has been the national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal since 2017. Prior to that, he spent a season as the Journal’s Yankees beat writer and three seasons as their Mets beat writer. In his current role, he leads the newspaper’s baseball coverage. This is his first book.

The post Baseball’s Swing Kings – Ep 75 with Jared Diamond appeared first on Read Learn Live Podcast.

D.J. and Drew are joined by special guest Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. They discuss the latest developments on a possible 2020 MLB season as well as Diamond's new book "Swing Kings," an exploration on the power explosion around MLB.

Learn more about Jared's book:

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062872104/swing-kings/

Playing for Team Human today, national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of "Swing Kings" Jared Diamond

Diamond discusses how technological advancements have changed the fun and quirky ways that baseball organizations construct their teams and play the game. Why are baseball players changing their swings in order to hit more home runs? What is behind baseball’s desire to compete for the same college graduates who want to work for Amazon, Google, and major tech companies? Is there room for humans in modern baseball?

In his opening monologue, Rushkoff discusses the impact Covid-19 is having on art and music.

Follow Jared Diamond: https://twitter.com/jareddiamond

Swing Kings is now available: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062872104

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— Credits —

Hosted by Douglas Rushkoff

Produced by Josh Chapdelaine

Audio Edited & Mixed by Luke Robert Mason

Our community manager is Michael Bass.

Music by Fugazi (On this Episode you heard “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro – thanks to the kindness of the band and Dischord Records.)

Special thanks to Stephen Bartolomei, who allows connects for a home run.

Team Human is a Production of the Laboratory for Digital Humanism at Queens College.

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The Wall Street Journal national baseball writer Jared Diamond discusses his new book with New York Times national baseball writer Tyler Kepner.

Chase is back from paternity leave and gives an update on what life is like as a new father, especially in the current climate. Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal joins Tim & Todd to talk about his new book "Swing Kings", if fans will boo the Astro when MLB resumes, and who he thinks is the team to beat in the NL East.