arelx

It's a little like an Agatha Christie mystery. They cheat. They lead you down the garden path, thinking you know what's going to happen. They even show you a little cartoon before the movie, like "Pink Panther." And you ride along with the plot as you understand it, as it's explained to the rodeo lady who aids and abets. That's the plan, right, and it seems to be going awry. But you don't really have a clue until the last. I like mysteries. I like surprises. I like not knowing what's going to happen, and I love Alan Rickman's work. So I loved this movie. Oh, and be prepared to laugh. Lots of LOLs. Maybe not so much a ROFL, but lots of little eruptions that you weren't expecting, especially if you listen and watch carefully. Like to "318?"

This series adds new information and background to the book and includes personal appearances by the author and by archaeologists and other anthropologists. It brings the book to life and makes even more sense of the author's subsequent opus, *Collapse*.

Diamond himself comes off as personable and caring, not just a disinterested or disengaged academic. This series makes it clear that his book was not just a response to a need to "publish or perish," as the saying goes about academe, but a deeply considered answer to a question from someone he respects, "Why you white people got so much cargo, and we have so little?" Because he respected the intelligence of the questioner and his community, Diamond looked for an answer that didn't insult that intelligence or that community. I like to think of his answer in a very simple way, in the same spirit as "South Park's" "Blame Canada": "Blame wheat!"