Great and long. Really long.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond

I'd almost call this mistitled--should be something like, Agriculture, Herding and Geography: The Fates of Human Societies.  Because those were the factors that made some societies successful and others extinct.  Surplus and storage gave people the time and energy to improve their methods, breeding more surplus, better methods....  Living close to herds of animals improved the odds that infectious diseases could spread--I wish he'd written more about this--and natural selection bred resistance to those diseases.  And finally, Geography--for example, having metal ore close to the surface makes all the difference. I don't think I ever knew that smelting of metal was invented independently in different parts of the world--I always pictured it as a single man's a-ha! moment.

It's totally great but I wanted more.  He didn't get into European societies very much, after pointing out that the animals and plants domesticated in the Fertile Crescent traveled West and rapidly became established there, but the lands where they originated are now overgrazed, barren, and dry.  Why?  Was it climate change or did the humans of the Fertile Crescent simply fail to learn how to keep their farmlands productive?

And what happened after Steel?  It wasn't just Guns, Germs and Steel that made some societies dominant.  He does talk a good deal about writing, but never mentions printing. (I think.)  And what of the role of religion?

Always, I want more.