"Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed", by Pulitzer and Aventis Prize winner, Jared Diamond, examines failed and successful societies around the world and throughout history . Diamond explores what these societies had in common, why one failed and the other flourished, one is extinct and the other prospering. He takes the reader through a brief history lesson, explores archaeological evidence, and draws conclusions that factored into each society's breakdown or prosperity. He discusses five socioeconomic factors that caused most failures to colonies that may have lasted ten years, to long-lived societies that have prospered or failed due to ecological, geographical, or social changes. Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies" (1998 Pulitzer Prize winner) covered geographic growth of civilizations and how each society gained advantages over existing or competing social groups. In "Collapse...", Diamond explores early societies such as Easter Island, The Anasazi, Iceland, and Greenland, as well as many modern societies such as Japan, Rwanda, and Haiti. He discusses how the choices these societies made directly influenced their current success or failure. Readers who love history or have ever asked the social, geographical, or economic question "Why?" will find Diamond's "Collapse..." an interesting and fulfilling read.