Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond | Full Book Summary

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond | Full Book Summary

The Illiterate's Guide

The Illiterate's Guide

 Aug 5, 2025  

📖 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (2011)

👉 See Book on Amazon | https://amzn.to/46s1r2X

Why Some Societies Collapse While Others Thrive: Lessons from Jared Diamond's 'Collapse'

Explore the key insights from Jared Diamond's acclaimed book, 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.' This episode delves into why some societies, like Easter Island and Norse Greenland, faced collapse, while others, like Tikopia and Tokugawa Japan, managed to endure and flourish. Discover Diamond's five-point framework for understanding societal success or failure, the role of environmental and cultural factors, and how these historical lessons can guide us in addressing today's global challenges. Join us as we examine the choices that determine a society's fate and the crucial lessons we can learn to avoid collapse in our own time.

00:00 Introduction: Why Societies Collapse 

00:15 Jared Diamond's Framework for Collapse 

02:28 Case Study: Easter Island's Self-Destruction 

04:19 Case Study: The Complex Collapse of Norse Greenland 

07:20 Case Study: The Maya Civilization's Downfall 

09:01 Understanding Societal Blindness and Denial 

13:28 Success Stories: Societies That Adapted 

16:51 Modern Implications and Lessons 

21:42 Conclusion: The Ultimate Choice for Our Future

Societal Malaise

Volume 42 Issue Twelve December 2023

Last Trumpet Ministries · PO Box 806 · Beaver Dam, WI 53916

Phone: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org

“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” I Cor. 14:8

Societal Malaise

“And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD.”

Lamentations 3:17-18

Reading the news can be quite exasperating. Those who set out to learn about current events will often find confusing headlines and mixed signals. For example, countless news stories are proclaiming that the American economy is surprisingly strong. This includes a November 3, 2023, piece by The Wall Street Journal with the headline, “The Improbably Strong Economy.” (1) The report notes that unemployment in the United States is low, average hourly earnings have been rising, and despite the many predictions from economists to the contrary, recession has been avoided in 2023. We’re even told that inflation is finally cooling down. (2) This all sounds like good news. Yet, the national mood in the United States tells a different story.

Despite the efforts of the mass media to convince us that everything is wonderful, the American populace remains unconvinced. A headline from CNN published on November 8, 2023, declares, “Americans think the economy stinks, but wages are up and so is spending. Economists and political strategists are baffled.” (3) The report goes on to cite a recent CNN poll that found 72 percent of respondents say “things in this country today are going badly.” Another poll from the New York Times and Siena College found that a mere 2 percent of respondents said the economy is excellent. (4) Why is there a disparity between what we are told by the media and how the American people feel? Is everything getting better and better every day as they suggest, or is the reality far different for people living in the real world?

One of the primary reasons the American people are so down on the economy is because of persistently high inflation. When inflation is high, it affects almost everything we buy. Every time we visit a supermarket, we’re reminded of the fact that we’re spending far more money on our groceries than we were three years ago. While reports indicate that inflation in October 2023 fell to only 3.2 percent, (5) the prices we pay still remain much higher than they used to be. In fact, the cost of groceries has risen on average by 25 percent since February 2020. (6)

One of the reasons economists say the economy is strong is because consumers have continued to spend gobs of money even as inflation remained stubbornly high. How is this possible? The American people have taken dramatic and sometimes desperate steps to maintain their standard of living. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans now owe a record-high 1.08 trillion dollars on their credit cards. (7) As credit card debt rises, the number of delinquent accounts is also increasing, which prompted The Wall Street Journal to report on November 25, 2023, “American borrowers are getting closer to maxing out.” The piece notes that households earning less than $50,000 per year with delinquent accounts are utilizing on average 80 to 90 percent of their available credit. (8) Thus, many who have been using credit cards to get by in recent years won’t be able to do this for much longer. Not only that, but getting new credit cards is becoming more difficult. “Tighter financial and credit conditions for households and businesses are likely to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation,” the Federal Reserve said in a November 2023 statement. (9)

Jesuit Novices Pronounce First Vows

August 22, 2023 — Twenty-four Jesuit novices in the United States, Canada and Haiti pronounced first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience this month. A novice spends two years at the novitiate for the first stage of Jesuit formation, culminating in the profession of first vows in the Society of Jesus.

Nine Jesuits pronounced first vows on August 12 at Saint Thomas More Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Front row: Solomon Liebl, Leonardo Rander Assé Jr., Ryan Cruise, and Joseph Ertle. Back row: Brian Kemper, Scott Fox, Carl Caceres, Michael Bauer, and Benjamin Rogers.

Vow Day Masses were held at Sacred Heart Chapel at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles; Saint Thomas More Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota; the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse, New York; St. Charles Borromeo Church in Grand Coteau, Louisiana; Church of the Gesù in Montreal; and the chapel of the Missionary Sisters of Christ the King in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Justin Sauro, SJ, and Nader Nasralla, SJ, pronounced first vows on August 12 at St. Kevin Church in Montreal.

At the Mass, each Jesuit novice makes the profession of vows individually in front of the Eucharist, just as St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, and some of his first companions did. They also receive a vow cross that they will keep for the rest of their lives.

Niko Lignore, SJ, Fr. Nick Colalella, SJ, and Luke Olsen, SJ, pronounced first vows on August 12 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse, New York.

During their two years in the novitiate, the novices prepared to become vowed members of the order by learning about the Society, participating in local ministries and living in Jesuit communities. They also embarked on pilgrimages, performed community service and completed the Spiritual Exercises — a 30-day silent retreat developed by St. Ignatius.

Roodler Datilus, SJ, and Renaud Morantus, SJ, pronounced first vows at the Missionary Sisters of Christ the King in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on August 6, pictured here with Fr. Jean Denis Saint Félix, SJ, superior for Haiti.

Novices also experience life as a Jesuit, including living in community and ministering in different settings — from hospitals and third world countries to soup kitchens and Jesuit high schools.

Pierre Vu Thompson, SJ, pronounced first vows at Sacred Heart Chapel at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, on August 12.

By the time a novice kneels at the altar to pronounce vows, he is prepared and ready to speak the words of the vow formula to God, which concludes: “And as you have freely given me the desire to make offering, so also may you give me the abundant grace to fulfill it.”

Seven Jesuits pronounced first vows on August 12 at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Grand Coteau, Louisiana: Matthew Brazzolotto, Joe Laughlin, José López, Carlos Martínez-Vela, Scott McKillip, Chris Ross and Paolo Taffaro.

Following first vows, Jesuits preparing to be priests usually begin three years of studies: two years of philosophy studies, combined with one year of graduate-level theology courses. Those men who take vows as a Jesuit brother will usually take several theology courses. Click here to read more about the steps of Jesuit formation at beajesuit.org.

Source

Happiness