I found this book after reading the phrase Us and Them in Jared Diamond's Third Chimpanzee (After slogging 1/2 way through Guns, Germs and Steel ; DVD is easy to watch ; Collapse audiobook long but good too) not long ago which got me wondering about this phrase. Lo and behold, I was pleasantly surprised and overjoyed to find a book just published about this phrase. (Ponder that coincidence)

While the writing is clear, this book really makes me think and thus I have only been able to read 20-30 pages at a time as I digest it. The devil in understanding why the world is the way it is - today and in the past - is in the details. David Berreby has figured out and articulated a crucial reason. He brings meaning to that phrase - "Everything is Relative." While growing up as an Asian minority in America and traveling to over 35 countries I have sensed and known it, but didn't have a language to define it. Now I do.

Someday David Berreby will be remembered as one of the greatest men that ever lived. This book is that profound. As much as the last one I finished - Why We Lie by David Livingstone Smith.

Both of these titles have transformed how I view the world and myself. You can't trust all bald men, but you can trust both of these authors named David.

I also recommend Ronald Wright's A Short History of Progress.