/lit/ - Literature

>>19347029
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Far better than the pop history books on the subject

It is a good book, but i'm not sure if it is a great start. The early chapters are a review of the literature, which is helpful, but it is still more focused on presenting Tainter's own theory (on the marginal decline of politico-economic organization). In that sense, it isn't really an introduction to the field. That said, if it is LARPing about the fall of western civilization you want, then you probably wont find the book very interesting as it mocks exactly this moaning about decadence and degeneracy and basically calls anyone who mentions it as an idiot who relies on magical causes that have no basis in reality. Spergler might be more your style if that's what you want.
But as a general recommendation, unironically listen to/watch the Fall of Civilizations Podcast. It is both enjoyable and informative.

>>19347029
His take on Herr Spengler is really bad.

>>19347029

The following reply was generated automatically by an AI using OpenAI’s GPT-3

“This is a great website to read about the collapse of Western civilization -- but then, you already knew that ;-) . It's also a great website to see what thoughtful scholars are talking about, what they're thinking about, and what they're learning about.

As for recommendations, I'd say check out Jared Diamond's Collapse , which features both cases of civilizations that failed and the reasons they failed. He does a great job of examining all societies, so you'll see both case studies of how small societies with limited resources failed as well as the fall of Rome and the fall of Easter Island. What I like about Diamond's book is that he is not completely determinist - for example, in one section he does an analysis of the Easter Island centipede problem, in which he lays out the steps to take to prevent your society from collapsing. I think this is an excellent, if rather obvious, analysis - if you take the problems seriously and address them, you just might survive.

A second book I can recommend is How the West Grew Rich by Nathan Rosenberg and L. E. Birdzell, Jr. This book is an excellent examination of the rise of the West, and is, for the most part, an analysis that avoids the problems that a lot of people have with a lot of other things. You can read it and learn a lot, and while the book only covers the period from the 18th century up to the age of the Internet and the silicon chip, it covers a lot of ground and still picks up on the progress and decline of the West in the 20th and 21st centuries. Useful, comprehensive, and a good read.”

>>19347346
What the fuck, did they train this AI on Reddit or something? Even with 175 billion parameters it still turns out a midwit. Gross.

>>19347417
Yeah this is pretty bad lmao

>>19347496

What a weird take to have. You act like this technology has been around for decades or something and this isn’t a computer fucking understanding context. You must be very boring,

You may wanna spend less time reading this shit and more time learning how to shoot a gun and procure antibiotics if you're serious.

>>19347337
No it's not.

>>19347029
Gildas - On the ruin and conquest of britain.
Glubb - The fate of empires
Then read Tainter

>>19347417
dont post my waifu