In this book review I will talk about chapters twelve, thirteen and fourteen of the book "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamonds. Chapter 12 “Borrowed Projects and Letters” talks about the evolution of writing, while chapter 13 “The Mother of Necessity” talks about the evolution of technology and chapter 14 “From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy” talks about the evolution of governing religion. Jared Diamond believed that societies develop because of environmental differences. He suggested that some societies and cultures had advantages due to their geography. I will give a summary of the three chapters of this book and then give my opinion on Jared Diamond's ideas. In every society and culture, writing is very important because it allows us to convey ideas or knowledge for others to see. Writing allows us to look back at information from centuries ago and understand what it was like. According to chapter 12 “The two indisputably independent inventions of writing were made by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia shortly before 3000 BC and by the Mexican Indians before 600 BC. The Egyptian writing of 3000 BC and the Chinese writing (by 1300 BC) could also be born independently” ( Diamonds, page 218). Other cultures may have adopted writing according to ideas inspired by these writing systems. Diamonds also points out that Sumerian cuneiform is one of the oldest writing systems. One way the writing system was developed was by using clay tablets to write on using sharp objects to scratch the surface. It also describes three basic strategies for writing used as logograms, syllables, and letters of the alphabet. The alphabet we use today was developed through blueprint copying. He continued to describe… the middle of the card… an increase in wealth. I also agree that every society could benefit from any new development such as writing if there were no geographical barriers or if societies were open to new technologies. Inventions are also important to the success of companies because they lead to a better life with a decrease in hard work and if other companies do not have knowledge of such innovations they will not be able to advance. In chapter 14, when Diamond explains the different levels of organizations, I agree that for an organization to be successful, it must have some type of centralized government to keep things in order. Without order, societies will not be able to advance because they have no laws and there are no consequences for their actions. Overall, I agree with Jared Diamond's ideas on the formation of societies because they made a lot of sense and were intriguing.