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Book review: 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed' by Jared Diamond

Is civilization, as we know it today, invincible? Considering human existence since the beginning, it's a tough call to say how long we'll survive. On the other hand, it is feasible to review past societies to compare and contrast them to today's world.

To classify Jared Diamond's latest work, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed," as just a book about the changing environment would be short-sighted. Diamond's focus is planet destruction, which ranges from damage to land and damage to life in general.

MySpace looking to 'make a difference'

As people are constantly complaining about whether or not MySpace is a good community building site or detrimental to the youth of today, there's little doubt that a ridiculous number of people have created profiles on the popular social networking site.

Now, instead of just going to pimp your profile or watch videos of animals doing strange things, there's a legitimate reason to visit the site, or at least, MySpace Impact.

Next stop: Baltimore bookstores

Although I'm still in the process of setting up book events in Baltimore, I do have at least two confirmed appearances for "The Developers."

At 2 p.m. April 21, I'll be at the Marley Station Borders in Glen Burnie, Md. On the following day, April 22, I will be at the Columbia (Md.) Mall Borders, again at 2 p.m.

Besides the normal meet-and-greet that always occurs at this appearances, I hope to give interested visitors a sneak peek at my new book, which I hope to release at the end of the year.

Independent stores across the country carrying 'The Developers'

I'm not aware of any buying frenzy across the nation with "The Developers." However, if one should occur, there are locations in place to handle the load.

While I'm not positive of every single bookstore that carries my book, there are at least a handful that I do know about. Those stores are listed below:

Atomic Books (Baltimore, Md.)

Books Inc. (Burlingame, Calif.)

The Bookshelf (Louisville, Ky.)

Find your kind of music

So, you like music, but you have absolutely no idea what kind of music you truly enjoy. There are a handful of ways to determine your audio preferences:

1. Walk into a music store and say "I'll have one of everything." It may take you 52 years to remove all of the cellophane, so I'd recommend trying a used CD store, if this is the route you take.

From the Archive

Build and share your virtual bookshelf

You can learn a lot about people by finding out what types of books they like. In the past, that meant grilling them on what they had read, what they own, etc. Maybe they remember every book they have ever seen, but most likely, unless you come up with a title and/or author, they'll have no clue if you spout off about a book they love.

Hello from Paris!

Wait, I'm not in Paris. But my brother's girlfriend is, and she sent me a postcard with a bunch of websites she has seen while in France. Most of them are pretty interesting, so I figured I'd share them with you.

FRENCH

http://illel.fr

Besides all the flashing things, it appears this is an electronics store.

http://decoraline.fr

This site has fine couches, under a palm tree, nonetheless.

Chuck Palahniuk coming to Louisville

If you're a fan of "Fight Club" or "Choke," you won't want to miss Chuck Palahnik's appearance at 7 p.m. June 7 in The Clifton Center Reception Hall (2117 Payne Avenue). Carmichael's Bookstore is hosting the event, but due to the expected crowd, the venue has been moved just down the road. Palahniuk will be reading from his new book, "Haunted," and will be signing books as well.

I owe a bit to Palahniuk because after reading "Choke," I realized that maybe I could write "The Developers." Not that my stuff is as good, but it's a similar style ... at least, I'd like to think so.

Proper Netiquette includes reading this column

As I agonize about writing this opening paragraph,

I wonder what type of people read this column. I mean,

are they reading this while they chew gum with their

mouths wide open, are they chewing their toenails or,

worse yet, are they putting gum between their toes?

OK, I really wasn't thinking about that, I was wondering

how much Dr Pepper I could drink. But this brings up

It's not difficult to find plenty of search engines

I don't know how many of you are at your computer 328 hours a day like I am. But being at the computer for that long can really make power go to your head.

I'm not saying I've actually tried to plug my iPod into my ear, hoping to recharge it. The power that comes with a computer is the fact that you have a gargantuan amount of information at your fingertips. It's just a matter of pressing the right buttons to access it.

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