I just finish reading "Collapse -- How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" by Jared Diamond. The book was filled with interesting facts concerning past societies and how they managed their natural resources or mismanaged them. I thought the last 3 or 4 chapters of the book were the most enjoyable, and from those last chapters I expanded my knowledge about Australia and China.

I had no idea that Australia had such an airade, inhospitable climate that covered most of the continent to the extend that most of the population is living in 5 major cities on the coast. Another amazing fact is that Australia has trees that are 400 feet tall; I always thought that the tallest trees were here in North America. The land in Australia can only support farming in a specific area of Western Australia, but the nutrients in the land are being depleted because of over farming. The land does not regenerate itself like in other parts of the world. Even though Australia has such a hostile environment it is amazing the Aborigines had been surviving off the land for 45,000 years.