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Why do women experience menopause and lack obvious signs of ovulation?Why do humans usually have sex in private instead of out in the open like all other species?Why do men have a relatively large penis compared to other animals?If anyone knows the answers to the above questions feel free to make a post. Diamond mentions these questions in the Prologue.Chris Edited by: Chris OConnor  at: 5/10/05 6:27 pm

One case of a collapsed society Diamond has overlooked is the former Stalinist countries of Eastern Europe.They certainly do provide a recent example of over-exploitation of the environment during Stalin's Five-Year Plans and a political culture that valued power and structure above all else - especially during the Brezhnev era.However, the fate of the former Stalinist nations since 1989 makes one doubt this. Their societies have collapsed due to rapid declines in fertility rates, which at present are so low Eastern Europe is faced with vast population losses by mid-century. Moreover, the mere fact that Western Europe, despite the best environmental record and the highest living standards ever seen, has equally low fertility rates suggests that the paleoconservative (Pat Buchanan in "The Death of the West" or Sr