Professor
Jared Diamond
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - This class was completely online for Winter quarter 2022, so this review may not reflect everyone's experience. I enjoyed this class a lot, though I'm not sure it met the high expectations that I had knowing the professor. While Jared Diamond was an interesting lecturer, the lectures did tend to drag on sometimes. Additionally, both lecture and discussion had participatory parts, where speaking was necessary. The workload was fairly easy: the only homework was 10 weekly 'mini-papers', which were about 500 words, centering on the weekly readings. While they took a bit of time to write, they were fairly straightforward and graded easily. Everyone also had to do a presentation for one of the 10 weeks, though this was fairly easy as well. The midterm and final were both two short essays (about 1-2 pages) regarding overarching themes from the course. They were very easy, though this may partially be due to the course being online. Otherwise, participation was also graded during the discussion sections. Overall, I'd recommend this course for anyone who wants a fairly easy GE with an engaging professor. Be prepared to participate in discussions and have some minor work on the side, however.
Winter 2022 - This class was completely online for Winter quarter 2022, so this review may not reflect everyone's experience. I enjoyed this class a lot, though I'm not sure it met the high expectations that I had knowing the professor. While Jared Diamond was an interesting lecturer, the lectures did tend to drag on sometimes. Additionally, both lecture and discussion had participatory parts, where speaking was necessary. The workload was fairly easy: the only homework was 10 weekly 'mini-papers', which were about 500 words, centering on the weekly readings. While they took a bit of time to write, they were fairly straightforward and graded easily. Everyone also had to do a presentation for one of the 10 weeks, though this was fairly easy as well. The midterm and final were both two short essays (about 1-2 pages) regarding overarching themes from the course. They were very easy, though this may partially be due to the course being online. Otherwise, participation was also graded during the discussion sections. Overall, I'd recommend this course for anyone who wants a fairly easy GE with an engaging professor. Be prepared to participate in discussions and have some minor work on the side, however.
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Most Helpful Review
Course taken: Geography 6 Geography 6 is a cool class for a nonmajor, but as a geographer I found it pretty dull. Diamond pretty much just preaches at you and there is no critical thinking involved in the class whatsoever. Section was completely irrelevant to lecture--it was based on massive (like 75+ pages/week) readings that we were NEVER tested on. Annoying. Easy midterm, option to write a paper instead of the final. Kind of a joke, but a boring one.
Course taken: Geography 6 Geography 6 is a cool class for a nonmajor, but as a geographer I found it pretty dull. Diamond pretty much just preaches at you and there is no critical thinking involved in the class whatsoever. Section was completely irrelevant to lecture--it was based on massive (like 75+ pages/week) readings that we were NEVER tested on. Annoying. Easy midterm, option to write a paper instead of the final. Kind of a joke, but a boring one.
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Fall 2018 - Love Diamond. He is sweet and kind and has a plethora of knowledge. But honestly this class is a joke. Everything he talks about is really based on personal experience and subjective knowledge. His lectures are very interesting, but honestly the discussions were where I learned the most. Very cool class to take my first quarter at UCLA, but did I learn anything? Meh, not really. Easy A tbh, barely studied or did any work. Just take him because he's a celebrity and has amazing tweed coats.
Fall 2018 - Love Diamond. He is sweet and kind and has a plethora of knowledge. But honestly this class is a joke. Everything he talks about is really based on personal experience and subjective knowledge. His lectures are very interesting, but honestly the discussions were where I learned the most. Very cool class to take my first quarter at UCLA, but did I learn anything? Meh, not really. Easy A tbh, barely studied or did any work. Just take him because he's a celebrity and has amazing tweed coats.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Taking a class with Diamond is cool because he's obviously famous. The content is decently interesting and discussion sections are engaging. The class is an extremely easy A, to the point that I thought it was kind of a shame because you don't get pushed to really learn anything. Just kind of a cool place to have a few interesting conversations and see a legend close up.
Winter 2021 - Taking a class with Diamond is cool because he's obviously famous. The content is decently interesting and discussion sections are engaging. The class is an extremely easy A, to the point that I thought it was kind of a shame because you don't get pushed to really learn anything. Just kind of a cool place to have a few interesting conversations and see a legend close up.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - This class is structured exactly the same way as Geography 6. Honestly just go to Geography 6 and look at the reviews there. Professor Diamond is a celebrity after all with lots of wisdom and respect surrounding him, which motivates you to go to class more. He is a great lecturer albeit his soft voice and rather monotone fluctuation. I took Geo6 before I took this class. The material is pretty interesting but it can't compare to Geography 6. Maybe I'm comparatively more disappointed with this class just because Geography 6 was so great. It's like a sequel to a great book and it just doesn't feel the same anymore. The class sort of feels like an extended discussion of the issues he spoke about in Geography 6 but applied to case studies, that is a different country each session to talk about. It gives you insight into how different countries dealt with crises in their history and common patterns on how they coped with those crises. Basically, it's about learning from past countries' mistakes with the implications of applying them to our world today. It's an interesting class, though discussion can be kind of a bore (my TA was pretty boring and made discussion literally a 2 hour discussion which was a nightmare). The class is pretty easy as long as you pay attention in class and know the material; what Jared says in lecture is literally the material you learn for the tests so be sure to take good notes.
Spring 2016 - This class is structured exactly the same way as Geography 6. Honestly just go to Geography 6 and look at the reviews there. Professor Diamond is a celebrity after all with lots of wisdom and respect surrounding him, which motivates you to go to class more. He is a great lecturer albeit his soft voice and rather monotone fluctuation. I took Geo6 before I took this class. The material is pretty interesting but it can't compare to Geography 6. Maybe I'm comparatively more disappointed with this class just because Geography 6 was so great. It's like a sequel to a great book and it just doesn't feel the same anymore. The class sort of feels like an extended discussion of the issues he spoke about in Geography 6 but applied to case studies, that is a different country each session to talk about. It gives you insight into how different countries dealt with crises in their history and common patterns on how they coped with those crises. Basically, it's about learning from past countries' mistakes with the implications of applying them to our world today. It's an interesting class, though discussion can be kind of a bore (my TA was pretty boring and made discussion literally a 2 hour discussion which was a nightmare). The class is pretty easy as long as you pay attention in class and know the material; what Jared says in lecture is literally the material you learn for the tests so be sure to take good notes.
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