Grammar Gurus: proof read this phrase.

[Irving]

I want to post context, but I feel like I'd have to type out the whole chapter.

[SuperiorDG]

Looks like a few people just cheated for the answer.

Funkfool and SuperiorDG win. I haven't gotten the book back out to check, but I read the sentence so many times last night, I think they got it.

Sorry but I remembered the content of the book. Read it a few years back and watched the documentary a few weeks back. Once I knew the book I just went through it and found the sentence on page 142. That being said, I think there is more then one way to skin this cat. I think with that sentence one could be grammatically correct several different ways.

[Lex_Luthor]

Nice, I read that book in college. One of these days I'll pick it back up and read through it again. I also read a book called "The End of Poverty" I think.

[Sharpienads]

Hm. I still think it's a poorly written sentence. How about this:

Mesoamerica ain't the real 'Merica, so who cares?

[dorsum]

Nothing but a total rewrite will help that sentance.

[Irving]

Sorry but I remembered the content of the book. Read it a few years back and watched the documentary a few weeks back. Once I knew the book I just went through it and found the sentence on page 142. That being said, I think there is more then one way to skin this cat. I think with that sentence one could be grammatically correct several different ways.

Awesome.

Nice, I read that book in college. One of these days I'll pick it back up and read through it again. I also read a book called "The End of Poverty" I think.

I feel like I'm in college again reading this book. I love it. You should get a full class credit just for reading this book.

[grrr]

Jared Diamond didn't just get this published, he won a Pulitzer prize for the book. I thought it was great. For people who don't understand what is being contrasted, you need to look to other sentences. He's talking about the head start toward agrarian living in Mesopotamia as opposed to Mesoamerica. The fertile crescent had a lot of advantages in available crops & livestock that allowed for early urbanization, specialization, and all the associated advantages. I haven't read it in years, but I probably have a copy around somewhere.