Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (2006). This book is a bit controversial, at least from my point of view, as it tries to explain why some cultures became much more developed than others and it also argues that the gap in development among different cultures is mostly the result of environmental differences. Although constructing a theory of social theory of the development of humanity has been attempted for several persons, Diamond’s goal is quite ambitious.
According to this book, for example, the development of agriculture 10,000 years ago was speeded up by using large domesticated mammals such as sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, and horses. All these animals originated in central Eurasia and were easily domesticated.
Large mammals gave their human handlers additional advantages in mobility and farming. Additionally, most of the world’s lethal diseases resulted from proximity to the barnyard, gradually providing Eurasians with immunity to illnesses that later wiped out entire societies upon first exposure.
In contrast, in the case of zebras, bears, giraffes, tigers, hippos–to this day, nobody has been able to domesticate them.