India, Oct. 10 -- Would Genghis Khan have founded the Mongol empire if he were born just a few decades earlier? Would there have been an environmental revolution without Rachel Carson? And can a sports team change its winning rate just by hiring a great coach? These are some of the questions Pulitzer prize-winning author and scientist Jared Diamond attempts to answer in his latest book Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings.

While the answers are not the most satisfying, what unfolds is a very interesting account of leaders and changemakers, amusing social experiments, and even a brief history of the pomegranate juice industry - an interesting tale of a couple who created a super-premium juice category in American supermarkets. One may not...