Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
A great book, written in a style like a suspense, which once you started reading won't be able to put down, provides the ultimate answer to the Yali's question why some society have advantage over some other by using scientific evolution principles. The author's extensive knowledge is astounding, these subjects include: archaeology, biology, microbiology, linguistics, geology, anthropology, world history, technology history, and so on and so forth.
I highly recommend this book to all the reader.