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Loading... The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animalby Jared Diamond
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I would have given it a 3 1/2 if it had been my first Diamond book but I am fed up of reading the same old stories each time I buy one of his works. (  ) Kuiperdolin | Nov 7, 2009 |  Excellent book, well written. Discusses why humans have come out on top of the heap though our genetic makeup varies little from chimps. What does our genetics tell us about our future? Updated information from the 1992 edition. (  ) addunn3 | Apr 26, 2009 | An illuminating work describing the most complex animal on the planet: Humans. Each chapter touches on a unique topic, ranging from genetic similarities with chimps, how we select our sexual partners, origins of art, why humans abuse drugs/tobacco/alcohol, et cetera. Some chapters are more interesting than others, but those with a scientific curiosity should enjoy this. (  ) sailornate82 | Jul 15, 2008 | : American evolutionary biologist, physiologist, biogeographer, lecturer, and nonfiction author. Diamond works as a professor of geography and physiology at UCLA.  sphinx | Jun 2, 2008 | Jared can be somewhat repetitive at times, but his writing is lucid, intriguing and very informative. I loved the book along will all other Diamond's books. (  ) ppendharkar | Mar 26, 2008 | 
 To this day, those who see our species as part of the animal kingdom continue to lock horns with those who see us as separate. While zoologists treat humans as mere animals -- and not even particularly unusual ones given the incredible diversity of life -- many social scientists still place us somewhere between heaven and earth. What is particularly attractive about Jared Diamond's book, "The Third Chimpanzee," is that he tries to strike a balance.
Amazon.com (ISBN 0060845503, Paperback)Jared Diamond states the theme of his book up-front: "How the human species changed, within a short time, from just another species of big mammal to a world conqueror; and how we acquired the capacity to reverse all that progress overnight." The Third Chimpanzee is, in many ways, a prequel to Diamond's prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns examines "the fates of human societies," this work surveys the longer sweep of human evolution, from our origin as just another chimpanzee a few million years ago. Diamond writes:
It's obvious that humans are unlike all animals. It's also obvious that we're a species of big mammal down to the minutest details of our anatomy and our molecules. That contradiction is the most fascinating feature of the human species. The chapters in The Third Chimpanzee on the oddities of human reproductive biology were later expanded in Why Is Sex Fun? Here, they're linked to Diamond's views of human psychology and history. Diamond is officially a physiologist at UCLA medical school, but he's also one of the best birdwatchers in the world. The current scientific consensus that "primitive" humans created ecological catastrophes in the Pacific islands, Australia, and the New World owes a great deal to his fieldwork and insight. In Diamond's view, the current global ecological crisis isn't due to modern technology per se, but to basic weaknesses in human nature. But, he says, "I'm cautiously optimistic. If we will learn from our past that I have traced, our own future may yet prove brighter than that of the other two chimpanzees." --Mary Ellen Curtin (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:18 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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