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The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? (2012)

by Jared Diamond

Other authors: Alexander Leborg (Translator), Matt Zebrowski (Maps)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,029477,956 (3.62)33
Diamond reveals how tribal societies offer an extraordinary window into how our ancestors lived for millions of years -- until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms -- and provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.
  1. 00
    Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (jigarpatel)
    jigarpatel: While only tenuously linked to a single section in The World Until Yesterday, it's remarkable to contrast Gawande's Being Mortal with Diamond's analysis. In particular, the importance of accessing the utility of the elderly is demonstrated as important by Diamond on the basis of historic knowledge transmittal, and by Gawande on the basis of what the elderly themselves may desire.… (more)
  2. 00
    Throwim Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds-On the Track of Unknown Mammals in Wildest New Guinea by Tim F. Flannery (rodneyvc)
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» See also 33 mentions

English (42)  French (2)  Dutch (1)  Danish (1)  Hungarian (1)  All languages (47)
Showing 1-5 of 42 (next | show all)
Nothing quite measures up to his “Guns Germs and Steel” which I found opened my eyes to ideas I didn’t know existed. ( )
  BBrookes | Nov 27, 2023 |
Diamondova nejznámější kniha Osudy lidských společností mě ve své době celkem bavila, ovšem po několika letech od přečtení si z ní nevybavím mnoho. Může to být mimo jiné i proto, že se v ní Diamond rozmáchl poněkud doširoka a jeho nejznámější dílo tak nemělo zřetelný cíl. To však v žádném případě nelze prohlásit o Světu, který skončil včera.

Vždy zpozorním, když narazím na někoho, kdo své celoživotní zkušenosti v určitém oboru či oblasti dovede přehledně shrnout do uceleného díla. Diamond, který strávil značnou část života mezi domorodými národy Nového Zélandu, mezi tyto lidi zdá se patří, a ve Světě, který skončil včera se zamýšlí, co dělají tradiční společnosti jinak než soudobá západní civilizace, a hlavně co se od nich můžeme naučit. Dokazuje, že mnoho.

Na celospolečenské rovině se nachází pár zajímavých poznatků ohledně vnímání území, přístupu k „sousedům“ a vedení válek. Kupodivu právě zde se moderní přístup ukazuje jako lepší pro zachování bezpečí jedinců. Pokud trávíte dny obavami z teroristických útoků, s nimiž s téměř stoprocentní jistotou nikdy nepřijdete do styku, jak byste si asi připadali v tradičních společenstvích, v nichž značná část populace umírá v mezikmenových bojích?

Zajímavější je však část knihy zaměřená na chování jednotlivců, protože právě zde najdeme užitečné ponaučtení. Proč například mají tradiční společnosti (a vlastně i západní do docela nedávné doby) v úctě staré lidi? Protože jejich věk je důkazem, že vědí, jak přežít. V době, v níž většině lidí nehrozí útok jaguára, se sice může zdát, že dožít se starého věku není žádná věda, ovšem i tak je jistě mnohé, co bychom se od svých rodičů a prarodičů mohli naučit. Stejně tak v otázce výchovy dětí se náš přístup liší. Zatímco v západní společnosti je zvykem děti od rodičů uměle odtrhávat, abychom zabránili růstu mamánků a papánků, v tradičních společnostech je o děti staráno s úzkostlivou péčí, dokud o ni sami stojí. Diamond dokazuje, že dříve či později se děti dobrovolně osamostatní a dospějí v sebevědomější jedince.

Diamond se věnuje i cizím jazykům, které tradiční národy běžně ovládají, ovšem pro důkazy o prospěšnosti jejich znalosti musí sahat k moderním výzkumům. Neméně zajímavá je i kapitola o výživě. Diamond se v ní zaměřuje hlavně na přebytek cukrů a soli v moderní stravě a přesvědčivě argumentuje s pomocí statistických dat o jejich škodlivosti.

Svět, který skončil včera, je sice místy trošku těžkopádné čtení, může však čtenáři přinést řadu užitečných „rad do života“. Zatímco normálně bych byl k podobnému tématu skeptický, Diamond s využitím svých zkušeností opravdu přináší řadu hodnotných návrhů. ( )
  zajus | Jul 13, 2023 |
Jared Diamond's latest book examines tribal societies around the world and compares them with Western societies in several key sociological areas such as child-rearing, dealing with danger, societal violence, etc.

The way Diamond tackles his thesis is largely to posit an assertion and then quote mostly anecdotal evidence from each of a half-dozen or so tribal societies that he has made the subjects of his research. He then moves onto his next point and repeats this exercise. This approach leads to a highly repetitive read that is padded out to more than 500 pages. A more judicious marshalling of his material should have allowed Diamond to make his case in about two-thirds of this volume. The padding is made worse because Diamond clearly runs out of steam, devoting his final chapter to a discourse on nutrition that wouldn't be out of place in a book on the low GI diet. His summing-up of what we can learn from his tribal examples is extraordinarily weak and in no way justifies reading 500 pages to learn it. ( )
  gjky | Apr 9, 2023 |
A little rambling, with lots of personal anecdotes. Really enjoyed the contrasting of traditional life stories with modern ones. A bit repetitive, but kind of in the way a series of conversations might be with an older friend (if the older friend was a scientist/naturalist). Some really great stories, including a near drowning from being ferried by an overloaded motorized canoe. ( )
  steve02476 | Jan 3, 2023 |
Like Diamond's other books, this was informative and well written. However, it lacks the strong focus that make Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse great. What allowed those books to cover such a breadth of material was that they each had a central thesis which all of the information revolved around. This provided a framework that made the books hang together.

The World Until Yesterday lacks that framework. The organizing idea of this book is that traditional societies have something to teach us. They can teach us some things we may want to rediscover in our modern society, and they can remind us of ways that modern society has improved lives.

This is an interesting topic, but it's a weak organizing principle. As such, this book ends up feeling like a collection of mostly independent essays. Good essays, but without that coherence that pushed Diamond's other books from good to great. ( )
  eri_kars | Jul 10, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 42 (next | show all)
While he never takes on his critics directly, Diamond’s book could be viewed as a showcase for the author’s sincere admiration of traditional peoples and the way they see the world. Instead of taking on the whole world, Diamond takes on this other world as his own. And the book’s value depends on the question of whether taking on another’s world is really possible.
 
Unlike some critics, I take Diamond at his word: I believe that he does want to show traditional lives in their complex reality, to demonstrate what they have to teach us without unduly idealizing them. He wants us to see people who live careful, attentive lives in a world of want and uncertainty, people who know how to love their children without reading books on how to do so. He wants to show us the dangers of war, and the bittersweet comforts of industrialization. Above all, he wants to show us how he has been changed by the life he has led. In the end, however, his scientist’s eye plays him foul. Diamond’s stories give one a clear understanding of the exact physical locations of the objects he describes, but leave the culture and emotion of Papua New Guineans unexamined. His description of the lives of traditional people accurately describes their digestion and gestation, but not their thoughts and feelings. And in the end, despite his attempts to be nuanced, his portrayal of the life of traditional people is straight out of Hobbes: nasty, brutish, short, and escapable only by submitting to the authority of a sovereign.
added by keristars | editThe Appendix, Alex Golub (Apr 1, 2013)
 
Diamond has a gift for storytelling. He presents his examples in a seductively readable voice with unflinching confidence, which makes his conclusions about the similarities and differences between traditional and modern society seem like common sense. But as I read the text, I found that I agreed with Diamond in inverse relation to my pre-existing knowledge about whatever subject he was addressing.
added by keristars | editSlate, Bryn Williams (Feb 18, 2013)
 
added by lorax | editWashington Post, Rachel Newcomb (Jan 25, 2013)
 

» Add other authors (23 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Diamond, JaredAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Leborg, AlexanderTranslatorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Zebrowski, MattMapssecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Palm, PeterGraphicssecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Resnick, NancyDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vogel, SebastianTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
To
Meg Taylor,
in appreciation for decades
of your friendship,
and of sharing your insights into our two worlds
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Prologue
At the Airport
An airport scene
“Why study traditional societies?”
States
Types of traditional societies
“Approaches, causes, and sources”
A small book about a big subject
Plan of the book

An airport scene
April 30, 2006, 7:00 A.M. I’m in an airport’s check-in hall, gripping my baggage cart while being jostled by a crowd of other people also checking in for that morning’s first flights.
Eine Szene am Flughafen.
30. April 2006, sieben Uhr morgens.
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Diamond reveals how tribal societies offer an extraordinary window into how our ancestors lived for millions of years -- until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms -- and provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.

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