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The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (P.S.) |  | Author: Jared M. Diamond
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
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Seller: Arnold Garada
Rating:  111 reviews
Sales Rank: 4196
Media: Paperback
Edition: First Harper Perennial Edition
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060845503
Dewey Decimal Number: 573.2
EAN: 9780060845506
ASIN: 0060845503
Publication Date: January 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
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
Product Description
The Development of an Extraordinary Species We human beings share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet -- having founded civilizations and religions, developed intricate and diverse forms of communication, learned science, built cities, and created breathtaking works of art -- while chimps remain animals concerned primarily with the basic necessities of survival. What is it about that two percent difference in DNA that has created such a divergence between evolutionary cousins? In this fascinating, provocative, passionate, funny, endlessly entertaining work, renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientist Jared Diamond explores how the extraordinary human animal, in a remarkably short time, developed the capacity to rule the world . . . and the means to irrevocably destroy it.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 111
 The 3rd Chimp book review. September 17, 2009
J-Man (NYC)
The 3rd Chimp book review.
I knew we were big apes, but I didn't really know all the details. Jared Diamond's well developed book puts it into a focused perspective. The problem is... us! Luckily, the solution lies in us as well, and we're definitely full of surprises.
With numerous comparisons to other species and detailed explanations of how one evolutionary trait or behavior can lead to another (and sometimes cancel out others too), the reader arrives at answers to how certain societies vanished, why will kill each other, why we grow old and die, and how at this very moment, we're kind of just a blip on the timeline of human history. Or, maybe this is the Golden Age...
A must read for anyone interested in evolution and a better understanding of why humans think and act the way they do.
Note: I've written this review after reading The 3rd Chimp & Why is sex fun? back to back.
 Well written September 6, 2009
N. Mozahem (Al Ain, United Arab of Emirates)
After reading this book, I decided that I should read all books written by the author. Jared has a gift and he uses it well. His style is very interesting and he even manages to get a few laughs out of the reader once in a while. The title of the book in itself is intriguing. The author discusses several theories and then goes on to explain to the reader which, in his opinion, is the most probable. I think everyone should read this book since no previous knowledge of the subject is needed. There is a lot of useful information that will really change the way we look at humans, humanity, animals and earth.
Fascinating. August 10, 2009
Jarrod D. Knudson (Houston, TX USA)
Excellent book by Diamond. He analyzes the great leap forward (the time period in human history where great leaps were made that culminated in our becoming the dominant species on the planet.
Topics emphasized are the evolution of human language with great examples from studies in contemporary linguistics; human sexual behavior including concealed ovulation, monogamy or not, anatomy and physiology of human sex; the history of genocide and its implications with respect to the survival of genetic material.
One of the most interesting conclusions in the book is the projected fate of our species....extinction. As our population explodes, we are outgrowing Mother Earth's resources, polluting our environment and have developed the ability (through weaponry) to kill off entire civilizations without ever facing the victims on a battlefield.
Very humbling. When I think about the short period of time that we've been here and learn about extinction biology from examining the fossil and geologic records, I realize that we may just be a flash in the pan.
This is a really thought provoking book. I read Diamond's other books first. I'm really glad I picked this one up. It's several years old, but truly a masterpiece.
No Rousseauian fantasies and not a long tale of progress July 23, 2009
Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium)
Jared Diamond's hard-hitting book paints a hyper-realistic and thorough picture of the place of mankind in the Darwinian evolution, of its tiny genetic, but huge `intellectual' differences with apes, of the deep animal roots of its behavior and of the evolutionary trade-offs explaining biological imperfections.
His book is divided in five parts.
Part one discusses the ascent of man and the great leap forward in the Darwinian evolution due to skeletal changes, upright walking and the use of tools.
Part two gives a full picture of man's life cycle: a limited number of offspring, parental care, mating selection with conception as only a by-product of copulation, social relations and life expectancy (slow aging).
Together with `normal' animal behavior like rape, infanticide, intergroup warfare or adultery, mankind has some unique characteristics like the menopause of women and the treatment of the latter through asymmetric adultery laws or genital mutilations.
Part three analyzes man's cultural traits, In the first place, the ascent of agriculture and its most important concomitant characteristics, like demographic explosions, rampant malnutrition, gross social and sexual inequalities, epidemic diseases and political dictatorships; also, language, art and technology.
Part four treats a unique and destructive feature of mankind: xenophobic killing of other human groups en masse, mostly in fighting for lebensraum. Man's arsenal of nuclear weapons can wipe out all living things on earth.
Part five analyzes man's assault on the environment (e.g., the self-destructive chemical abuse) and his mass extermination of other living species, on which depends his own survival.
Despite his pessimistic vision, Jared Diamond remains still cautiously optimistic because man has the power to find solutions for the actual dire state of the planet he lives on.
This book is a must read for all those who want to know who we are and in what kind of world we are actually living.
An Interesting take on Man June 10, 2009
D. Cannon
Jared Diamond has not let me down. This book is up there with the others he has recently written and would recommend it to everyone.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 111
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