Third Chimpanzee, The

by Jared Diamond (Author)

202 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0060984038

ISBN-10: 0060984031

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Though we share 98 percent of our genes with the chimpanzee, our species evolved into something quite extraordinary. Jared Diamond explores the fascinating question of what in less than 2 percent of our genes has enabled us to found civilizations and religions, develop intricate languages, create art, learn science--and acquire the capacity to destroy all our achievements overnight. The Third Chimpanzee is a tour de force, an iconoclastic, entertaining, sometimes alarming look at the unique and marvelous creature that is the human animal.

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Editorial Reviews

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

From Library Journal

Research biologist (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands) Diamond argues that the human being is just a third species of chimpanzee but nevertheless a unique animal essentially due to its capacity for innovation, which caused a great leap forward in hominoid evolution. After stressing the significance of spoken language, along with art and technology, Diamond focuses on the self-destructive propensities of our species to kill each other (genocide and drug abuse) and to destroy the environment (mass extinctions). He also discusses human sexuality, geographic variability, and ramifications of agriculture (metallurgy, cultivated plants, and domesticated animals). Absent from Diamond's work is the role religion plays in causing both war and the population explosion as well as long-range speculations on the future of our species. This informative, most fascinating, and very readable book is highly recommended for all libraries.
- H. James Birx, Canisius Coll., Buffalo, N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product details

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: HarpPeren (October 23, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060984031
ISBN-13: 978-0060984038
Product Dimensions: 1 x 5.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 202 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #722,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #833 in Books > Medical Books > Basic Sciences > Genetics
- #1674 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Biology & Life Sciences > Biology
- #1951 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Anthropology > General

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Amazon Customer

Thought provoking

August 5, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Very interesting read...Goes quickly, each chapter is like a short story. Great if you are interested in the origins of human life and what it is that makes us human.

NOTE: Early in the book, Diamond makes an argument as to why humans and neanderthals could not have interbred. However, since this book was written (1990's), DNA evidence has proven that humans did breed with neanderthals.

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ZAAJÆ

Same book - different titles

January 17, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

What I fail to see mentioned in any of the reviews thus far is the fact that this book (`The Third Chimpanzee') is essentially identical to a previous version under a different title by Jared Diamond, namely," The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live" circa 1991. Interestingly, the reviews of that book (`The Rise and Fall') also fails to mention that it is a previous version of this updated book (`The Third Chimpanzee'). Upon comparison, the differences appear to be quite minimal; the general thrust is identical. Nothing about this relationship is mentioned at the Jared Diamond page either. However, please be aware that with very little effort the older version (`The Rise and Fall') can be found in a free PDF format.

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Raoul C. Tommasi Crudeli

Of the quadrilogy of J. Diamond I was late ...

July 16, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Of the quadrilogy of J. Diamond I was late reading the Third Chimapanzee. The work is consistent with the entire investigation of the scientist and the text also predicts the subsequent publications. Important, in particular, the last chapters in which what is happening after 20 years from the writing, fully confirms the negative environmental development model that the 3rd Chimpanzee is perpetuating. I see this as a professional in the field to which I dedicate myself for over 50 years applying the methods granted by remote detection (hundreds of geostationary satellites in the exoshere, in thermo and mesosphere and finally in the trope end epi's ones) of rapidly growing anthropogenic impacts. But I must also say that if we did not have the maximum technical ability to detect from the stratosphere we would understand very little of what is happening, of what the man is causing. But to achieve this advanced technology remotely we have compromised the environment even more. The hope remains that man will render himself as soon as possible of the vast murder and suicide he is perpetuating and which wisely inverts the address he has impressed on the entire planisphere. Environmental responsibility must run out of economic convenience, the 1st Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must prevail with the co-responsibility of all....difficulties, but the only possible way.

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A great book about the Big questions of humanity

June 8, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

At this point, the entire world has read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. The question about The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (P.S.) is whether it is worth reading after reading Diamond's other two books.

I have to say undoubtedly yes. This book, like the more recent ones, proposes answers to some of the biggest questions about humanity. Thus, even though the book is outdated, The Third Chimpanzee is great at both asking the important questions and explaining a process for answering them. The book covers everything from human language, sexuality, drinking, agriculture, and geopolitics through the analytical lens of evolutionary science. Thus, Diamond finds more interesting (and probably accurate) answers than those of philosophers, anthropologists, and political scientists addressing those same questions.

Another benefit of this book is that it is actually broader in scope than Diamond's more recent books. The latter chapters of the book deal with the same subjects as Guns, Germs, and Steel (why some civilizations grew rapidly) and Collapse (how civilization risks its existence through ecological destruction). However, the first half of the book, deals with different topics, from evolutionary explanations for alcoholism to why humans have sex in private. In fact, if you only have time to read one of Diamond's book, I recommend The Third Chimpanzee as it includes a broader range.

This addition of the book also includes a useful postscript which addresses some of the advances in our understanding of these topics since the book was first written.

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