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BookmarkJared 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.
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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.
For more information about the title The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (P.S.), read the full description at Amazon.com, or see the following related books:
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies — Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel ... > read more
Collapse — Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and ... > read more
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language — A compelling look at the quest for the origins of human language from an accomplished linguist Language is a distinctly human gift. However, because ... > read more
Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins — From the savannas of Africa to modern-day labs for biomechanical analysis and molecular genetics, Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins ... > read more
