The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution & Future of the Human Animal

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The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution & Future of the Human Animal

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 7,267 ratings · 369 reviews

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 prima...more

Paperback, 407 pages

Published January 3rd 2006 by Harper Perennial (first published 1991)

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May 19, 2011 TeacherMrLoria rated it 2 of 5 stars

Funny that I read this book in Mexico, a country where more people believe in creation than evolution. For the record, I think we evolved from apes. For the record, that doesn't bother me in the least.

I am going to do two things, first, I will talk about what I learned from this book, secondly I am going to go on a rant about anthropology. While this book was interesting, there were parts where the author stepped far beyond his area of expertise, leading to some very weak chapters. Further, this...more

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Patrick What I took from his ET chapter is that although it is astronomically probable that there are advance ET on other planets, it does not mean that that...more
updated Aug 24, 2011 11:30am

TeacherMrLoria Man, people read my rants. I'm going to have to do a better job of intellectually justifying them. The ET chapter I found simply outdated.In about 2 y...more Man, people read my rants. I'm going to have to do a better job of intellectually justifying them. The ET chapter I found simply outdated.In about 2 years the Kepler telescope has found around 3,000 Earth like planets exploring about .001% of our local galaxy. That's just a fraction of our backyard. In 1992 they didn't have any idea how many earth like planets were out there through empirical evidence as we're now collecting, but they did have mathematical models. Diamond completely ignores Drake's equation so I can't really give him the benefit of the doubt there. He stepped outside his field of expertise and the results were very weak. That being said, that chapter is simply outdated now so it's a bit of a mute point.

With regards to the cultures that do not want to be disturbed, you make a good point. I obviously made a big generalization by assuming they did. Rant mode happens. But I think what annoys me most about this anthoropolgical perspective is, if I had to sum it up in a word, paternalism. We, white man with laptops and college degrees, want to study you, brown people of the forests of wherever. We do not want you to wear Reeboks, put back on your penis sticks please so I can finish my abstract.

Perhaps some people in these cultures do not want to be modernized. I'll concede that point. But, what about the women who desire to be educated? What about the guy who likes his Reeboks more than his penis stick? What about the mother giving birth who would die were it not for ___ medicine? What about the kid in school who deserves to learn about the planets instead of hearing some myth of creation? What about the 12 year old girl who does not want to be "circumsized" as part of a purity ritual? If these people want to be modernized, let them. Education unlocks pandora's box. Is ignorance bliss?

I wrote a story about this once based off my travels. I think better in fiction form and would be glad to send you a copy. Thanks for the input kind sir. The internets pretty amazing in that you were able to share your thoughts from wherever you are. I'm going to have to watch my rants more.(less)
Mar 29, 2012 08:52pm

Patrick sure I would love to read your story.

On your point on modernization, I tend to agree with you about education and having the individual decide what is...more
updated Mar 31, 2012 03:31pm

Apr 19, 2012 Chuck rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: our-past

Another great book from Jared Diamond. I found this to be just as engaging as Guns, Germs, and Steel, and also an easier read. I find that his books have so much information that it is helpful for me to outline them as I go. Here are my favorite bullet points from The Third Chimpanzee. Not at all a comprehensive outline, but may be of interest to some people.

Chapter 1
- Our ancestors diverged from other apes around 7 million years ago.
- We share 98.4% of DNA with common chimps.
- Chimps are more c...more

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May 08, 2008 DJ rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone interested in evolution, history, or science

Shelves: evolution

Jared Diamond's broad overview of human history and evolution offers intelligent evolutionary explanations for everything from menopause to aging to smoking and peacock feathers. On the way, he introduces readers to his ideas on environmental responsibility and geography that form the basis of this other two books, 'Collapse' and 'Guns, Germs, and Steel', respectively.

General Themes:
-Differences can be used to mark evolutionary divergence.
-Aging is an evolutionary accident, not a 'natural proces...more

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Jun 28, 2007 Helga Mohammed el-Salami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dr. Diamond’s first book for which he won nothing but the admiration of some pathetic, lifeless losers like yours truly. But he should have. It was excellent. True that Chimpanzee is the Salieri to Guns’ Mozart, but what it lacks in breadth it makes up in simplicity and erudition. I breezed through this book with nary a trip to Wikipedia unlike GGS, which sent me there virtually every day. And yet I still learned a ton.

The chapter titled “The Golden Age That Never Was” was a delightful decimati...more

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May 04, 2008 Victor rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, history

Good book but not quite as good as Guns, Germs, and Steel. This book was written before that one and you can tell that Jared Diamond becomes a more polished and focused writer. The Third Chimpanzee focuses on how many of the characteristics the we consider uniquely "human" (language, art, murder) really aren't as unique as we think. He makes good arguments but maybe takes on more than he should. Still, it sets the stage for Diamond's later works (including Collapse which I still haven't read....more

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Mar 15, 2013 M.J. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just before Easter weekend I finally finished Jared Diamond's 1992 book, “ The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal". Jared Diamond is, of course, more famous now for his hugely successful 1997 book “Guns, Germs, and Steel” (GGS) and that was also how I was first introduced to works of Mr. Diamond. Having read GGS only a few months ago, it was hard not to notice how much this earlier book established for its successor: arguments made in detail in GGS are outlined throug...more Just before Easter weekend I finally finished Jared Diamond's 1992 book, “ The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal". Jared Diamond is, of course, more famous now for his hugely successful 1997 book “Guns, Germs, and Steel” (GGS) and that was also how I was first introduced to works of Mr. Diamond. Having read GGS only a few months ago, it was hard not to notice how much this earlier book established for its successor: arguments made in detail in GGS are outlined throughout and even one line in a later section foreshadows GSS when it makes mention of the power of “guns, germs, and iron” (apparently it took five years for the iron age to give way to the age of steel).

“The Third Chimpanzee” is an examination of humanity, not through the lens of human exceptionalism, but by how much we resemble our animal kin. His argument, leading to the title, is that humanity is merely a third form of chimpanzee (albeit wildly successful) and we can see a lot in our appearance and how we behave by looking at the path we've taken to get where we are today. It is, in essence, a book on evolutionary socio-biology and it is also incredibly convincing.

The book is divided into five sections. The first deals with the details of our origins. The second deals with human sexuality and its uniqueness within the animal kingdom (one of the most entertaining sections and no doubt the genesis for his 1997 book “Why is Sex Fun?”). The third section is about language, art, drugs, existentialism, and farming (not kidding). Part four is about how well human groups live with other human groups (hint: not too well). And part five discusses what happens when you put nuclear weapons in the hands of a trumped up primate (hint: see part four).

“The Third Chimpanzee” is well-written, intriguing and a pleasure to read. I think it's even the better book when compared with GGS. If you're interested in who we are, where we come from, and hints of where we're going then this book is a definite recommendation.(less)

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Mar 16, 2011 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jared Diamond should be required reading. He has influenced my view of humanity and history more than probably anyone except maybe a history professor in college, where I was a history minor. No, I think I Diamond has influenced me more.

I stumbled across a 3 part series on PBS based on Guns, Germs and Steel a couple of years ago and was floored. I bought and read the book immediately and was even more blown away. Since then I have read Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and Why i...more Jared Diamond should be required reading. He has influenced my view of humanity and history more than probably anyone except maybe a history professor in college, where I was a history minor. No, I think I Diamond has influenced me more.

I stumbled across a 3 part series on PBS based on Guns, Germs and Steel a couple of years ago and was floored. I bought and read the book immediately and was even more blown away. Since then I have read Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and Why is Sex Fun. Both of them were also mind-blowing and insightful.

The Third Chimpanzee was Diamond’s first book and it really lays the groundwork for his three following. In fact 3C read a bit like an abridged version of the other three books combined. But that is not to say it did not contain things the other books didn’t….or at least that I don’t remember. The next time I recommend Diamond to a friend, I think I will recommend 3C because it is a great overview of his works.

I was particularly struck by the chapters on language, both animal languages that are only beginning to be unraveled, as well as the information on human languages.

The book also contains a striking chapter about genocide. It was a tough chapter to read and teetered on the edge of being overwhelmingly depressing to me. But it is something that can’t be ignored. Humans have a long history of killing each other on a massive scale. If humanity is going to change how we act in the future, we can’t gloss over the past because it demonstrates human tendencies.

Besides his incredible insight, I appreciate Diamond for a number of other reasons. First off I find his writing reachable. Although he often talks about some very complex and specific things, he does a brilliant job of making it understandable to a layperson. He also pulls no punches; he seems to have a very realistic view of humanity, good and bad. He is quick to point out inconsistencies, discrimination and arrogance, including his own. He preaches without ever feeling preachy. He also has a fun sense of humor and appreciates irony as it regularly occurs in life.

I would be dumber and my life less full if I had not discovered Jared Diamond. And much to my joy he has a new book coming out in mere weeks!
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Jan 30, 2011 Kyle rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the third book I've read by Jared Diamond, and though I didn't think it was as groundbreaking as Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, I still enjoyed the book. In fact, the ideas that were fleshed out in those two books (Why the European Culture came to dominate the world in the 19th century and why societies collapse) are both present in their infancies in this book.

Basically, Diamond makes the case that man is nothing more than another chimpanzee. We share over 98% of our DNA with chim...more This is the third book I've read by Jared Diamond, and though I didn't think it was as groundbreaking as Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, I still enjoyed the book. In fact, the ideas that were fleshed out in those two books (Why the European Culture came to dominate the world in the 19th century and why societies collapse) are both present in their infancies in this book.

Basically, Diamond makes the case that man is nothing more than another chimpanzee. We share over 98% of our DNA with chimps, and Diamond shows that everything we consider to be uniquely human traits have animal precursors or equivalents (with the possible exception of drug abuse). Sure humans use tools, but so do some animals (such as chimps using sticks to get termites). Well, humans have language another person might say. So does a species of monkey Diamond discusses that have different vocalizations for eagles, leopards, and snakes. Humans lie! Diamond mentions that some of these monkeys will vocalize a leopard warning when their tribe is losing a fight with another tribe to send their rivals scurrying up trees.

The list continues! Diamond showed that bower birds create "art" and that various animals commit "murder" and even genocide. He also speaks of how ants have domesticated aphids and use them as a food source, thus having a kind of agriculture. In fact, the only thing that seems to be uniquely human is drug abuse, and even that seems to have some animal precursors.

Diamond's main point is that humans have clearly evolved from animals and that the dividing line that we tend to draw between ourselves and animals isn't as distinct as we'd like to think. In fact, almost all the behaviors that we consider to be uniquely human appear to have animal equivalents, or at least precursors.

The next section of the book spends time detailing the evolution of man from our separation from a common ancestor with chimps and gorillas 7 million years ago to the arrival of Cro-Magnon Man 40,000 years ago. The speculation about the extinction of the Neanderthals being caused by Cro-Magnon Man is convincing and the discussion of the spread of languages is interesting as well.

Diamond also takes some time to point out the flaws in the Drake Equation that predicts a universe teeming with intelligent life. The best part is when Diamond makes a compelling case that if we really thought there was intelligent life out there then we should try to avoid it as our history tells us that when two groups of humans meet the technologically superior group wipes out the other. So sending out a radio broadcast telling whoever is out there exactly where we are probably wasn't the best idea ever.

Finally the rest of the book presents some early ideas of Diamond's that were expanded in Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. If you've read those two books, you'll find some of this repetitive, but the first half of the book more than makes up for it and a little redundancy never hurt anyone.

I guess my only other qualm is that Diamond tends to over exaggerate at times. He has a tendency to make statements like "This evidence is indisputable" or "This theory is unquestionable" which is obviously false. A theory that is not questionable is not a theory. I agree 100% with the majority of Diamond's theories and conclusions, but that does not mean that they should be beyond questioning. We should remember what Norbert Wiener knew at the age of 10 when he wrote of "the impossibility of man being certain of anything". (less)

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May 29, 2010 Bakari rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-books-read, science

The Third Chimpanzee is the second of Jared Diamond’s books I’ve read. The first being Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond. Diamond is a lucid writer who, for me, next to Karl Marx, seems to break down the origins of human behavior, political and social relations, and the consequences of our actions in ways we need to understand them.

The Third Chimpanzee explains our over three million years of evolution from the pygmy chimpanzee as or closest relatives to the Homo Sapiens we are today. Many of the...more The Third Chimpanzee is the second of Jared Diamond’s books I’ve read. The first being Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond. Diamond is a lucid writer who, for me, next to Karl Marx, seems to break down the origins of human behavior, political and social relations, and the consequences of our actions in ways we need to understand them.

The Third Chimpanzee explains our over three million years of evolution from the pygmy chimpanzee as or closest relatives to the Homo Sapiens we are today. Many of the chapters of the book don’t seem connected, but basically Diamond tries to explain the evolutionary and biological origins of human behavior, from why and how we have sex, to how human language, art, and agriculture evolved, to the dire consequences and benefits of modern civilization and technology.

Like a left or right leaning talk show host, Diamond is not about being neutral in his information and history. Though he’s a archeologist, he’s a scientist not afraid to support research with analysis and opinion. His last few chapters could be titled “Warnings,“ in which says:

Until our own generation, no one had grounds to worry whether the human generation would survive our enjoy a planet worth living on. Ours is the first generation to be confronted with these questions about its children’s future. We devote much our lives to training our children to support themselves and to get along with other people. Increasingly, we’re asking ourselves whether all those efforts of our might be wasted.

This jeremiad comes out of a study of nature, and human history and behavior which shows that we’re not always as rational and self-conscious as we might believe or hope. And because our existence on this planet is certainly not purposed and guided by some outside supreme being who has a place for us when we die, we best use books like The Third Chimpanzee to understand better who we are in relations to one another, and other species for whom must share this planet.

This book is not a challenge to read. Like I said, Diamond is a very lucid and sometimes entertaining writer, but The Third Chimpanzee should be read in a study group or evolutionary biology course, because there’s so much information to absorb that it’s difficult to grasp it all if you’re merely reading rather than studying it. At some points Diamond can make almost sweeping generalizations about such topics as adultery and our use of drugs, while other times times he gets very detailed about the origins of human language. In reading this book straight through, I know there’s much that I could go back and read again to better understand.

Nevertheless, I found The Third Chimpanzee pretty insightful, though it lacks a central thesis. It makes me interested in possibly reading his latest book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. The last few chapters of Chimpanzee seem to point to what Collapse is about.

It’s a challenge to read books like Collapse because the issues addressed and explored are so huge and out of reach for most of us to deal with. But if we remain ignorant of past mistakes, we—as the adage goes— are doomed to repeat them.(less)

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May 20, 2010 Bonnie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

I've read Diamond's Collapse and Guns, Germs and Steel and had never heard of this book before, so when I saw it at the bookstore I picked it up because I thought it was his new book. It wasn't. It was his first book, and it shows. This is basically a primer for the rest of his books, since all his other books are expansions of chapters/sections in this one. Why is Sex Fun? is Chapter 3, Guns, Germs and Steel is Part 4 and Collapse is Part 5.

My problem with this book, besides the fact that I'd r...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Daniel Solera rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: culture-sociology, science

Originally published in 1993, The Third Chimpanzee is in many regards, a precursor to Jared Diamond’s much acclaimed Guns, Germs and Steel. In fact, Guns is basically an expansion of Chapter 14 of this book, “Accidental Conquerors”; I am also predicting that Diamond’s newest book, Collapse is an expansion of Chapter 17, “The Golden Age That Never Was”. Anyway, where Guns deals with the human race as societies, Chimpanzee deals with it on an anthropological and sociological level. The book detail...more Originally published in 1993, The Third Chimpanzee is in many regards, a precursor to Jared Diamond’s much acclaimed Guns, Germs and Steel. In fact, Guns is basically an expansion of Chapter 14 of this book, “Accidental Conquerors”; I am also predicting that Diamond’s newest book, Collapse is an expansion of Chapter 17, “The Golden Age That Never Was”. Anyway, where Guns deals with the human race as societies, Chimpanzee deals with it on an anthropological and sociological level. The book details the various theories about our ancestral heritage, explains the evolutionary origins of our biological makeup and how our unique qualities as animals will shape our future as a species.

Much of the first half of the book revolves around the scientific discovery that we share 98.4% of our DNA with chimpanzees, and it is that miniscule disparity that somehow made possible the Great Leap Forward. Through careful explanation of biological history and visual aids, Diamond illustrates the various hominids that make up our evolutionary genealogy. He asks and attempts to answer questions such as, what happened to Neanderthals? Were they a separate species of man, a split in the evolutionary chain or simply a different race? How do we explain the emergence of key skills and traits for which we have no fossil imprints, such as why we feed our young for decades, why we developed an ubiquitous monogamy, why women go through menopause, and why did we develop writing and language when we did?

This book definitely changes how one views humanity. Not only does it break down our idea of being human to a series of biological impulses, but it highlights the exponential rate at which we have evolved. He continually mentions the idea of an Outer Space Anthropologist visiting our planet at various stages of our development and what he would think. At every point in which he comes across a characteristic that one would assume as uniquely human, he immediately brings up an unlikely animal that shares that trait.

Much like Guns, Diamond loses steam about 2/3 of the way into the book. Up until this point, I was thrilled with what I was reading. The idea that the size ratio between sexes of a given species largely determines their degree of polygamy was fascinating. The book also did a lot to answer the question of why human babies are so helpless, while the offspring of cattle or a wild rhinoceros seems capable of so much from its first hour in the world. I also enjoyed his breakdown of our criteria for mate selection and how pathetic it sounds when compared to our survival imperatives. I was hoping that he would venture into predicting how our bodies would continue to evolve, but I was not spoiled with such a chapter in this book.

But again, the last third isn’t as compelling. Too early in the book, Diamond brings up ethical issues that fight with his scientific themes for attention. They come back at the end in the form of doomsday warnings and a laundry list of all the atrocities that humanity has committed both towards each other and to the environment, which slowed down the pace. But Diamond earnestly loves humanity and its rich history – but not as much as he loves New Guinea – and this book does the animal justice.(less)

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Jan 21, 2010 Spencer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: other-science-current-affairs-etc

Interesting book that was more like 3.5 stars for me. Jared Diamond is an incredibly fascinating guy and I really enjoyed his two more well known books ("Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse"). In fact, this book was published before either of those and the last few chapters of "Third Chimpanzee" really laid the groundwork for both of the later books. The only thing I didn't like about this book is that Diamond cites minute examples of animals engaged in "human" behavior (such as using "language...more

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Jun 12, 2009 Juliet Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating book that looks at human evolution and searches for how it is similar to and how it differs from animal evolution. So there are chapters devoted to searching for the animal precursors of speech (eg chimpanzee vocalisations) and art (eg bowerbirds bowers), the overall intention being to determine how we became so different from the chimpanzees with whom we share most of our genetic information. Its not just positive attributes that are studied either, there are chapters devo...more

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May 20, 2009 Travis Struchen rated it 3 of 5 stars

2/25/2009
The Third Chimpanzee – Jarod Diamond cc1992

A highly evolutionist book, after skipping the first section (60pages) the book got more interesting with Diamond’s take on why humans are attracted to each other, why we engage in acts such as adultery and drug abuse (and even genocide).
We are attracted to the opposite sex that share are characteristics usually, from space between the eyes all the way down to length of forefingers. If we choose mates purely for sexual reasons the correlation...more 2/25/2009
The Third Chimpanzee – Jarod Diamond cc1992

A highly evolutionist book, after skipping the first section (60pages) the book got more interesting with Diamond’s take on why humans are attracted to each other, why we engage in acts such as adultery and drug abuse (and even genocide).
We are attracted to the opposite sex that share are characteristics usually, from space between the eyes all the way down to length of forefingers. If we choose mates purely for sexual reasons the correlation is even greater, but when personality traits and stability are taken into account for monogamous, child rearing relationships the correlations weakens a bit. A study on extramarital relationships and married couples supported this theory.

Our addiction and abuse of drugs was described as a way to show superior genes that has gone wrong from our animal ancestors. Certain male animals like peacocks have a huge hindering plume that show a female, “look at this handicap I bear and yet I still manage to stay alive and thrive, surely I must have some bomb genes” this has gone wrong in the human psyche and deep down on a subconscious level men that abuse drugs are trying to say, look I can take this drugs and still survivor, but yet they are harmful and usually people can’t thrive while on them. Also shown, in the kung fu masters of New Guinea (where author did much research and takes many of his stories from) that will drink a cup of kerosene to show that they still are strong and in control of their discipline.

Male monkey have the largest testicles because of their frequent copulation and gorilla have the smallest of the primates because they seldom do, men, although much smaller in size have much larger penis and larger testicles then gorillas, as function of their sexual habits but also because of their machismo (like a male peacock).

The Golden Age as people talk about in human society when man was at peace with nature and his environment is a myth. People say that until the industrial revolution of the 1800s people were doing no noticeable harm to the environment. Such posits are absurd if you look at fossils from continents where the first human remains can be found. Indians that came through the Americas left a blitzkrieg of animal destruction in their path, mainly of big mammals with no aversion to humans due to lack of contact. Wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers are just a few. Australia had big mammals as well and so did Tasmania. New Zealand has some huge bird species like giant ostrichs that went extinct when the first people came there too. Also islands serve as great examples like Christmas island that supported a much greater civilization then has been recorded at one time as evidenced by the great stone faces, archaeology suggests that the forests had been cut by people until it was so bad that eventually every last tree of felled and the forest didn’t have a chance at replenishing, so the population died out. (to make canoes and rollers to move the stones)

We are in a trouble unless people can learn from the mistakes of the past and make a change now to aver t certain doom of over population, natural resource scarcity, nuclear weapons, and pollution. Nothing learned and everything forgotten? Hopefully not.

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Oct 18, 2008 Kenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Diamond's first book has the beginnings of what he later explores in his subsequent books in greater depth. The topics of man's propensity to exterminate each other, and to destroy our own habitat. I would like to say that I share Diamond's optimism about our own future, he believes that we can reverse the effects of what we've begun to do. However, I fear that our destructiveness may be too tied in to our own humanity, and that we will not be able to escape it. I hope I am wrong.

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Jun 17, 2007 Fatemeh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: wish-list

So easy to enjoy this book. If you don't have a scientific background about evolution, just like me, "The Third Chimpanzee" gives you the basic ideas and lots of amazing examples.
I liked the way he starts each chapter with an interesting question and during the chapter he presents possible answers.
However, I found some parts of it hard to believe (like the unpublished statistics of children of adultery), and for some of his theories, I was looking for more evidence to accept them.

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Nov 21, 2008 Djiezes rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all members of the species homo sapiens

Shelves: eclectic, non-fiction

An excellent read.
Jared Diamond gives a broad overview of the history of homo sapiens, its biological and cultural origins..
He focuses on the human history, traces its evolutionary origins and treats topics such as the rise and fall of civilizations, the role of language, domestication of animals and plants, ecology, geography, extinctions of other species and the role humans played in all these domains.
A must-read for members of the species.

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Nov 05, 2012 Alicia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I just got around to reading this book, published 20 years ago. A lot of the references are dated, and some of the same sorts of analogies are used as in Diamond's other books (I get it...you like bird-watching). Still, despite the twenty years that have passed since it was first published, this book holds up. The science is even more apparent today.

Essentially, the point seems to be that the destructive forces that humans employ (purposely or not) have been around at least as long as humans ha...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Mirrani rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-and-reviewed

The beginning of this book was well written and fascinating to read. There were actually witty remarks that had me amused in parts, which you wouldn't expect from something so scientific. The explanations for how humans developed behaviors and the comparisons with chimps and other animals in order to help with those explanations were easy to associate with and really helped with the taking in of the information. The text didn't treat the readers like award winning scientists, but it didn't dumb...more

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Aug 21, 2010 Jake rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

In this sprawling, fascinating book, Jared Diamond explores the place of humans in the animal kingdom. As in his later "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and "Collapse", Diamond weaves together an enormous range of subjects: taxonomy and genetics (to establish how closely humans are related to chimps), evolution and sexual selection (to investigate the animal precursors to distinguishing human features like language, art, drug abuse, and genocide,) and geography and history (to establish why certain human...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book. I had already read Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, so reading this book was kind of a trip back in time to read Diamond's original thesis. It was interesting to see all of the ideas from these other books presented together. I think that Diamond did a good job of explaining what makes humans so much like the other two chimpanzees and what makes us uniquely human.

My only real complaint about the book has to do with Diamond's writing style. The think that he want...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was Anthropology major in college so Part 1 is not knew or shocking for me.

Part 1 states that both humans and chimpanzee descended from a common ancestor 7 million years ago. He goes into DNA hybridization and how genomic dating is accurate based on what we know about apes and humans.

He states the 1.6% difference in our DNA from the chimpanzees is what distinguishes us from them by our bigger brain size, our bipedal mode of transportation, and more extended use of tools. He ponders the anima...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Jeff Hrusko added it

It's funny how some times you come at an author backwards...reading his newest, to his oldest. Arriving at this, his first book, I realized that ever book hereafter expanded upon an idea he expressed here. Another thing struck me.

Knowledge seems to filter down over time. This is an amazing book for fresh ideas and insights, but...after 15 plus years...many of the ideas have filtered through to the main stream. Reading some of this, it's like "well of course" then you take a step back and realiz...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Logan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jared Diamond doesn't disappoint here. Besides a bit of a leap (not the 'Great Leap' which he refers to as the cause of our rise from the confines of our genetic similarity to the chimps by means of language) that the reader has to make in accepting his hypothesis that we: "smoke, drink and do dangerous drugs" because it's a vicarious show of force, this is a very strong book full of great stories and convincing evidence of our evolution as humans.

What I also like about this book is that it ties...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Peter rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is full of fascinating information, yet I give it only 3 stars ("liked it") because the author it too scattered. It feels like he wanted to write at least 2 different books (which he subsequently did). I think his primary argument that the characteristics that make us unique arguably have animal precursors (e.g. rudimentary language of the vervets). However, his prose wanders. For example, when discussing agriculture, he points out that New World ants have indeed a system of agricultur...more

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Sep 01, 2010 Carin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

Fascinating book! A little dense so it took me a few days to read, but really interesting. In fact, since I started reading this book it seems like every other story I hear on the radio is about evolution, some are even on some of the exact topics in this book (which would be less weird if this book just came out but it was published in 1992.)

What convinced me to read it was a tidbit about how one of the very, very few things that are unique to humans is our desire to have sex alone, in private....more Fascinating book! A little dense so it took me a few days to read, but really interesting. In fact, since I started reading this book it seems like every other story I hear on the radio is about evolution, some are even on some of the exact topics in this book (which would be less weird if this book just came out but it was published in 1992.)

What convinced me to read it was a tidbit about how one of the very, very few things that are unique to humans is our desire to have sex alone, in private. Most animals do it in public, surrounded by their peers. Sadly, Dr. Diamond doesn't have a really cool explanation beyond that it likely increases the bond between partners which is crucial for raising human children, as they take so friggin long to raise. But meanwhile, I got all sorts of other neat tidbits of info: why are "bad boys" so attractive? Do other animals use drugs? Was farming the beginning of the end for humans? How/when/where did we develop language?

Basically this book isn't just about evolution as a fact. It's about the why behind it. Why did humans develop certain abilities, skills, or predilections and how were those things useful to us? Some are quite obvious such as domesticating animals, but others aren't such as murder. He looks at other species for answers which usually demonstrates how things we think are unique to humans really aren't, and it shows how truly useful ideas develop more than once. (Ants actually raise aphids like we raise cattle.)

Another undercurrent throughout the books is how we have evolved to the point where we can now destroy ourselves and the whole world. Several times Dr. Diamond mentions his sons, and how he's worried about the future they're inheriting. Reading the book 18 years after publication gives these arguments both more weight and less. The likelihood of nuclear war has lessened, while climate change has accelerated. I would be very interested if they added a new afterward in a newer edition. I wonder what Dr. Diamond thinks of the world today.

Interestingly, I came away from this book thinking how much like animals humans are (only 2% difference in DNA between us and chimpanzees). I told my friend T. about it, and she thought of the opposite - how much like humans animals are. (Yes, she is a big PETA supporter.) J. who recommended it was more interested in the history of the human being. It has a broad appeal and many people will get different things out of it.

This book will stay with me for quite a while. Whenever I see someone smoking, guys getting into a fight, or a woman being hit on in a bar, I will think of different aspects of Dr. Diamond's theories, and how pretty much everything we do is in an unconscious effort to pass along our genes.(less)

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Sep 09, 2012 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have been meaning to get to this book for years: Jared Diamond’s Guns Germs and Steel and Collapse have long been favorite, highly influential reads. The Third Chimpanzee, Diamond’s first, is now 20 years old. It was time to finally pick it up. The genius of Diamond is on full display here. And, interestingly, the seeds of those latter two books are also evident: the middle chapters hint at what is to come in GGandS and the last chapters provide the origins for Collapse. In this regard, The Th...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

It has taken me a long time to finish this, but this book goes in to SO many areas of anthropology! Ryan and I thought that perhaps it would be outdated, since it is older and Jared Diamond is a contemporary but a lot of this was new information. The third chimpanzee is us, and he goes into the things that make us uniquely human (art, genocide, drug-use) and how animals actually share these abilities as well, but still retains our uniqueness. Even if you don't assume evolution, or environmentali...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Rachael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, philosophy, language, biology

This book covered a variety of areas that I am interested, ecology, permaculture, biology, sociology, archiology and linguistics an in depth look at mankinds development and future trajectory. A candid and pleasantly refreshing still where subjective opinion is offered but always offering objective alternatives so the reader receives a more rounded view than the authors alone, although reasons to support the author's view are always provided. This is comparable to Richard Dawkins' writings in te...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Laura Larson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some of the information in this book is out-of-date now, and one of Diamond's important theories about human evolution has been proven false with recent discoveries - namely that most humans share a small percentage of DNA with neanderthals, thus proving the reality of human interbreeding with neanderthals. Additionally, I often felt that Diamond expounded on the same thoughts more than was necessary and was a bit repetitious and verbose in getting to his points; nonetheless, this book poses man...more

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About Jared Diamond

Jared Mason Diamond is an author, physiologist, evolutionary biologist and bio geographer. Dr. Diamond is also a medical researcher and professor of physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine. His book "Guns, Germs and Steel" won a Pulitzer Prize and "The Third Chimpanzee" was a best-selling award winner. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the...more

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Books by Jared Diamond

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Science Masters)

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

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Quotes from The Third Chimpanzee: ...

“Isn't language loss a good thing, because fewer languages mean easier communication among the world's people? Perhaps, but it's a bad thing in other respects. Languages differ in structure and vocabulary, in how they express causation and feelings and personal responsibility, hence in how they shape our thoughts. There's no single purpose "best" language; instead, different languages are better suited for different purposes. For instance, it may not have been an accident that Plato and Aristotle wrote in Greek, while Kant wrote in German. The grammatical particles of those two languages, plus their ease in forming compound words, may have helped make them the preeminent languages of western philosophy. Another example, familiar to all of us who studied Latin, is that highly inflected languages (ones in which word endings suffice to indicate sentence structure) can use variations of word order to convey nuances impossible with English. Our English word order is severely constrained by having to serve as the main clue to sentence structure. If English becomes a world language, that won't be because English was necessarily the best language for diplomacy.” — 16 people liked it

“The past was still a Golden Age, of ignorance, while the present is an Iron Age of willful bliss.” — 2 people liked it

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