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

Jared Diamond

3.71 · Rating details · 7,770 ratings · 886 reviews

The bestselling author of Collapse and Guns, Germs and Steel surveys the history of human societies to answer the question: What can we learn from traditional societies that can make the world a better place for all of us?

Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of it

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Hardcover, 512 pages

Published December 31st 2012 by Viking (first published October 19th 2012)

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Dec 05, 2012 Hadrian rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, society-culture-anthropology-etc

Jared Diamond is most famous for introducing a sort of ecological-determinism to public thought with Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, in which he introduces material context as a defining factor for the economic and social development of civilizations.

Here, Diamond focuses more on a social/cultural context, comparing pre-agricultural societies, such as those from his beloved New Guinea, to our WEIRD societies. WEIRD is not solely a sly dig at our lifestyles, but instead shor ...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Seth Kolloen rated it it was ok

Extremely disappointing. There are a few interesting chapters, but I probably skimmed about 60% of the book. There is a lot of long-winded explanation of things that any high school student probably knows (languages are disappearing - people are fat - religious people sometimes go to war!) The last third especially just seems like Diamond spouting off about nutrition and education with very little tied back to the supposed theme of the book. Really felt like about a 60 page book that was just ex ...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Milton Soong rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural-history, history

Four stars for content, 3 stars for style.

This is from the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel. I liked that book for the content and insight it presented, but thought that it's too verbose (i.e. lots of repetition of the same idea to get the point across). This book suffers the same issue. Ideally the information can be presented via a series of long form magazine article instead of a tome, but I guess books makes more money..

One difference about this book to his previous is that this work is a co ...more

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Mar 04, 2013 David rated it it was ok

You need to know right up front that I am going to really rag on this book. I read every single word of it and feel qualified to tell you it was poor in many respects. It would be so much nicer to praise and compliment Diamond's efforts here but I'd be lying if I told you anything other than "this was a painful experience". If you stick with my review, however, I will tell you toward the end what it takes this author 466 pages to say. (Please don't expect anything revelatory. His conclusions are ...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Aaron Thibeault rated it it was amazing

*A full executive summary of this book is available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/01/15...

The main argument: The onset of agriculture and farming some 11,000 years ago (termed the Neolithic Revolution), is arguably the most significant turning point in the history of our species. Agriculture induced a major population explosion, which then led to urbanization; labor specialization; social stratification; and formalized governance—thus ultimately bringing us to civilization as we know it *A full executive summary of this book is available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/01/15...

The main argument: The onset of agriculture and farming some 11,000 years ago (termed the Neolithic Revolution), is arguably the most significant turning point in the history of our species. Agriculture induced a major population explosion, which then led to urbanization; labor specialization; social stratification; and formalized governance—thus ultimately bringing us to civilization as we know it today. Prior to the Neolithic Revolution—and extending back time out of mind—human beings lived in a far different way. Specifically, our ancestors lived in small, largely egalitarian tribes of no more than 50 to 100 individuals, and hunted and foraged for their food.

The transition from our traditional hunting and gathering lifestyle, to early farming (and herding), to civilization as we know it now (which, on an evolutionary time-scale, occurred but yesterday) has certainly brought with it some very impressive benefits. Indeed, many of us today enjoy comforts and opportunities the likes of which our more traditional ancestors would never have dreamed of. However, it cannot be said that the transition from traditional to modern has left us without any difficulties. Indeed, some would go so far as to say that the problems that civilization has introduced outweigh the benefits that it has brought; and even the most unromantic among us are likely to agree that our experiment in civilization has not been an unmitigated success.

This then brings us to the problem of solving the difficulties that civilization has left us with. Now, when it comes to solving our problems, it is without a doubt the spirit of our age to look ever forward for solutions—by which I mean we tend to look for new technologies and hitherto untested arrangements to help us out of our current predicaments. However, when we consider that our traditional lifestyle served us well for millennia on end, and that it was under this lifestyle wherein we underwent much of the biological and psychological evolution that lives with us to this day, we can begin to see how it may be fruitful to look back at this traditional lifestyle for possible solutions to the problems we now face. (This idea is not new; indeed, the ‘state of nature’ has traditionally been of great interest to philosophers—for it has been thought that understanding how we lived by nature may serve as a guide to help us design the most fitting political communities given our present circumstances).

Also of interest here—and deeply connected to the more practical goal mentioned above—is that investigating our traditional way of life promises to shed light on our underlying human nature in a way that is not possible when we look at ourselves through the obscuring artifice of civilization. It is these things that we stand to gain by learning about traditional societies, and it is this very project that geographer Jared Diamond takes up in his new book The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

Diamond is certainly not one to deny that civilization has brought with it many important benefits over our traditional way of life (the most important of which, according to the author, being that state governments are much more effective at ending the cycles of violence that tend to plague traditional societies). However, Diamond does contend that there are many areas wherein traditional practices represent an improvement over how we do things in the modern world, and that these practices could (and should) be incorporated into our modern way of life (both at the personal and societal level). Specifically, we could afford to learn a thing or two from traditional societies when it comes to conflict resolution (how to re-establish and mend relationships); raising children (that it really does take a whole village to raise a child); treating the elderly (that they are deserving of respect, and are still capable of contributing to the community in many important ways); approaching risk (with extensive caution); communicating (in a face to face way, and with multiple languages); and in diet and exercise (favoring natural foods, reducing salt, and sugar intake, and adopting a more active lifestyle).

In the course of his exploration of traditional societies, Diamond also delves into why and how our ancestors transitioned from traditional societies to civilizations (with a focus on such areas as social, economic and political stratification, and also religion).

Diamond has made a career out of studying the traditional societies of Papua New Guinea, and is therefore a very credible authority on the subject matter at hand. What's more, his wealth of experience has left him with a trove of interesting and illuminating anecdotes to draw from, and these are on full display here. Finally, I felt that the author always maintained a very sober and balanced view with regards to the benefits and drawbacks of both traditional and modern societies. I would have liked to have seen certain topics discussed more, and others less, but this is mere personal preference. Altogether a very good book. A full executive summary of this book is available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/01/15... A podcast discussion of the book is also available. ...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Bettie☯ rated it liked it

Shelves: published-2012, radio-4, fradio, lifestyles-deathstyles, nonfiction, history, environmental-issues, families, new-guinea, spring-2013

BOTW

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r...

BBC Blurbs: Drawing upon several decades of experience living and working in Papua New Guinea, Professor Diamond shows how traditional societies can 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. Exploring how tribal peoples approach essential human problems, from child rearing to old age to conflict r ...more

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Jan 04, 2013 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, anthropology

This book is a fascinating, comprehensive view of life in several traditional cultures. The best part of the book is the personal insights that Jared Diamond delivers. Diamond spent a lot of time with the peoples of Papua New Guinea, and he enthusiastically describes all facets of their lives. He contrasts their society with other traditional societies living in the Arctic, in Africa, and with modern, Western societies.

There are hundreds of "tribes" living in New Guinea. Many of these tribes ha This book is a fascinating, comprehensive view of life in several traditional cultures. The best part of the book is the personal insights that Jared Diamond delivers. Diamond spent a lot of time with the peoples of Papua New Guinea, and he enthusiastically describes all facets of their lives. He contrasts their society with other traditional societies living in the Arctic, in Africa, and with modern, Western societies.

There are hundreds of "tribes" living in New Guinea. Many of these tribes have long-standing enmities with their neighbors. It is very dangerous for people to move from one area to another, because of vendettas that span across generations. Many people have never traveled more than a few miles from the place where they were born. Some people who live within 50 or 100 miles of the coast are not even aware of the ocean. As a result, their languages and customs remain distinct from one another.

This is a wonderful book, because Diamond describes the societies from first-hand knowledge, living among people in New Guinea. He has many interesting stories to tell, including a number from his first-hand experiences there. I especially like the story about his bird-watching expedition into an isolated region by helicopter, over 20 miles from the nearest inhabitants. All went swimmingly, until he came to a small clearing, where a guide pointed out a small stick with a few leaves stuck in the ground. Such an innocuous object was alarming to the guide, as it implied that the territory had recently been visited--and perhaps claimed--by others.

The book does tend to repeat unnecessarily, and occasionally to ramble. Towards the end of the book, Diamond makes a point of showing how the diets of traditional societies may be healthier than Western diets. People in traditional societies rarely are overweight, get diabetes, heart disease, and so on. This is an excellent point, although Diamond turns the chapter into a sort of self-help manual. I enjoyed his emphasis, but it was sort of distracting.

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Dec 09, 2012 Andrew rated it really liked it

It's always exciting when Jared Diamond publishes a new book and the advance copies were hugely sought after when they arrived at the office in October. This is the most personal of Diamond's books, with many anecdotes from his work in New Guinea. It reads like the book he's always wanted to write. The title is a comment that, in the context of history, we all, until recently, lived in traditional societies and Diamond describes key elements of that lifestyle. I found the beginning, where Diamon ...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Petra CigareX rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013-reviews, history, popculture-anthropology, travel-adventure-countries, reviewed

Book of the year, 2013, for me. 7 pure gold, very twinkly, high-in-the-sky stars. If you like anthropology and history you'll like this. If you don't think you like those subjects, you might still like this because it is wonderfully well-written and very enlightening.

If I ever get round to reviewing again, ie. if I ever get over being pissed off at Goodreads for turning into an authors' marketplace, for deleting and censoring reviews and shelves, for sharing my reviews, all of them, with Google ...more

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Mar 01, 2015 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: read2015, worldlit2015, around-the-world, location-new-guinea, location-papua-new-guinea

I read this because it looks at several groups from Papua New Guinea while exploring the differences between "modern" and "primitive" societies. Since the author spends 7% of his life in Papua New Guinea, at least half the examples of primitive societies come from that area, and he fills in the concepts with research (his own and others', current and historic) from other traditional societies around the world.

There is a lot here - warfare, language, diet, disease, family units. I was most intrig ...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Aaron Arnold rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2013, science

This is a frustrating book to review. It touches on a lot of interesting subjects, but avoids discussing many of the most thought-provoking implications. It has sections of research picked almost randomly in support of alternately prudent and ridiculous opinions. It's heavy on analysis, yet it doesn't have many clear prescriptions at all. Its subject is vast, yet his focus is often very narrow. I liked many parts of it, but overall it's unquestionably a step down from his past 2, even though it This is a frustrating book to review. It touches on a lot of interesting subjects, but avoids discussing many of the most thought-provoking implications. It has sections of research picked almost randomly in support of alternately prudent and ridiculous opinions. It's heavy on analysis, yet it doesn't have many clear prescriptions at all. Its subject is vast, yet his focus is often very narrow. I liked many parts of it, but overall it's unquestionably a step down from his past 2, even though it clearly seems to be a more heartfelt book. In the grand continuum of popular science books, it's much closer to the "pop" end, and even given the fact that it's impossible to satisfy all types of popular science readers, I have no idea who the target audience is supposed to be. His subject is the cultural practices of several groups of traditional societies, and the lessons that us Westerners can learn from their practices. In a way it's a return to the first chapter of Guns Germs & Steel, but instead of asking "how did the West get so advanced?", he's asking "are there things we can still learn from the people we've out-developed?"

It's a reasonable question, and anyone who has devoted any thought to the long-term effects of our overweight, overstressed, overmedicated, atomized modern lifestyles ("WEIRD" in his acronym - Western Educated Industrial Rich Democratic) will find some value in his high-level survey of the ways that traditional societies handle various aspects of the human condition like conflict, child-raising, religion, diet, the role of the elderly, and the like. He tends to split his analysis into either anecdote-heavy descriptive passages that involve his pals in New Guinea, or slightly more rigorous conceptual sections that discuss things like the various functions of religion or the types of political changes that occur when societies grow from a few hundred hunter-gatherers to millions of specialized citizens. There's good stuff in both types of sections, but... (as usual, ignore the first half of any sentence that has a "but..." in it).

My problem with the anecdotal sections is that though the narrative format is a good way to make your points more vivid, it's also a good way to make them less rigorous. It's all very well to tell people that "constructive paranoia" (minimizing risks through careful skepticism) is a helpful way to live, but even though he has some neat stories about mysterious forest sorcerers, almost dying in a canoe accident, and running around on remote mountain peaks, my reaction was basically "cool story bro" - are these either generalizable in any way to Western lives, or even anything more than an over-elaborate way to say "watch out for danger"? He also tosses in anecdotes that are simply absurd, like the one about the Kenyan who didn't like American toys because Kenyan toys were more interactive and better at encouraging mechanical creativity. Hence the global leadership and supremacy of Kenyan industry? Ditto again for stories about how much more isolating modern society is than than the constant communication and contact in traditional societies. This is certainly true, but it seems odd to package a criticism of solitary entertainment like TV, video games, or books in the form of a book which can only be appreciated by reading or listening to it alone.

As far as the more data-heavy sections are concerned, I don't think any of the science is outright wrong, but I can see why this book annoys specialists in several scientific fields. Diamond picks really big topics, like The Role of Religion In Society, or The Effects of Increasing Scale On Societal Organization, and sums them up in a few pages of text and maybe a table or two. This is either admirable trans-specialty synthesis, or over-simplification on an epic scale, and the trend was increasingly towards the latter as the book went on. For example, late in the book he talks about the sharp decrease in global language diversity and the disappearance of many traditional languages. I personally am not very sentimental about languages in and of themselves, even English, and so his pathos-filled arguments for the preservation and continuation of languages with just a few thousand speakers didn't do much for me. Suppressing speakers of Breton is bad, I agree, and I think his advocacy of bilingualism is solid, yet the fact that all languages eventually change or die out doesn't really bother me in a metaphysical sense; that my nth generation descendants might be speaking SpaceMandarin instead of NeoEnglish is fine with me. Also, Diamond correctly points out that death rates from all kinds are much higher in traditional societies than modern ones: are there any evolutionary consequences to this? He doesn't say.

Ultimately I wasn't very satisfied with the book. Certainly we should give more thought to whether the vast changes in lifestyle encouraged by modernity are really good for us in the long run, but I found the evidence that Diamond gave insufficient to conclude that New Guinean highlanders have much to teach us. What made Guns Germs & Steel and Collapse such good books to me was their rigorous sourcing, his broad synthesis of those sources, and the careful way his specific claims about imperialism and sustainability emerged from those things. This book is a decent overview of the cultural practices of some groups of traditional societies, but it feels like a huge let-down from those two works, simultaneously too lengthy and too unclear.

Also, the airport frame story technique was almost intolerably Thomas Friedman-esque. Cut that stuff out. ...more

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Nov 13, 2017 Tevfik rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Jared Diamond'un her kitabı ufkumu fersah fersah açmıştır. Bu de öyle yaptı. Gerçekten insanın dünyaya ve toplumlara olan bakışını değiştirebilen bir yazar. Bir hezarfen olmasının bunda çok büyük etkisi var. Olayları pek çok farklı boyuttan ele alabiliyor.

Düne kadar dünya, günümüzdeki avcı toplayıcı toplulukların bizlerin düne kadarki hallerine karşılık geldiği varsayımıyla, geçmişteki sosyal kurumlarla günümüzdekileri karşılaştırıyor. Her sosyolog, antropolog, kültür ve sanat tarihçisinin okuma ...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Natalie rated it really liked it

While THE WORLD UNTIL YESTERDAY isn't exactly captivating reading, it's a book most will have been glad they read. I found the chapters on child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and nutrition most informative and while not idealizing traditional societies, the author makes the case that there is, indeed, much we can learn from them.

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Feb 23, 2018 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: anthropology, audio-books, non-fiction, read-2018

From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
The first of five extracts from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's powerful new book, that asks what can traditional societies teach us about how we in the west live now?

2/5. Second extract from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's powerful new book that draws upon his several decades of experience living and working in Papua New Guinea. Professor Diamond argues that traditional societies offer a window onto how our ancestors lived for mill From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
The first of five extracts from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's powerful new book, that asks what can traditional societies teach us about how we in the west live now?

2/5. Second extract from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's powerful new book that draws upon his several decades of experience living and working in Papua New Guinea. Professor Diamond argues that traditional societies offer a window onto how our ancestors lived for millions of years - until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms - and can provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.

3/5 Extract from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's powerful new book that draws upon his several decades of experience living and working in Papua New Guinea. Professor Diamond argues that traditional societies offer a window onto how our ancestors lived for millions of years - until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms - and can provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.

4/5 Extract from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's new book which suggests that traditional societies offer us a window onto how our ancestors lived for millions of years - until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms - and can provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.

5/5 Extract from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's powerful new book which suggests that traditional societies offer a window onto how our ancestors lived for millions of years - until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms - and can provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.

Drawing upon several decades of experience living and working in Papua New Guinea, Professor Diamond shows how traditional societies can 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. Exploring how tribal peoples approach essential human problems, from childrearing to old age to conflict resolution to health, Diamond reminds us that the West achieved global dominance due to specific environmental and technological advantages, but Westerners do not necessarily have superior ideas about how to live well.

Read by Crawford Logan.

Abridged by Robin Brooks.

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r... ...more

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Nov 11, 2013 Keith Swenson rated it liked it

Consider me a big Jared Diamond fan. I read Guns, Germs, and Steel twice, Collapse once, and have watched all the video documentaries. There is no question that Diamond is a consummate researcher and will always have a special place in helping me understand how human societies have come about.

This book, however, was a vague disappointment. Not because the book was bad, but because I had such high expectations of it. It seemed to me that he had a bunch of notes and journal entries left over that Consider me a big Jared Diamond fan. I read Guns, Germs, and Steel twice, Collapse once, and have watched all the video documentaries. There is no question that Diamond is a consummate researcher and will always have a special place in helping me understand how human societies have come about.

This book, however, was a vague disappointment. Not because the book was bad, but because I had such high expectations of it. It seemed to me that he had a bunch of notes and journal entries left over that did not fit into the earlier works, and now here they are, jumbled together with an attempt at an overall theme, but more jumble than theme.

What I did find fascinating is the view of the primitive cultures in New Guinea. I personally have no feeling for what these cultures are like, and this book will give you a certain feeling and understanding. Death and murder is a part of everyday life. Particularly poignant is the Inuit who will probably be killed for trespassing, even when the trespassing was completely accidental, caused by ice breaking off and drifting into another tribe's territory. Our modern state-oriented sense of fairness rebels at the idea that both sides know that no fault is assigned, and yet killing has nothing to do with fault. We certainly take it for granted that we can stop the car in any small town in America, get out, and walk around with really a very low chance of any problem. A native New Guinean lives in a 7 mile radius, not because they lack curiosity or stamina to go further, but because it is incredibly dangerous to do so.

Chapter 2 is about accidents and justice, and how restoring relationship is the goal in traditional cultures, while in state societies justice means either punishment or compensation.

Chapter 3 & 4 is about war and violence. He does highlight the differences between traditional cultures and ours.

Chapter 5 is about raising children, while chapter 6 was about how the old are treated. Some hints of a romantic idea that kids are so much better when they have to make their own toys, however infant mortality and accident rates are shockingly high. While it was interesting to see the differences, these chapters did not leave me with any real idea of how we might learn from these.

Chapter 7 was a very very detailed account of a boat accident he endured, and the only point was that someone else, a native, had noticed the crew of the boat was misbehaving and decided not to be on the boat. The point? Some natives have a sense of danger that we westerners don't have. At the same time, we westerners have a sense in our environment of what is and is not dangerous as well. Why would anyone be surprised at this? The real message: people know their own world better than foreigners. Chapter 8 follow this with further interesting stories of native differences.

Chapter 9 launches into a discussion of religion, and this chapter feels as if it was pulled from a completely different book. Clearly he has done a lot of thinking about this, and did not have enough material for a whole book on the subject, so this became chapter 9. Maybe the best chapter, but at the same time, understand that the same kind of hard evidence from the rest of the book is simply not possible on the subject of religion.

Chapter 10 is a shallow argument that everyone should be a polyglot. He explains that there are 7000 languages, and the median language spoken by few thousand people. Surprisingly, in these traditional cultures, there are many languages spoken in a small area, and literally everyone speaks a handful of languages. He gives some evidence that people who a bilingual do better at something things than monolingual people, and this is done with the standard backdrop of how sad it is that so man people in USA are monolingual. This is followed by weaping and moaning for languages that are being "steamrollered" out of existence by modern states. However, he never once gives a reason that the world should have 7000 languages. Most of these languages are only spoken (never written) and he never explains why there is any harm at the loss of a language after the last speaker dies. Similarly, there is no assessment of the value of a common language, although we all know this is incredibly valuable today. This chapter was romantic and quite frankly unconvincing.

Chapter 11 is on diet. Clearly, the modern diet is not healthy, and clearly we have a chronic problem with diabetes today. He gives plenty of evidence that this is a modern world (cultural) problem and not any kind of racial problem: what I mean is that tranditional people when they take up the modern lifestyle fall prey to all these problems equal to those who had many generations in the lifestyle. This is a worthy message, however the problem is complex, and no solution is provided. We know people need to be more active, and traditional cultures are generally more active. So in the end, not much real new insight comes out of this.

That is about it: a few viewpoints of the differences of modern world compared to traditional world, backed up by copious, very detailed notes. Diamond remains one of the most important people to read, but not for this book. ...more

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Mar 17, 2018 Công rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Một cuốn sách 600 trang, đọc đến phát mệt :v nhưng tựu trung lại cũng thấy nhiều điều thú vị. Phần I và phần II nói về mấy hình thức tổ chức xã hội đọc chơi chán, nhưng về sau mấy phần về người già, tôn giáo, và sức khoẻ đọc rất thực tế và hấp dẫn. Không phải chỉ về xã hội truyền thống, tác giả thực sự đã xây dựng nên một bức tranh bao quát về nhiều lĩnh vực với vô vàn thứ đáng học hỏi trong cuộc sống.
Sẵn sàng cho "Sụp đổ" và "Súng, vi trùng và thép" thôi.

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Dec 08, 2012 Todd Martin rated it liked it

Shelves: environment-science

Within a relatively short timeframe humans have gone from living as hunter/gatherers in small tribes of a few hundred individuals, to agrarian communities comprised of thousands, to city-states of many millions with a broad division of labor and a representative form of government. This change in the structure of society has resulted in a dramatic alterations in lifestyle. While many of these changes have been positive (we live longer, are subject to less violence and have access to many goods a Within a relatively short timeframe humans have gone from living as hunter/gatherers in small tribes of a few hundred individuals, to agrarian communities comprised of thousands, to city-states of many millions with a broad division of labor and a representative form of government. This change in the structure of society has resulted in a dramatic alterations in lifestyle. While many of these changes have been positive (we live longer, are subject to less violence and have access to many goods and services that were unavailable to our ancestors), some of them are less so (epidemics of obesity and diabetes, and incidents of isolation). In The World Until Yesterday Jared Diamond examines traditional societies and the ways in which we may be able to learn from them in our era of sedentary desk jobs and virtual, on-line lives.

Diamond examines such topics as: trade, conflict resolution, treatment of children and the elderly, risk, religion, language and diet. Although not an anthropologist by training, Diamond is known as a polymath and has spent quite a bit of time with tribes in New Guinea. His experiences lend anecdotal support to the conclusions he draws from anthropological research.

Are there some overarching themes as to what we might learn from studies of tradition people? Well, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Traditional lifestyles tend to be both dangerous and violent. Inter-tribal conflicts result in a higher proportion of violent death (relative to population size) than is found in state-run societies and the incidence of genocide and infanticide are more prevalent. Traditional societies are generally unfamiliar with the scientific method and instead form supernatural explanations of natural events (yes .. we have Pat Robertson, but rational individuals look to science for answers). Finally, many of the activities that surround their daily life are dictated by fear. Whether it’s the lion that may be lurking in the grass or a shift in alliances that make interactions with the tribe next door uncertain, life is stressful and requires one to adopt a paranoid mindset (Diamond refers to this as “constructive paranoia”) in order to survive.

With that said, there are some aspects of these cultures that we could learn from. In traditional societies, conflict resolution is often performed through a mediator whose goal may include both compensation and emotional closure for the victim. States resolve conflict through a court system which often provides little consolation for those that were harmed. Another area is in our treatment of children and the elderly. Some traditional groups give their children considerable freedom and revere their elders for their experience and knowledge. In state societies these demographics tend to be segregated from the larger population by age, leading to social isolation and little inter-generational learning. Finally, a quick glance at a cross section of our general population makes it abundantly clear that we have become soft, fat and unhealthy. Traditional populations had to work to survive and they only ate what they were able to collect, catch or grow. A sedentary lifestyle coupled with a diet high in fat, salt and sugar has led to a rise in heart disease, stroke and cancer. A return to a diet and active lifestyle that more closely resembles that of our ancestors could result in significant improvements in health.

One area where I take issue with Diamond is with regards to language. There are currently in the neighborhood of 7,000 languages in the world and Diamond predicts that most will have vanished or be well on their way to having become so by the year 2100. He bemoans this loss and urges that heroic measures be taken to preserve them. While I agree with Diamond that language can help preserve a groups cultural identity in the face of the homogenizing influence exerted by the state, I just don’t see the loss of a language as a particularly tragic event. It is certainly a people’s right to keep their native language alive, and failing that, linguists are certainly welcome to do their best to preserve them if they so choose, but the fact is that most are fading through simple neglect. Young people don’t want to learn them and old people that retain these skills are dying. Perhaps it’s my lack of sentimentality, but I do not believe it’s a tragedy to let nature run its course. All languages change over time. It is active, engaged bodies that keep a language vibrant and alive. A language on life-support that people have forgotten how to speak is not a language at all but a museum piece.

Diamond is one of the few scientists who can write well and explain his subject matter to a lay audience in an way that is interesting. Although the lessons he draws aren’t particularly novel or surprising (in fact, most are banal) the information about the various cultures he examines is interesting. Many of the conclusions regarding violence also dovetail nicely with those drawn by Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature. It was a happy coincidence that I read them back to back. I will say, however, that the book went on rather too long and becomes overly repetitive towards the end (I get it, our western diet sucks and we should eat more broccoli … thanks mom). ...more

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Mar 13, 2018 Yasin S. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Bütün kitaplarını okuduğum ve çok sevdiğim Jared Diamond'un bu son kitabını okumasam olmazdı. Gayet kolay anlaşılır ve akıcı bir üslupla yazılmış ve bir çok kişisel tecrübe ve ilginç bilgi ile donatılmış bu kitap bir sohbet havasında insanı sıkmayan bir anlatıma sahip.

Kitapta ilk dikkatimi çeken unsur J.D.'ın diğer kitaplarına nazaran çok daha kişisel bir kitap olmasıydı. Belli ki yaşlı ve bilge Diamond 70 yılı aşkın ömrü boyunca elde ettiği kıymetli tecrübelerini, kişisel anılarını ve günümüz Bütün kitaplarını okuduğum ve çok sevdiğim Jared Diamond'un bu son kitabını okumasam olmazdı. Gayet kolay anlaşılır ve akıcı bir üslupla yazılmış ve bir çok kişisel tecrübe ve ilginç bilgi ile donatılmış bu kitap bir sohbet havasında insanı sıkmayan bir anlatıma sahip.

Kitapta ilk dikkatimi çeken unsur J.D.'ın diğer kitaplarına nazaran çok daha kişisel bir kitap olmasıydı. Belli ki yaşlı ve bilge Diamond 70 yılı aşkın ömrü boyunca elde ettiği kıymetli tecrübelerini, kişisel anılarını ve günümüzün dünyasına dair yorumlarını bilimsel destekleriyle birlikte okurları ile paylaşmak istemiş.

Kitabın konusu ise daha açık olamazdı. İsmine bakmak yeterli. Onbinlerce yıllık insanlık tarihinde insanlar devlet düzenine sahip olmadan, kabileler altında doğa ile baş başa, yırtıcı hayvanlar ve diğer tehlikelerle yan yana, resmen orman kanunları altında yaşama ve soyunu devam ettirme mücadelesi vererek nesilden nesile çok kıymetli hayati tecrübeler edinmiş ve o şekilde evrilmişlerdir. Bu derin geçmişe kıyasla daha dün denilebilecek bir tarihte ise devletlerin kurulması, tarımsal ve yerleşik hayata geçilmesi, siyasi ve dini örgütlenmeler ve ardından endüstrileşmiş batılı toplumların oluşmasına tanık olan insanlık bu yeni yaşam tarzının keyfini sürmeye başladı. Fakat Diamond'un W.E.I.R.D (Westernized, Educated, Industrial Rich, Democratic) olarak tanımladığı bu yeni yaşam biçimi beraberinde insanların daha önce hiç aşina olmadığı bir çok sorunlar da getirdi. Günümüzün dünyasında sadece bir avuç insan izole yaşam alanlarında insanların yüzbinlerce yıldır alışkın olduğu geleneksel yaşam tarzını devam ettirirken geriye kalan tüm halklar W.E.I.R.D yaşam tarzına geçerek bu görece yeni ve insanların alışkın olmadığı sorunlarla mücadele etmek zorunda kalmışlardır. Bu sorunlardan bazılarını sıralamak gerekirse geleneksel dillerin ve kültürlerin asimile olması, aşırı şekerli ve tuzlu besinlerin kolayca temin edilmesi ile gelen obezite, şeker, kalp hastalıkları ve kanser çeşitleri, maaşlar, vergiler, işsizlik ve depresyon, yaşlılara olan kötü muamele, gösteriş ve tüketim çılgınlığı,hava kirliliği, kanserojenler, yalnızlık vs vs. Bu sorunların hiçbiri daha önceki geleneksel yaşam tarzında görülmeyen ya da çok ender görülen sorunlarken şu an hepimizi etkileyen ve hayat kalitemizi düşüren unsurlar haline geldiler. J.D. tabi ki modern yaşam tarzını bırakıp eski kabile hayatımıza dönelim demiyor fakat eskiden bu sorunlar olmadan yüzbinlerce yıllık hayat tecrübemiz varken neden bunlardan örnek alarak günümüzdeki hayatımıza farklı yönler katmayalım ki? diyor basitçe. Kitabın toplumsal adalet sistemi, çocuk yetiştirme ve yaşlılarla olan iletişim, hastalıklarla mücadele, savaş ve kavgalar, risk alma, din, dil, yeme içme kültürleri gibi bir çok farklı bakış açısından geleneksel ve modern hayatın ayrıntılı ve şaşırtıcı karşılaştırmalarını yaparak çok faydalı bilgiler sağladığı kesin. Bu konulara olan ilginiz ve merakınız varsa okumaktan zevk alacağınızı düşünüyorum. Yalnız bu kitap Diamond için oldukça kişisel bir kitap olduğundan daha önce başka kitaplarını okuyup yazara aşina olursanız kitaptan daha fazla zevk alabilirsiniz.

Şimdi de gelelim kitabın negatif yönlerine. Bilimi halka açıklamak misyonunu üzerine almış tüm bilim adamları teknik jargonu bir yana bırakıp daha net anlaşılmak adına çocuğa anlatır gibi sık tekrarlamalar yaparak ve zaten anladığınız konuyu anlamadığınızı farzederek sıkıcı detaylara girebiliyor. Diamond bunu hep yapıyor ve bu kitabında da maalesef oldukça fazla tekrar, detaylı anlatım, hatta tepki çekeceğini düşündüğü yerlerde 'vurmayın bakın öyle demek istemiyorum' dercesine savunmaya geçmesi biraz okuma keyfini zedeliyor. Tabi belki de böyle yapmasının kendince sebepleri vardır. Belki daha geniş halk kesimine hitap ettikçe bilim insanlarına gelen tepkiler artarak şiddetleniyordur. Bunun böyle olduğunu tahmin ettiğimden kusura bakmadım. Cahillerle uğraşmak gerçekten zor ve bezdirici olmalı.

İkinci ve en önemli negatif nokta ise yayıncının ve çevirmenin hataları. Ben bir kitap okurken çevirmeni değil yazarı okumak isterim. Çevirmenlerin kaliteli metinleri kalitesizce çevirmelerini o yazara yapılmış bir hakaret olarak görüyorum. Zaten kolay anlaşılabilir bir yazım dili kullanan Diamond'un yazılarını çevirmek bu kadar zor olmamalı. Genel okuyucu kitlesini rahatsız etmeyecek kadar da olsa oldukça fazla akıl almaz çeviri, yazım ve imla hatası barındıran bir kitap. Örneğin;

-Bypass etmek fiili kullanmak
-İngilizce dili demek
-Homo Sapiens'i Homo sapien'ler diye çevirmek
-Hiçte kolay değil - Yaşayıpta gibi komik dilbilgisi hataları
-Gıda saklama usullerinden bahsederken "tenekede" gibi bir çeviri yapması. Sanırım asıl metinde geçen "can" kelimesini konserve olarak çevirse daha mantıklı olacaktı.

gibi hatalar can sıksa da o kadar da OCD'niz yoksa keyif alacağınızı düşünüyorum. ...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Hans G. rated it liked it

Jared Diamond is quite famous for his well-argued "geographical hypothesis" for helping to explain global (continental) inequality (Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies). This can be contrasted with the "cultural hypothesis" which relies more heavily on the role culture plays in explaining the social evolution and dissemination of technology (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: and Other Writings (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)). These positions are not necess ...more

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Mar 05, 2018 Lesley rated it really liked it

Fascinating book comparing the world of hunter-gatherers with our own. In many ways the hunter-gatherers seem to have a better life! And many wise observations as a result.
Was also struck that many of the customs and qualities which Diamond describes as being those of hunter-gatherers actually continue in Japan.

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Apr 09, 2013 Steve rated it it was ok

Shelves: fun-nonfiction

First, to be honest: I didn't finish the book. After three weeks on loan from the library, I finally accepted that I just wasn't engaged enough to finish the book. The rest of this review covers why.

I've always greatly enjoyed Jared Diamond's books and grabbed a copy of each one that I've run across. He does an excellent job of conveying a lot of information in an easy-to-read format and is normally fabulous at bringing together lots of information to make his case.

But The World Until Yesterday ...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Laurie Bryce rated it liked it

I was underwhelmed by this book. Diamond keeps asking, "What ideas and practices can we learn and adopt from traditional societies?" and by the end of this very long book, I was thinking, "Not much."

There's an interesting chapter on diet -- heart disease and diabetes and similar Western world causes of death are unheard of in hunter-gatherer societies -- and that really brings home how we are literally killing ourselves with our food choices. I can see what the "Paleolithic diet" boosters are g ...more

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Jul 10, 2013 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a long book. At times a bit boring, at others very interesting. Long winded but thorough. But the interesting parts are worth the short wade through the boring bits. The author discusses the major differences between modern living and tribal societies. He takes a very frank look at both and analyzes the pros and cons of each.

Among these was the best discussion of social justice I have ever heard. And some very good points about how diet contributes to diabetes, with research among tribe ...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Jill Furedy rated it really liked it

This was the book I wanted "Beyond Civilization" to be. But I knew I wasn't getting that from Daniel Quinn. I'd not read Jared Diamond before, so wasn't sure what to expect. As interesting as nonfiction can be, I have such a hard time getting through it...they are seldom page turners. So while I liked this one, it did take me a long time to finish. The war and peace topics were alright...the question of how to interact with strangers in various societies and the strategies of state government v ...more

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Jun 03, 2013 Elyse Walters rated it it was ok

Disappointing!

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Apr 24, 2018 Paula rated it liked it

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Diamond's previous book Guns, Germs and Steel, I expected to like this one, and I did. However, the findings in this book pale in comparison to the previous one. There is little originality in his overriding conclusion that western civilization has traded community for convenience. His attempt to explain the origins of religious experience seems naive at best. He obviously has never experienced what he is trying to explain away. What I did like were the smaller ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Akreid rated it it was ok

I didn't find this as compelling as Guns, Germs and Steel. It offers interesting facts about traditional societies but could probably do so in far fewer pages.

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Jul 15, 2014 Brent Ranalli rated it really liked it

Shelves: environmental-studies, deep-history, politics-society

Jared Diamond's first blockbuster, Guns, Germs & Steel, was a tour de force marred by one serious flaw: In an excessive fit of political correctness, Diamond argued that the evidence he had marshaled about the influence of geography on the grand course of civilization not only made it unnecessary to hypothesize cultural superiority as the cause of the global dominance of Eurasian civilization, but also proved that all cultures are somehow "equal" (adaptively, morally). That conclusion doesn' Jared Diamond's first blockbuster, Guns, Germs & Steel, was a tour de force marred by one serious flaw: In an excessive fit of political correctness, Diamond argued that the evidence he had marshaled about the influence of geography on the grand course of civilization not only made it unnecessary to hypothesize cultural superiority as the cause of the global dominance of Eurasian civilization, but also proved that all cultures are somehow "equal" (adaptively, morally). That conclusion doesn't follow from the evidence, and in fact the claim is absurd. Rome didn't come to dominate the Mediterranean, rather than some other city-state, because the Tiber river valley had a different geography than the Po. Rome dominated because it was warlike. And while any attempt to rank cultures on a moral basis would be fraught, few can doubt that modern Scandinavia and the Aztec empire, say, are leagues apart.

The World Until Yesterday compensates for those errors, in more than one way. First, Diamond confronts cultural diversity head-on. It is a major theme of the book, and to the extent he generalizes about traditional cultures, he does so with appropriate hedges and caveats. Second, Diamond is much more careful about circumscribing what conclusions he draws and what interpretations his evidence supports, even to the point of being somewhat banal and pedantic.

The great strength of the book is the personal anecdotes from Diamond's decades of travel and fieldwork in New Guinea and elsewhere. In many traditional societies, we learn, elders are a valuable resources on account of their accumulated stock of knowledge and wisdom. We get the sense that Jared Diamond, too, is an elder with a great deal of knowledge and accumulated wisdom to impart, and we have the good fortune to receive it.

The book has been criticized by some anthropologists for painting an overly bleak view of warfare and violence in traditional societies and exaggerating the willingness of traditional peoples to "choose" to join state societies for the material and personal security it supposedly offers--and thus serving as an apologist for enemies of indigenous peoples' rights to autonomy. Diamond perhaps could have done more to illustrate the violence, substance abuse, and other psychic dislocations that often go along with the (often involuntary) transition into state societies. But on the whole, the points he makes are valid. If he is not an activist for indigenous political rights, he is neither a true opponent; he just takes a realist's view that everyone will come into the orbit of state society sooner or later.

While Diamond's conclusions are generally sound, his arguments are not always. On the subject of taking risks, he carries on far too long a metaphor about taking shots in hockey. Professor Diamond, one does not take extra risks in a traditional society because one anticipates a short life span. One takes risks because one needs to eat! The chapter on religion too, though spot on in its main conclusions, offers several cringeworthy arguments.

On the other hand, some of the pedantry can be forgiven. One might suppose that the value of language diversity is axiomatic and hardly requires discussion. Is it really necessary to rehearse arguments for multilingualism and language preservation? Well, apparently it is. The BBC has listeners who write in and say that minority languages should be actively suppressed, and Diamond quotes them. Well, then! Professor Diamond, go right ahead and we will admire and be entertained as you tear those asinine propositions, and the feeble arguments offered in support of them, to tiny shreds. (Starting with the point that English itself is technically a minority language. Shall we all switch over to Mandarin?)

Ultimately, one might say the book is written for a high school reading level. It doesn't assume much sophistication about the ways of the world, but gently leads the reader through every point. I listened to the recorded version of the book, and in that medium the repetitiveness and long-windedness didn't bother me as much as it appears to have bothered some other reviewers. ...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Ryan rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction-general

The World Until Yesterday
Jared Diamond
Read it in Hardback at 512 pages.

Jared Diamond, you are a man of many talents and educational degrees who has travelled the world for a variety of reasons and are able to take many interesting conjectures from so many different points and spin them into a comprehensive and unique vantage point that dissect human history and aim to improve the human experience. This is why I read your books, despite the handy-cap of an unequal margin of intelligence. Last yea The World Until Yesterday
Jared Diamond
Read it in Hardback at 512 pages.

Jared Diamond, you are a man of many talents and educational degrees who has travelled the world for a variety of reasons and are able to take many interesting conjectures from so many different points and spin them into a comprehensive and unique vantage point that dissect human history and aim to improve the human experience. This is why I read your books, despite the handy-cap of an unequal margin of intelligence. Last year I read Mr. Diamonds book titled Collapse and was intrigued and educated throughout its pages. This year as I was stumbling through Costco I decided to rummage past the book and media isle, something I usually try to actively not do, and saw this. Into the oversized cart it went.

The World Until Yesterday takes a magnifying glass to what Diamond labels as Traditional societies compared to its modern counterparts and what we can learn from our roots.

The broad parent topics include:
1: Setting the Stage by Dividing Space - This section details out how modern and traditional societies handle their citizens, the threat of transients and unknowns, and also how we both decipher their intentions and deal with subsequent enemy menace.
2: Peace and War - The states of any society and how they handle these unsure topics. How societies treat their neighbors and how they war with their enemies. Both Traditional and Modern societies handle this interestingly and have different fallouts because of it.
3: Young and Old - A common problem no matter what society you are part of is the fact that everyone gets old, but how does everyone deal with their elderly?
4: Danger and Response - You think you may know what kind of dangers befall a traditional society but there is some really eye opening things in this heading about our westernized society.
5: Region, Language, and Health: The bits about Health are scary, really scary, at least the implications of modernizing the world.

The overall criticism of Diamonds writing is that it is too opinionated or that he pushes a conclusion and that his opinion is the only available logical conjunction. As each of his books come out I see less and less of this in his writing, except on the topics that are no brainers, and I don't know if that's in response to these criticisms or if the subject matter provides less opportunities to readily say which is the right way. Throughout reading The World Until Yesterday I was waiting for Mr. Diamond to tell me which was the right way but he rarely takes sides, except on the easily apparent, which I appreciated.

3.5 rounding down for Goodreads. ...more

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Oct 15, 2013 R Arnaud rated it liked it

Everyone one likes to say how much better it was in the good old days. And everyone knows it is just partially true. This book can be said to explore this myth with more details to determine where traditional living has an advantage and where modern aspects of our lives we would not do without. Diamond makes a slightly stronger point; by comparing traditional societies and modern ones we can uncover important features of human psychology.

The problem remains that observations of traditional socie ...more

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About Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond

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Jared Diamond is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. He is Professor of Geography at UCLA and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He has dedicated this book to his sons and future generations.

Books by Jared Diamond

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

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

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

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

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“The U.S. has so many rules and regulations, because of fear of being sued, that kids give up on the opportunity for personal exploration. A pool has to be fenced so that it’s not an ‘attractive nuisance.’ Most New Guineans don’t have pools, but even the rivers that we frequented didn’t have signs saying ‘Jump at your own risk,’ because it’s obvious. Why would I jump unless I’m prepared for the consequences? Responsibility in the U.S. has been taken from the person acting and has been placed on the owner of the land or the builder of the house. Most Americans want to blame someone other than themselves as much as possible. In New Guinea I was able to grow up, play creatively, and explore the outdoors and nature freely, with the obligatory element of risk, however well managed, that is absent from the average risk-averse American childhood. I had the richest upbringing possible, an upbringing inconceivable for Americans.” — 3 likes

“That need for police and laws and moral commandments to be nice to strangers doesn’t arise in tiny societies, in which everyone knows everyone else.” — 1 likes

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