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Summary
Summary
At some point during the last 100,000 years, humans began exhibiting traits and behavior that distinguished us from other animals, eventually creating language, art, religion, bicycles, spacecraft, and nuclear weapons--all within a heartbeat of evolutionary time. Now, faced with the threat of nuclear weapons and the effects of climate change, it seems our innate tendencies for violence and invention have led us to a crucial fork in our road. Where did these traits come from? Are they part of our species immutable destiny? Or is there hope for our species' future if we change?
With fascinating facts and his unparalleled readability, Diamond intended his book to improve the world that today's young people will inherit. Triangle Square's The Third Chimpanzee for Young People is a book for future generation and the future they'll help build.
Author Notes
Jared Diamond has been the national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal since 2017. Prior to that, he spent a season as the Journal's Yankees beat writer and three seasons as their Mets beat writer. In his current role, he leads the newspaper's baseball coverage. This is his first book.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Adapted for younger audiences by the redoubtable Stefoff but not significantly different in scope, arguments, or, for that matter, reading level from Diamond's original (Harper, 1992, 2006), this wide-ranging study of what makes us human offers provocative views of evolution, adaptation, cultural diffusion, sexuality, genocide, race, mass extinctions of the past and present, the roots of drug abuse and language, and even the search for extraterrestrial intelligence ("we're alone in a crowded universe. Thank goodness!"). The strength of Diamond's views is what makes them provocative, whether he's explaining why we-uniquely among social animals-prefer to have sex in private, or portraying the urge to smoke or take dangerous drugs as another manifestation of seemingly anti-survival animal displays, such as the male Bird of Paradise's plumage. A reasonably large array of photos, charts, and period images supply illustrations for what amounts to a comprehensive compendium of current issues. Thoughtful readers interested in any fields related to evolutionary science, anthropology, psychology, human history, and culture will find plenty to ponder.-John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York City (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Adapted from his adult book, The Third Chimpanzee, Diamond takes a sweeping look at human differentiation from other animals from the perspective of evolutionary biology, biogeography, and creative interpretation. Diamond finds reason for despair in self-destructive communal behavior, and hope in possible corrections to such. His readable, organized (though undocumented) chapters include numerous short inserts and photos. Glos. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Tackling the concept of humans as animals is no easy feat. This adaptation of Diamond's 1992 adult edition of the The Third Chimpanzee meticulously chronicles humans' documented relationship to chimpanzees in conjunction with the parallel story of environmental changes over time. In aiming for a young audience, Diamond focuses on the accessibility of the text as he illuminates dense scientific theories. Determined young scholars might read the narrative with a wary curiosity as they encounter Diamond's questioning spirit: Will we suddenly blow ourselves up, or sink slowly into a stew of global warming, pollution, more mouths to feed with less food, and the loss of species we need to survive? An inspired educator will certainly help prime students' interest in tackling big ideas and counterintuitive arguments regarding such topics as decreasing cultural diversity in our global community and its potential impact on genocide. Chock-full of short chapter sections that could serve as individual prompts on subtopics, this adaptation for young people might be best suited for guided group discussion. Photographs, illustrated source images, and a brief glossary accompany the text.--Bush, Gail Copyright 2014 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
How This Book Came to Be My own interests and background shaped this book. As a child, I wanted to be a doctor. By my last year in college, that goal had gently changed, and I wanted to become a medical researcher. I trained in physiology, which is the study of how living systems function, from cells to animals. Afterward I went on to teach and do research at the University of California Medical School in Los Angeles. But I had other interests as well. Birdwatching had attracted me since the age of seven, and I had also been lucky to attend a school that let me plunge into languages and history. I did not like the idea of spending the rest of my life on physiology alone. Then I had the chance to spend a summer in the highlands of New Guinea, a large tropical island north of Australia. the purpose of the trip was to measure how successfully birds were nesting. That project collapsed when i was unable to locate even a single bird's nest in the jungle, but the trip fed my thirst for adventure and birdwatching in one of the wildest remaining parts of the world. After that first trip to New Guinea, I developed a second career, focused on birds, evolution, and biogeography. I've returned to New Guinea and the neighboring Pacific Islands many times to pursue my bird research. As I saw human activity destroying the forests and birds I loved, I became involved in conservation, helping governments design national parks to protect ecosystems and plant and animal species. Finally, it was hard to study the evolution and extinction of birds without wanting to understand the evolution and possible extinction of the most interesting species of all, the species that includes you, me, and everyone on earth--Homo sapiens, the modern human. this book was the result. It begins with a look at our origins several million years ago. It ends with some thoughts about our future, and about ways we can learn from our past. Excerpted from The Third Chimpanzee for Young People: On the Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
