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

How did humans evolve from one out of many large animals to aquire language, art, music, to become aware of its own history and place in the universe? Jared Diamond tells an exciting, coherent and relatively accurate story in his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee - How our animal heritage affect the way we live.

A book that tries to tell a story that spans several million years will have to be very selective. Especially when it draws data from fields such as biology, archeology, linguistics, genetics, human psychology, ecology, etc The author obviously has cut a few corners but it doesn´t really matter. There is a section at the end of the book with further reading for those that want to read more about the subjects at hand. This book is a must read for those that want to learn more about our human origins.

Brief synopsis
There are five parts to this book. It starts off with Just another species of big mammal, a short description about our evolutionary history from several million years ago up until right before agriculture was discovered about 10 000 years ago.

The second part, An animal with a strange lifecycle, deals with what makes us different from the other primates. Changes in life-cycles were crucial to the development of language and other aspects of modern human activity. We are talking about monogamy, infidelity, sexual selection, why humans have hidden ovulation and menopause (come on! what is up with that?)

Part three continues with discussions about the development of language, art, agriculture, drug use and whether we are alone in the universe or not. I found the part about language especially intriguing. It turns out that the linguistics experts have reconstructed alot of PIE (Proto-Indo-European), a language that hasn´t been spoken for thousands of years. This part also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of agriculture, which was very interesting. Because I always figured that there was no real negative side to agriculture. Well it turns out that agriculture gives you alot of calories, but the diet will be less varied. This makes you more affected by caries and malnourishment. Not to mention that you are more affected by droughts. Most diseases could not have spread if we didn´t live in large concentrations that agriculture permits.

The fourth part of the book is called World Conquerors. As soon as people have entered areas that previously hadn´t been discovered it usually spelled disaster for a majority of the species living there. This has led to the extinction of many many species of animals, birds, reptiles etc. Too many to count. Islands like Mauritius, Madagaskar, Crete, Hawaii, New Zealand and numerous other islands in the Pacific have lost an incredible amount of wildlife when humans arrived. "Dead as a Dodo" has even become an expression. The discovery of the american continent(asians crossing the Bering Straits about 12-14 000 years ago, not that italian sailor dude) also coincided with an entire fauna of large mammals getting extinct. So far I had heard about most of this before, but the really chilling part of the book shows that we not only conquers nature, but we also conquer each other. Through the spreading of disease, interbreeding, and even genocide. I remember from biology class in high school that most animals have the hardest competition with members of their own species. Because they fit the exact same niche they compete for the same partners and resources. Other species also fight each other and you could even say that some species have conflicts with neighbor groups. Lions, hyenas, and chimpanzees are among the species where small scale warfare has been observed. We humans are no exception.

Xenophobia is a natural instinct and it is made much worse by our capacity for mass murder and genocide. This chapter lists all kinds of genocide through out history, from ancient times up until the 20th century. Jared Diamond discusses at length how seemingly normal people can take part in genocide. They are not necessarily crazy or different from any one of us. We all have the potential for violence. According to Diamond there are three major principles to how normal people justifies in taking part in genocide. A usefully elastic definition of "self defense", possessing the "right" religion, race or political belief and finally a different ethical code for animals. And by reducing other people to the same level as animal permits you to treat them much worse. All three rationalizations were used both in the USA and in Australia in reducing the number of natives. Not only by civilians but also by military and the government. This is also completely common to see in wartime propaganda. This part of the book is coldly rational and it all makes sense. Even if it is completely terrifying. I chill went through my spine when he discussed what the world looked like in the early 1990s. And what areas we should watch out for when it comes to genocide. He lists areas like Northern Ireland, New Caledonia, Sri Lanka, the middle east and last but not least Yugoslavia. Several of these places have experienced if not an all out genocide, definetly mass murder. Just the other day Radovan Karadzic was sentenced in Haag for his actions during the genocide in Screbenica. In trying to understand how genocide is possible we are able to minimize the chances of it happening. Globalisation of media and the understanding that we are all the same species are among the factors that will hopefully reduce violence. And according to Steven Pinker and his book The Better Angels of our Nature, this is exactly what has happened. I will have to read that book some other time.

Reversing our progress overnight is the title for the fifth and last part of the book and it deals with the myth that species live in constant balance with each other and the environment. This is normally not true, maybe only true for short periods of time. Species migrate and whenever a predator expands into an area where the prey is not able to defend themselves disaster is usually spelled for the unlucky ones. This should be no secret as we know of many examples when rats, goats, snakes, cats etc have wiped out some indigenous species. This is especially true when predators are generalists and not dependent on any one single type of prey. The same principle applies to humans, and have done so numerous times in the past. There are countless examples after the (re)discovery of the american continent, but there are also several earlier ones. such as the extinction of the Moas from New Zealand. There are also strong indications that humans eradicated a lot of large mammals like mammoths, horses and other large herbivores from the american continent. It is obviously much harder to prove since it happened more than 10 000 years ago, but the author makes a very convincing case nonetheless.

Jared Diamond is a very interesting author, lecturer and science educator. He started out his career by studying the physiology of the gallbladder. He studied at both Harvard and Cambridge and in 1968 he became a professor in physiology at UCLA medical school.
Ever since his childhood he had very diverse interests. Everything from learning languages, to geography, to birds and astronomy. He started writing articles for a magazine in the late 1970s, and he could finally explore his other interests. By chance he won a scholarship from the MacArthur Foundation in 1985 and this encouraged him to focus his writing for the public. He started writing The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee, in 1985 and finished it in 1990. The book was published in 1992 and it turned out to be a great success. He has later expanded on the topics and published them in other books such as Why is Sex fun (1997), Guns, Germs and Steel (1997), Collapse; How societies choose to fail or succeed (2005).
It is seems quite obvious that his later books are expansions of chapters and topics found in this book. I´ve previously read Guns, Germs and Steel, and Why Sex is Fun, whereas the book Collapse is still sitting at the book shelf. I can definitively recommend the first two books. Especially Guns Germs and Steel. It is a great read. I might write a review of that later some time.

Conclusion
I really like Jared Diamonds work. He connects ancient evolutionary history with modern world events, and by doing that he demonstrates that knowledge of the natural world is crucial. If we do not understand where we are coming from how will we be able to make the best decisions? He is a great science educator and a skilled storyteller, both in writing and in the documentaries he has made. Several of his lectures, documentaries, TED Talks can be found on Youtube. I suggest you check them out. You can also buy The Third Chimpanzee at Amazon, or any other book store, or why not stop by your local library and borrow it there?

Memorable Quote:
"Along with drinking a strychnine cocktail, poking an adult rhinoceros or Cape buffalo with a spear ranks as one of the most effective means of suicide that I know."

Not quite on the level of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. There are some great chapters, like the one about genocide and the "no golden age", but most of the ideas I knew previously.

What I particularly disliked in the book was that it made a great deal to explain the similarities between the humans and the other apes, but neglected nevertheless the obvious question: Why are humans so different? Jared Diamond seems to indicate that most of the achievements of humans do have precursors in animal behaviour. He explains how this is true for language, for art, for genocide. I do agree with this thesis, but I find it as rather moving the goal post. The important question (for me at least) is why did humans evolve so differently? What triggered the change? Technology for sure cannot be the answer.

Let's take for example the phenomenon of speech. Jared Diamond argues, correctly, that there are indicators of language in other primates. He goes to great length to explain why this is the case. He also argues (possibly correctly, but with no hope of proof) that very finely tuned changes in the human vocal apparatus gave the Homo Sapiens a distinct advantage. However, he doesn't explain why this evolutionary leap has occurred. One explanation, which is rather facile from an intellectual standpoint, is that this leap has occurred by chance. However it feels less than satisfactory. We could argue that everything happened by chance, in the end, and thus avoid all responsibility.

I am not sure if I have given the book justice. I guess it was far above its time when it was published. It is simply a subjective review after all, so that is the best that I could come up with.

كتاب قيم في الانثروبولوجيا يعالج مواضيع متنوعة من التشابه في التركيب الجيني مع الاساسيات و الاسس التي ادت الى تطور الجنس البشري الاصطفاء الجنسي و الاباضة المخفية عند البشر
تطور اللغات البشرية و اهمية اللغة في تطور جنسنا
آراء رائعة في الأخلاق و صفات البشر المتفردة
الابادات الجماعية و الكثير الكثير عن اهمية ايقاف نزيف كوكبنا الذي يقف على حافة الانهيار

A very interesting book on how some of the behaviour that we attribute only to humans, from art and language to drug abuse and genocide, has parallels in the animal world. Some of the themes in this book were later explored and further developed in Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel". Worth a read!

Jared Diamond'un okuduğum ikinci kitabıydı. İçeriğini gördükçe ilk olarak bunu okumayı seçmeyi yeğlerdim. Yazarın diğer kitaplarında geniş olarak açıkladığı konular bu kitapta yüzeysel olmayan bir açıklıkla tanıtılmış. Bu basamağı geçtikten sonre yazarın Tüfek,mikrop ve çelik, Seks neden eğlencelidir ve Çöküş gibi kitaplarına geçilebilir.

-Kitap genel olarak insan evrimi ile ilgili de olsa aynı gezegeni paylaştiğımiz ve birlikte evrildiğimiz diğer canlılara da yer veriyor ve konuyu sıkıcı olmayan bir nedensellik çerçevesinde anlamamızı sağlıyor. Eşeysel seçilim ve evrimsel psikoloji konusu ile ilgili ek okuma olarak NTV yayınlaından çıkan Sevişen Beyin kitabını okumanızı da tavsiye ederim.

Diamond hiç beklenmedik sürprizlerle insan doğasını ve bilimi kesinlikle eğlenceli hale getiren ve beyni yormayan bir anlatıma sahip.

Diamond’s, “Guns Germs and Steal was an important juncture in my reading life and my understanding of the human world. I have subsequently read all of his works. The Third Chimpanzee had been hanging in my reading conscience for some time and when it became available, I jumped at the opportunity to read, examine and digest Diamond’s take on so many aspects of what it is to be human and how we reached where we are today.
It wasn’t till I read Diamond’s statement that the world’s population was 5 billion that I realised that this publication is now thirty years old. It has certainly stood the test of time.
In these times of anti-science, it is comforting and challenging to dive into such a well written sweep of human history. I do not have the knowledge to challenge any of Diamond’s assertions (not like a few quasi-polymaths who write reviews) but what this book does for me is to stimulate and challenge. There were times when I would pause, rest the book on my knees and reflect on what I had just read. Diamond’s discussion of how public the act of sex is for so many of our close relatives yet for us it is an extremely private affair. The short period of time when women are able to become pregnant and how there is no physical demonstration when this time occurs. The importance of language has been crucial in homosapien development. I had always believed that the control of fire led to humans consuming more meat, therefore more protein and subsequent brain development. Diamond argues against that idea.
The role of elders in non-literate societies was fascinating. The reason that some societies developed technology while others didn’t was illuminating. With the kangaroo being the only large mammal one can see why the Australian Aborigine never developed the wheel. The reason why some animals can be domesticated. Have you ever tried putting a saddle on a zebra!
Diamond’s numerous reference to his work in New Guinea is most interesting and brings a personal touch to his scientific writing.
Diamond is a great scientist and an accomplished writer. This mix has led to the creation of a timeless text that can still be read some thirty years after it was first published.

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 decimation of the position that simpler times harbored some kind of environmental respect that we have since lost. It’s like he read Quinn’s manuscript for Ishmael (see) and wrote this in protest. Diamond points out that the Native New Worlders, far from respecting nature, precipitated the largest wave of extinction in human history. Just how respectful is it to walk up to a 500lb flightless bird that doesn’t run from you because it didn’t have the benefit of evolving to be afraid of humans and club it over the head? Or to kill a wooly mammoth, feast for 2 days and then leave the rest to rot?

About as respectful as trading Manhattan Island for some beads. At least now the species-killers get to keep our gambling money. What did the giant ground sloth get?

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 read some of it before, was that while most of his arguments were interesting, some weren't convincing. He sometimes kinda relied on personal anecdotes--mostly from his New Guinea friends--and broad generalizations instead of facts. The chapter I had the biggest issue with was "Why Do We Smoke, Drink, and Use Drugs?" His answer is: because, like peacocks' tails and other seemingly useless/potentially dangerous displays, it shows others that I can have/do this crap and still survive, so obviously there's enough awesome about me that it outweighs this stupid thing I do, so you don't want to mess with me if you're a predator/you should want to mate with me if you are a female. He states that "Now, let's test my theory...if it's valid, [it:] should apply to other societies as well." So he brings up this one guy he knows in Indonesia who drinks kerosene as a test of strength. Okay...and that proves your theory how exactly? To be fair, he also mentions Native American tribes that used drug enemas, but still. He doesn't address other possible factors, such as the benefits people feel they get out of drugs and alocohol (mood boosts/escapism/whatever) or their addictive nature. That entire chapter seemed like a 10th grade paper: lots of suppositions, little to concretly back it up.

The book did bring up ideas I'd never thought about before, and made me feel less special as a human being, but I'd still say just read Diamond's later, better books and skip this one.