Can I just believe in the evolution of say, the Indo-European linguistic group, but not human evolution? I liked the language part of the book, but I have read better stuff on the subject elsewhere.

I hope there is tolerance in the future for alternate beliefs.
What say you, true belevers?

Presently, there are: 1. the pygmy chimpanzees of Zaire; 2. the chimpanzees of the rest of tropical Africa; and 3. us, “humans.” We are the third chimpanzee. We share 98.4% of our genes with the first two kinds of chimpanzees. This is because all these three chimpanzees had evolved, in millions of years, from a common ancestor, most likely a fascinating tree-dwelling creature some of whose many descendants had gone extinct but some left the trees, learned to walk in their two feet. and eventually became us.

I had imagined, while reading this book, if we managed to evolve in the same manner that we are now except the gait and posture so that we’ll be lumbering about like our surviving chimp cousins. Had that been the case, Adidas and Nike would not only have a footwear line, but a handwear line as well, probably glove-like, to protect our hands as they touch the ground or grasp things as we climb or hang about. Fashion would of course be very much different too. No plunging necklines for women as their breasts could easily pop out in a chimp-like locomotion. Architecture would not also be the same. Maybe there’d be no stairs in buildings but trellises and rope which we can us going up and down or sideways.

But these may not have been possible, really. It is said that our ability to walk upright on two feet, which freed our hands to make and use tools, greatly contributed to the enlargement of our brains—spelling the difference now between us and the present chimpanzees.

Nevertheless, we are still animals. This explains practically all our behaviour from the altruistic to the destructve. We cannot escape our true, lowly past.

The content of the book (how human behaviors can be seen as derived from animal behaviors) and the thesis provided early on (humans are at risk from nuclear war/environmental disaster) are both interesting, but it didn't feel like the book did what the author thought it was going to do. It had some very good chapters on language, drug use, and genocide, but the book as a whole felt a bit scattered and hodgepodge. A good book if you're looking for some broad anthropology, but it left me a bit disappointed.

The book feels a little dated but an interesting topic to be sure. Some random observations:

Middle stone age Africans can be considered big game hunters but avoided the dangerous ones like rhinos.

Around forty thousand years ago we see evidence of early man first using projectiles to hunt.

Of the Great apes and their physiology, man has the longest penis and women have the largest breasts. Scientists don't know why.

Diamond believes the great leap forward came to homo sapiens with the development of language.

Diamond does get a few things wrong in this book that is thirty years old.

Author states that Neanderthals and other species did not cross-breed. (The evidence today indicates that cross breeding was happening 100,000 years ago. Non-African humans today share between 6% and 9% of their genome with Neanderthals.)