by Jared Diamond
I think it is fair to say that “The Third Chimpanzee” is the father of all following books of Jared Diamond. All his core concepts are already laid out here. Later he deepened each topic in its own dedicated book” human sexuality, reasons why societies conquered others, or why societies choose to fail. it is all already in “The Third Chimpanzee”. Even if you have already read these subsequent books it is fun to read about those topics again in a slightly different context – the human evolution.
The starting point is that we are the third chimpanzee besides the pygmy and common chimp. or vice versa the other two chimps are also humanoids. The reason is the genetic distance. The distance is minimal. BTW: the distance is actually bigger than Diamond claims. Graig Venter found out it is actually approx. 5% – the guy who (or better his company) deciphered the human genome. E.g. the distance between human and the chimps is smaller than between other species , which we categorize as members of one race.
Taking the genetic similarity into account and contrasting it with our astonishing differences he examines all our our main differentiators. The question to be answered is always: does this apparently human-specific feature have an animal root? The presented results form a common pattern: we are not as free in our decision as we think.
It is always a joy to read this author: he explain complex things in an understandable way, but is never simplistic. Very admirable!
The starting point is that we are the third chimpanzee besides the pygmy and common chimp. or vice versa the other two chimps are also humanoids. The reason is the genetic distance. The distance is minimal. BTW: the distance is actually bigger than Diamond claims. Graig Venter found out it is actually approx. 5% – the guy who (or better his company) deciphered the human genome. E.g. the distance between human and the chimps is smaller than between other species , which we categorize as members of one race.
Taking the genetic similarity into account and contrasting it with our astonishing differences he examines all our our main differentiators. The question to be answered is always: does this apparently human-specific feature have an animal root? The presented results form a common pattern: we are not as free in our decision as we think.
It is always a joy to read this author: he explain complex things in an understandable way, but is never simplistic. Very admirable!
Facts:
English title: The Third Chimpanzee
Original title: The Third Chimpanzee
Published: 1992
