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Liked It “Diamond is a wonderful author. A very fascinatingand interesting book about us!” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Overall an uneven, contradictory work, that predates Germs, Guns and Steel by six years. Diamond was still learning to write at this stage, at least his prose compares poorly with Matt Ridley and Bill Bryson. 3rd Chimpanzee is 50/50 mix of good and bad chapters and struggles to find continuity...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“Diamond is a wonderful author. A very fascinatingand interesting book about us!”
Jack R wrote this review Sunday, December 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“An easy read, general overview of the subject.”
foggytown wrote this review Sunday, November 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I always enjoy reading Jared Diamond's books. He does an excellent job of weaving anthropology, science, archaelogy - multiple disciples that appeal to the lay reader. This book explores a broad range of topics (maybe too many to be thorough) including the potential evolutionary change that made us differ so radically from our cousins, the evolutionary reasons for drug addiction, and warlike behaviours and the origins of language. My chief complaint would be that each of these topics warrants a complete book itself. My favourite portion was his clear-eyed portrayal of the life of the hunter-gatherer and his descriptions of our ongoing propensity for environmental destruction going back to our earliest history (no web of life here!!). The end was a bit depressing, despite his avowals for positive action in the future.”
Lisa K wrote this review Wednesday, November 4 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“So far this book has blown my mind; I see people from an entirely different perspective now, and I'm only half way through. My dad is an anatomy and physiology teacher and he gave me this book telling me it would be right up my alley. He was so right!”
Gabriella H wrote this review Monday, September 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Similar to "Guns, Germs, and Steele" but not as good.”
Brad N wrote this review Friday, August 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“One of the more eye-opening books on what exactly makes us human and also how different we are from the other Great Apes. In fact, we humans are not above the great Apes in any respect; in fact we are the third Chimpanzee.”
Michael A wrote this review Tuesday, July 7 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Overall an uneven, contradictory work, that predates Germs, Guns and Steel by six years. Diamond was still learning to write at this stage, at least his prose compares poorly with Matt Ridley and Bill Bryson. 3rd Chimpanzee is 50/50 mix of good and bad chapters and struggles to find continuity throughout. Diamond's inconsistency is best exemplified by his portrayals of hunter-gather societies as either faithful stewards of the land or exterminators of most of North America's large ice age animals (in only 1,000 years!). The conflict between these views is jarring and left unresolved. Diamond spends a fair amount of ink on animal precursors to human sexual selection (in some of the best chapters) but then fails to reconcile the reproduction imperative with the collapse of birth rates in Japan and many western countries, such as Italy. Exploration of whether the human imperative is slanted more towards material well-being would have made 3rd Chimpanzee more interesting. While his central thesis is rooted in science, Diamond over-emphasizes our chimpiness and ultimately fails to provide a meaningful understanding of what makes us human.”
DiePittsburghDie wrote this review Wednesday, March 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This book is similar in nature to Desmond Morris' The Naked Ape, but I liked it a little bit better, since it focused more on why and how our environment shaped us.”
Collin T wrote this review Wednesday, October 1 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great introduction on human evolution”
Chris G wrote this review Sunday, March 2 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“If a genetic biologist from another planet were to visit earth and look at the genomes of the great apes, they would very likely class us as a third species of chimp rather than earning our own separate species. From this point the always-enjoyable, always edifying Diamond goes on to make a series of interesting anthropological observations. Highly recommended.”
spock627corfu wrote this review Saturday, December 22 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
