The third chimpanzee

We human beings share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet -- having founded civilizations and religions, developed intricate and diverse forms of communication, learned science, built cities, and created breathtaking works of art -- while chimps remain animals concerned primarily with the basic necessities of survival. What is it about that two percent difference in DNA that has created such a divergence between evolutionary cousins? In this fascinating, provocative, passionate, funny, endlessly entertaining work, renowned Pulitzer Prize–winning author and scientist Jared Diamond explores how the extraordinary human animal, in a remarkably short time, developed the capacity to rule the world . . . and the means to irrevocably destroy it.

There are many interesting points discussed in the book and I was very surprised (sometimes shocked) to learn some of the author’s ideas regarding artworks produced by elephants and chimps, why woodpeckers are so alone in their ecological niche, how we come to overwhelming and often problematic consumption of various chemicals, about enigma of concealed ovulation and (one of the most striking) gazelle’s mysterious “stotting” when attacked by lion - to name few. But the most important chapter of the book, in my view, was dedicated to human’s strange unwillingness to act in accordance with clearly calculable data to achieve ecological balance. The questions raised by Mr. Diamond in that regard are especially important today when the world started feeling Nature’s wrath in full scale – everybody knows about hurricane Katrina devastation as well as multitude of other examples directly linked to that feature of human’s behavior.

Mr. Diamond very eloquently and convincingly describes “environmental holocaust”, as he calls it, caused by penetration of nomadic hunter-gatherers into North America via isthmus Alaska-Siberia 11000 years ago, when 73% of all large mammals species became extinct within stunningly short period of time. Even though it is pretty much impossible to find out for sure whether or not Siberian migrants were direct or indirect cause of it, I find it very plausible. However, here are a couple of details, which Mr. Diamond does not investigate in depth.

1. Mr. Diamond mentions total unpreparedness of North America large mammals like mammoth, sloth, camel, etc to face human hunting skills. Suggested reason for it is also understandable – those mammals simply never seen humans before. Therefore, they were not able to evolve defensive behavior. The key question is: Why humans were killing them off en-masse so passionately? One of the reasons Mr. Diamond mentions briefly is "machismo". I think this "machismo" was prime reason for those killings. In my opinion humans were highly restricted in their ways to manifest their ego in those preliterate days. There was no literacy, not much of art (not in America), not much of trade, even not much of other people to fight. Today any person can find herself/himself in science, business, politics, military service, writing as Mr. Diamond himself, etc – a great deal of activities are available to single oneself out of the crowd. It is really hard to think of anything else than hunt to achieve the same objective for first humans in America 11000 years ago.

2. Mr. Diamond says first migrants to America, Madagascar, Australia and New Zealand were not able to assess possible consequences of overhunting due to lack of knowledge. I don’t think it is a prime reason for that (moreover, how hard is it to see that animals disappear in direct link with hunting?). In my opinion it is something much deeper in our psyche that prevents us from acting in the right direction. Just a small example – how many of us are getting credit card and indulge themselves in shopping spree perfectly understanding that sooner or later the time to pay interest, late fees as well as principle amounts will come? Nevertheless, we are getting credit cards, exhaust credit limit and in many cases end up with bankruptcy. Even though we know at the very beginning all terms and conditions. Or take bigger example – global warming. The link between fuel burning and some unpleasant events like deadly hurricanes is scientifically established and it is not a secret. But look how hard it is to make sure that humans would act the way so emissions are reduced. Mr. Diamond does not explore this topic either.

But in general the book of Mr. Diamond is a great reading for any person interested in evolution of Homo Sapiens. Chances are the world could be a much better place for both humanity and its neighbors on evolutionary tree if this book is a mandatory reading for high school students. Some of those students when grown up could be making right decisions in business and politics so the fragile ecological balance could be sustained for future generations of humans and the rest of living nature.

At each chapter of the Third Chimpanzee we learn a totally new subject in the Jared Diamond style: a well-thought synthesis, a simple and organized presentation. Every other twenty pages was a new adventure for me.

Obviously, this might not be the case for other readers that are more acquainted with evolution readings, and obviously I need a lot to learn before I can decide their authenticity but I found his ideas on subjects like extraterrestrial life and evolution of drug abuse very original and provoking. I also found his narration of the issues of Indo-European Languages spreading, mate selection, animal art and genocide very moving and comprehensive.

A surprise for me was that this book tells the main concept of GGS thoroughly in just two chapters. Given the occasionally criticized redundancy and large volume of GGS, I might humbly suggest a prospective reader of Diamond who has limited time to read this book instead of GGS. For sure, GGS gives a much better and extensive treatise of the concept and it is also a must read book for anybody who wants to put a perspective to human history. Third Chimpanzee also gives a perspective to human psychology and I sincerely recommend it to anybody interested in these two subjects.

I only give the book four stars for two reasons:
1) As mentioned, the part on genetics is partially out of date and should be made current in a further edition.
2) Diamond has a number of annoying tendencies that are sometimes frustrating: I grew weary of his "Outer Space" perspectives (i.e., the paleontologist from Outer Space, the archaeologist from Outer Space, the biologist from Outer Space), as if the reader were incapable of standing back and gaining perspective on his own species without this trick. Also, he piqued my curiosity on a number of subjects that he promised to cover in detail later. When thse subjects finally came, there were often more questions than answers.