A review by andreashappe
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond

5.0

A short history of humankind.. how can we define being human, what's our history and where can we go from here (while hopefully we can prevent a nuclear holocaust or ecological catastrophe).

This book feels like the predecessor to Home Sapiens or Factfulness. Maybe with a bit of The Better Angels of our Human Nature thrown in. Which is high praise in my opinion. And leaning a lot more towards a linguist's point-of-view.

The book is older (written 30ish years ago), some of the science does not hold up. Still a great read, informative too. Two things were the age shines through: 1, Chomsky as a linguist.. been a while; and 2, "everyone remembers where you were when news of Pearl Habor broke through" which would be 9/11 by now.

The appendix is rattling, esp. when he notes that ecologic holocaust will most likely hit his children (which would be of my age) or grandchildren. Verdict is still out.