The Third Chimpanzee

The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (ISBN 0-06-098403-1), originally published in English in 1992, is the first book-length work of non-fiction from Jared Diamond, evolutionary biologist, physiologist and Pulitzer Award-winning author. Diamond addresses two issues: how and why human beings transformed in a short period from "just another species of big mammal" into a world-dominating force; and the degree to which our immense progress has been coupled with the seeds of self-destruction, particularly through genocide and environmental degradation.

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Borrowing insight from a multitude of different fields, including history, evolutionary theory and genetics, biology and ecology, linguistics and sociology, The Third Chimpanzee compiles a portrait of humanity's success and also its potential for disaster.

Broadly, the work foregrounds patterns of environmental determinism for which Diamond is a well-known proponent (and has occasionally been criticized)^{[citation needed]} but this attitude is not absolute. In discussing mass extinction events, for example, Diamond decisively favours human agency ahead of competing climatic and environmental theories.

A second edition was published in 2004 as The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: Evolution and Human Life, and a later edition in 2006 entitled The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal.

Reception

New York Times book review said, "The book's provocative style forces one to reflect thoroughly on the puzzle of human evolution....Written with great wit and a pleasure to read." Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University said, "The Third Chimpanzee will endure." Paul R. Ehrlich author of The Population Bomb said, "Brilliant book. It helps us understand what it means to be human."

Awards

The Third Chimpanzee was the recipient of the Los Angeles Book prize.

Bibliography

Diamond, Jared (2006). The Third Chimpanzee: the Evolution and Future of the Human Animal. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-084550-3.