The Third Chimpanzee
The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
by Jared Diamond · first published 1991
55% recommend45% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Popular science on human evolution and culture, arguing that small genetic differences from other great apes produced vast cultural ones. Information-dense and thought-provoking for readers curious about human origins.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Explores the question of what in the less than two percent of genes has made humans different from apes.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2007–2011Why Is Sex Fun?
Jared Diamond
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 33 recommend · 3 mention3 recommend · 33 recommend
2009–2026The 10,000 year explosion
Gregory Cochran
Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 166 recommend · 16 mention6 recommend · 166 recommend
2011–2026Early Retirement Extreme
Jacob Lund Fisker
Recommended by 15 · mentioned by 2315 recommend · 23 mention15 recommend · 2315 recommend
2016–2026Prisoners of geography
Tim Marshall
Recommended by 21 · mentioned by 3221 recommend · 32 mention21 recommend · 3221 recommend
Predictably irrational by Dan Ariely
Recommended by 32 · mentioned by 3732 recommend · 37 mention32 recommend · 3732 recommend
2011–2026The origins of political order
Francis Fukuyama
Recommended by 22 · mentioned by 3222 recommend · 32 mention22 recommend · 3222 recommend
2008–2026Chaos
James Gleick
Recommended by 45 · mentioned by 6345 recommend · 63 mention45 recommend · 6345 recommend
2009–2026The Enchiridion
Epictetus
Recommended by 47 · mentioned by 6647 recommend · 66 mention47 recommend · 6647 recommend
…as well. Even if you provide evidence, it would still be interesting to discover a reason for the things being like they are. At least I think so. Have you read Jared Diamond "Why is sex fun" or "The Third Chimpanzee"? I didn't have the impression that what he said about the competitions of the sexes were just-so stories, although in some cases there were several different theories. I would be interested in examples…
on “Why Do Some Relationships Fail?” ↗I'm not sure what you mean by "without female influence." In humans, semi-monogamous coupling is an a result of the extraordinary expense (in time and energy) of raising a human child. Read The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond for a full discussion on how the spectrum of human monogamy - I say "semi-monogamous" since cheating is prevalent in all humans, and he provides potential reasons for why this is so.
on “"Marriage is for white people"” ↗Read "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "The Third Chimpanzee" by Jared Diamond. He talks a lot about the rise of agriculture. When we look at how the average lifespan is increasing, we're only looking at the lifespan since the start of civilization as we know…
on “You will live for longer than 1% of the entire history of human civilization.” ↗This seems like a good opportunity to recommend the book "Why is sex fun?" by Jared Diamond.http://www.amazon.com/Why-Sex-Fun-Evolution-Sexuality/dp/046... (Or apparently "The Third Chimpanzee", some reviewers claim that is a superset of the book).
* Last Call The Rise and Fall of Prohibition * The Information, a theory, a flood * The Fruit Hunters * The Third Chimpanzee Off the top of my head were pretty information dense in the sense that I remember walking away from them knowing a good deal more about something I didn't previously
on “Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?” ↗It's a little outdated, but anyone interested in "extinct human species", or proto-humans, should read Jared Diamond's book "The Third Chimpanzee", which is about the small genetic and vast cultural differences that separate us from other large primate, including the two other types of chimp...
on “40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)” ↗The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is great. Or something by Jared Diamond, e.g. The Third Chimpanzee.
on “Ask HN: What book should I buy for my 18th birthday?” ↗Well read Jared Diamonds "The Third Chimpanzee" or "Why Is Sex Fun" for some actual research on gender differences. That we don't know how Hormones affect us is pretty irrelevant in that context. There are other forces at play, hormones are just…
on “Don't dumb girls down” ↗The author is Jared Diamond - IMHO one of the great thinkers of our time, who certainly deserves serious consideration. His books, "Guns, Germs and Steel", "Collapse", "The Third Chimpanzee" are excellent, thought-provoking (even worldview-altering) reads. That said.. he is right, but from the vantage point of someone in this day and age, who loves science and technology, who has benefitted…
on “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race – Agriculture” ↗…mistress. But the elite in any society is relatively small compared to the size of the society, so most couples are mostly monogamous. (I keep saying "mostly" because we, as a species, cheat. In "The Third Chimpanzee" Jared Diamond makes a compelling case that cheating is actually an evolutionary strategy, and that we shouldn't dismiss it as people faltering from the ideal marriage. That is, if many, many people do…
on “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race” ↗Do you have a link to the original somewhere? What I've seen elsewhere (I think it was Jared Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee, which is probably out of date at this point) is that male/female size ratio is also an indicator of polygyny, and that in comparison with other species, yes, humans are, but not to the large degree that…
on “Men age faster 'because of Stone Age sex'” ↗The Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond - Human evolution. Code Complete 2 - Only halfway through but this is by far the best book about programming I have ever read.
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?” ↗…ten words 10. The Fourth revolution 11. Red Mars 12. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 13. Grit: Passion, perseverance and the science of success 14. The Signal and the noise 15. The Third chimpanzee 16. The Willpower instinct 17. The Master algorithm 18. The Emperor of all maladies 19. 1491 And I'm reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Honestly, I really enjoyed League of Denial about all…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…historians and anthropologists are not the arbiters of good science. The criticisms, that I'm aware of, come down to incomplete research on Yali (not a critical aspect of the narrative and absent from The Third Chimpanzee) and an over-enthusiastic pre-emptive argument against a neo-darwinian interpretation of genetic data. I agree with carterklein13, Guns, Germs, and Steel is near the top of my list of influential books.
on “Ask HN: Which book helped you understand the world?” ↗http://www.amazon.com/The-Third-Chimpanzee-Evolution-Future/...
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗