This is the third book I've read by Jared Diamond, and though I didn't think it was as groundbreaking as Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, I still enjoyed the book. In fact, the ideas that were fleshed out in those two books (Why the European Culture came to dominate the world in the 19th century and why societies collapse) are both present in their infancies in this book.
Basically, Diamond makes the case that man is nothing more than another chimpanzee. We share over 98% of our DNA with chimps, and Diamond shows that everything we consider to be uniquely human traits have animal precursors or equivalents (with the possible exception of drug abuse). Sure humans use tools, but so do some animals (such as chimps using sticks to get termites). Well, humans have language another person might say. So does a species of monkey Diamond discusses that have different vocalizations for eagles, leopards, and snakes. Humans lie! Diamond mentions that some of these monkeys will vocalize a leopard warning when their tribe is losing a fight with another tribe to send their rivals scurrying up trees.
The list continues! Diamond showed that bower birds create "art" and that various animals commit "murder" and even genocide. He also speaks of how ants have domesticated aphids and use them as a food source, thus having a kind of agriculture. In fact, the only thing that seems to be uniquely human is drug abuse, and even that seems to have some animal precursors.
Diamond's main point is that humans have clearly evolved from animals and that the dividing line that we tend to draw between ourselves and animals isn't as distinct as we'd like to think. In fact, almost all the behaviors that we consider to be uniquely human appear to have animal equivalents, or at least precursors.
The next section of the book spends time detailing the evolution of man from our separation from a common ancestor with chimps and gorillas 7 million years ago to the arrival of Cro-Magnon Man 40,000 years ago. The speculation about the extinction of the Neanderthals being caused by Cro-Magnon Man is convincing and the discussion of the spread of languages is interesting as well.
Diamond also takes some time to point out the flaws in the Drake Equation that predicts a universe teeming with intelligent life. The best part is when Diamond makes a compelling case that if we really thought there was intelligent life out there then we should try to avoid it as our history tells us that when two groups of humans meet the technologically superior group wipes out the other. So sending out a radio broadcast telling whoever is out there exactly where we are probably wasn't the best idea ever.
Finally the rest of the book presents some early ideas of Diamond's that were expanded in Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. If you've read those two books, you'll find some of this repetitive, but the first half of the book more than makes up for it and a little redundancy never hurt anyone.
I guess my only other qualm is that Diamond tends to over exaggerate at times. He has a tendency to make statements like "This evidence is indisputable" or "This theory is unquestionable" which is obviously false. A theory that is not questionable is not a theory. I agree 100% with the majority of Diamond's theories and conclusions, but that does not mean that they should be beyond questioning. We should remember what Norbert Wiener knew at the age of 10 when he wrote of "the impossibility of man being certain of anything".
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