The Third Chimpanzee

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Jared Diamond explores concepts relating to the animal origins of human behavior.

Favorite quotes from the book:

“The past was still a Golden Age, of ignorance, while the present is an Iron Age of willful bliss.”

“In short, we evolved, like other animals, to win the reproduction game. That contest has a single aim, to leave as many descendants as possible.”

“Archaeologists studying the rise of farming have reconstructed for us a stage where we made one of the most crucial decisions in human history. Forced to choose between limiting population growth or trying to increase food production, we opted for the latter and ended up with starvation, warfare, and tyranny. The same choice faces us today, with the difference that we now can learn from the past.”