I liked many parts of it, but overall it's unquestionably a step down from his past 2, even though it clearly seems to be a more heartfelt book. He addresses the benefits of multilingualism and healthy diets. In New Guinea I was able to grow up, play creatively, and explore the outdoors and nature freely, with the obligatory element of risk, however well managed, that is absent from the average risk-averse American childhood. at Amazon.com. It would be so much nicer to praise and compliment Diamond's efforts here but I'd be lying if I told you anything other than "this was a painful experience". Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. The cultures of the world came to be seen as a living museum in which individual societies represented evolutionary moments captured and mired in time, each one a stage in the imagined ascent to civilisation. What I did like were the smaller insights like the mental benefits of being multi-lingual, and the connection between native diets and health. I am always angered by scientists and pseudo-scientists who take it for granted that the study of 'primitive' societies of today, or of several decades ago, provides a good insight into the life of the hunter-gatherers of 100,000 years ago, when the human species only consisted of that kind of people. And he devotes two chapters to the dangers inherent in indigenous life, which lead to a chapter on religion, for "our traditional constant search for the causes of danger may have contributed to religion's origins". He ends with observations about the fate of traditional societies today which points to where we ourselves may be heading. by Viking. - by Jared Diamond. He confronts head on the issues that haunt the romantics who want to Most Americans want to blame someone other than themselves as much as possible. Hm, the section on dealing with threats to life (i.e. Jared Diamond is a materialist. Yet for nearly all of it. Through a comparison between traditional societies and our own, Diamond considers whether there are forms of social organisation and values from the past which would be useful for us to adopt today. The author reminds us that until very recently in human history most human beings lived in traditional cultures; hence, the title. If the past helps us understand the present, and help informed decisions on the future, then this work is an important one, and a fascinating read. Within a relatively short timeframe humans have gone from living as hunter/gatherers in small tribes of a few hundred individuals, to agrarian communities comprised of thousands, to city-states of many millions with a broad division of labor and a representative form of government. However, the findings in this book pale in comparison to the previous one. The last third especially just seems like Diamond spouting off about nutrition and education with very little tied back to the supposed theme of the book. by Jared Diamond. These positions are not necess. While many of these changes have been positive (we live longer, are subject to less violence and have access to many goods a, Within a relatively short timeframe humans have gone from living as hunter/gatherers in small tribes of a few hundred individuals, to agrarian communities comprised of thousands, to city-states of many millions with a broad division of labor and a representative form of government. His subject is the cultural practices of several groups of traditional societies, and the lessons that us Westerners can learn from their practices. One of the more interesting of these was his discussion of relative styles of child rearing - and it is probably true that a child benefits from continuous "skin contact" with its mother and other adults and rarely being on its own. This view ignores the fact that t. I am always angered by scientists and pseudo-scientists who take it for granted that the study of 'primitive' societies of today, or of several decades ago, provides a good insight into the life of the hunter-gatherers of 100,000 years ago, when the human species only consisted of that kind of people. This is a long book. He has dedicated this book to his sons and future generations. Fire, ceramics and the bow and arrow marked the savage. The other peoples of the world are not failed attempts at modernity, let alone failed attempts to be us. If you stick with my review, however, I will tell you toward the end what it takes this author 466 pages to say. We are all cut from the same genetic cloth, all descendants of a relatively small number of individuals who walked out of Africa some 60,000 years ago and then, on a journey that lasted 40,000 years, some 2,500 generations carried the human spirit to every corner of the habitable world. The entire purpose of humanity was not to improve anything; it was to engage in the ritual and ceremonial activities deemed to be essential for the maintenance of the world precisely as it was at the moment of creation. It's always exciting when Jared Diamond publishes a new book and the advance copies were hugely sought after when they arrived at the office in October. In The World Until Yesterday Jared Diamond compares the traditional and urban societies, and what those societies can learn from each other. Its subject is vast, yet his focus is often very narrow. In. Cultures do not exist in some absolute sense; each is but a model of reality, the consequence of one particular set of intellectual and spiritual choices made, however successfully, many generations before. Every society, it was assumed, progressed through the same stages, in the same sequence. 7 pure gold, very twinkly, high-in-the-sky stars. What I did like were the smaller. Is it really possible to dismiss God in a chapter? Subpar for Jared Diamond, the feeling was more of unedited ramblings and an old man's memories, than anything consistent. Diamond doesn’t romanticize traditional societies—after all, we are shocked by some of their practices—but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. Diamond keeps asking, "What ideas and practices can we learn and adopt from traditional societies?" His insights open cracks in my brain that have been sealed with the creosote of intellectual arrogance-- false assumptions. Drawing on his decades of fieldwork with tribes in the New Guinea islands he explains how his own attitudes have been changed – especially to risk taking, Available for everyone, funded by readers. In a way it's a return to the first chapter of Guns Germs & Steel, but instead of asking "how did the West get so advanced? Fascinating book comparing the world of hunter-gatherers with our own. The theme of this book is the differences between WEIRD (Western, educated, industrial, rich and democratic) modern cultures and tradition human cultures. He obviously has never experienced what he is trying to explain away. It is a mistake that is very often made to see these 'primitive' societies as a kind of living fossiles, reflecting almost perfectly the life of so many years ago. Take all the genius that enabled us to put a man on the moon and apply it to an understanding of the ocean, and what you get is Polynesia. Evoking the ecological fable of Easter Island, he suggests that cultures fall as people fail to meet the challenges imposed by nature, as they misuse natural resources, and ultimately drift blindly beyond a point of no return. Indeed Diamond has argued for long-term periods and concerning "continental" trends the "geographical hypothesis" is more important, while for short-term periods and sub-continental or regional trends the "cultural hypothesis" takes precedence. Since the author spends 7% of his life in Papua New Guinea, at least half the examples of primitive societies come from that area, and he fills in the concepts with research (his own and others', current and historic) from other traditional societies around the world. On the continuum of science books for the popular reader, The World Until Yesterday lies towards to the ‘pop’ end. This is a sentiment that Jared Diamond, a deeply humane and committed conservationist, would surely endorse. In many ways the hunter-gatherers seem to have a better life! (Please don't expect anything revelatory. Diamond found himself shocked at how careful and cautious hunter-gatherers were about such seemingly mundane things as pitching camp next to old trees. I love this man for teaching us so well, even though he talks about a part of the world in which I have had no interest. Review: The World Until Yesterday. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Diamond's previous book Guns, Germs and Steel, I expected to like this one, and I did. (Please don't expect anything revelatory. Franz Boas, trained in Germany a generation before Einstein, was interested in the optical properties of water, and throughout his doctoral studies his research was plagued by problems of perception, which came to fascinate him. Many of our Goodreads friends have reviewed this book better than I can, and I encourage all to rea. The voices of traditional societies ultimately matter because they can still remind us that there are indeed alternatives, other ways of orienting human beings in social, spiritual and ecological space. Consider me a big Jared Diamond fan. At times a bit boring, at others very interesting. It is a mistake that is very often made to see these 'primitive' societies as a kind of living fossiles, reflecting almost perfectly the life of so many years ago. Writers' Center . It's heavy on analysis, yet it doesn't have many clear prescriptions at all. But the family and social aspects of raising children and aging were more along the lines I was wanting to read. Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. But I knew I wasn't getting that from Daniel Quinn. If you like anthropology and history you'll like this. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Current Issue Special Issues All Issues Manage Subscription Subscribe. There is a lot of long-winded explanation of things that any high school student probably knows (languages are disappearing - people are fat - religious people sometimes go to war!) 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