The Third Chimpanzee

The Third Chimpanzee was first published in 1991 and has been in print ever since. This new, illustrated edition is aimed at a young readership. In it, Jared Diamond explores what makes us human and poses fascinating questions.

Not only is The Third Chimpanzee a mind-boggling survey of how we came to be, but it is also a plea to the next generation to "make better decisions than their parents and get us out of the mess we''re in."

Questions Explored

• If we share more than 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees, how is it that we can write, read, talk, build telescopes and bombs, while we put our speechless and bomb-less close relatives in cages and zoos?
• What can woodpeckers teach us about spacecraft?
• Is genocide a human invention?
• Why does extinction matter?
• Why are we destroying the natural resources on which we depend for survival?
• What hope is there for future generations?