# The Third Chimpanzee Yea/Nay? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-third-chimpanzee-yea-nay/20852 "2000-05-30T03:27:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-third-chimpanzee-yea-nay/20852/1 "2000-05-30T03:27:33Z")
In your humble opinion: Have you read The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond? Did you like and agree with what he had to say? Or did you hate it and disagreed with what he had to say? ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-third-chimpanzee-yea-nay/20852/2 "2000-05-30T04:24:31Z")
(note to self: resist temptation to make “spanking the monkey joke”) Seriously, never heard of the book in question, so I’m afraid I can’t help you. ---
**Author:** ![WhoaNellie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@WhoaNellie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhoaNellie)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-third-chimpanzee-yea-nay/20852/3 "2000-05-30T04:25:22Z")
Have you read The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond? Nope, is it any good? Or are you checking too? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-third-chimpanzee-yea-nay/20852/4 "2000-05-30T12:36:08Z")
I’m pretty sure I read it, but I can’t remember any of the claims made. Maybe you could throw a few out to job my memory? ---
**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-third-chimpanzee-yea-nay/20852/5 "2000-05-30T16:04:23Z")
Pretty sure you read it? Can’t remember? Haven’t heard of it? Geesh. I thought I was the last person on the planet to be reading it! I’m about half way through and it is fascinating. I can’t decide if it seems so striking because I’ve read all around it or because it seems to pull together most of what I have been reading and have liked. Of course, the other alternative could be that he is a gifted writer who knows his subject matter. Gee, I wonder which one it is? Table of Contents goes: Part One: Just Another Species of Big Mammal 1. A tale of Three Chimps 2. The Great Leap Forward Part Two: An Animal with A Strange Life Cycle 3. The Evolution of Human Sexuality 4. The Science of Adultery 5. How We Pick Our Mates and Sex Partners 6. Sexual Selection, and the Origin of Human Races 7. Why Do We Grow Old and die? Part Three: Uniquely Human 8. Bridges to Human Language 9. Animal Origins of Art 10. Agriculture’s Mixed blessings 11. Why do We Smoke, Drink, and Use Dangerous Drugs? 12. Alone in a Crowded Universe Part Four: World Conquerors 13. The Last First Contacts 14. Accidental Conquerors 15. Horses, Hittites, and History 16. In Black and White Part Five: Reversing Our Progress Overnight 17. The Golden Age That Never WAs 18. Blitzkrieg and Thanksgiving in the New World 19. The Second Cloud Epilogue: Nothing Learned, and Everything Forgotten Haven’t finished reading it, but am LOL a lot. Contact your favorite one line book store and buy a paperback, new or even used (!) and then come back and comment! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-third-chimpanzee-yea-nay/20852/6 "2000-05-30T16:33:26Z")
Book in question is quite good, but I don’t recall that he said anything very conttroversial. But his book “Guns, germs and steel” is positively brilliant, centering mostly around the question of why civilization (as we know it) originated where it did and not where it didn’t.