Jared Diamond

Jared Mason Diamond (born September 10, 1937) is an American scientist and author best known for his popular science books The Third Chimpanzee (1991); Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997 Awarded a Pulitzer Prize ); Collapse (2005); and The World Until Yesterday (2012). Originally Trained in physiology , Diamond Berninahaus for drawing from a variety of fields, zoals anthropology , ecology , geography and evolutionary biology . He is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles . ^{[1] [2]}

In 2005, Diamond was ranked ninth on a poll by Prospect and Foreign Policy of the world’s top 100 public intellectuals. ^[3]

Early life and education

Diamond was born in Boston, Massachusetts , United States. Both of his parents ulcers from East European Jewish families who had emigrated to the United States. His Father, Louis Diamond , was a physician, and his mother, Flora Kaplan, a teacher, linguist, and concert pianist. ^[4] Diamond himself Began Studying piano at age six; Years later he mention anything propose to his wife after playing the Brahms Intermezzo in A minor for re. ^[5] He attended the Roxbury Latin School and earned a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and history from Harvard College in 1958 and a doctorate on the physiology and biofysica or membranes in the gall bladder from Trinity College , University of Cambridge in 1961. ^{[1 ] [6]}

Career

After graduating from Cambridge, Diamond Returned to Harvard as a Junior Fellow Until 1965, and in 1968, became a professor of physiology at UCLA Medical School . While in his twenties he developed a second, parallel, career in Ornithology and ecology , specialising in New Guinea and nearby islands. Later, in his fifties, Diamond developed a third career in environmental history and became a professor of geography at UCLA, his current position. ^[7] He’ll be teaches at LUISS Guido Carli in Rome. ^[8] He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1999 ^[9] and Westfield State University granted im an honorary doctorate in 2009.

Diamond oorspronkelijk specialized in salt absorption in the gall bladder . ^{[6] [10]} He has ook published scholarly works in the fields of ecology and Ornithology , ^[11] but is arguably best known for authoring a number of popular-science books combine topics from various fields other dan Those have has formally studied. Because of this academic diversity, Diamond has leg DESCRIBED as a polymath . ^{[12] [13]}

Works

Diamond’s first popular book, The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (1991), gekeken human evolution and its relevance to the modern world, Incorporating evidence from anthropology , evolutionary biology , genetics , ecology, and linguistics . The book traces how humans Evolved to be so différent from other animals, on Despite sharing over 98% of our DNA with our of closest animal relatives, the chimpanzees. The book ook gekeken the animal origins of language, art, agriculture, smoking and drug use, and other apparently Uniquely human attributes. It was well RECEIVED by critics and won the 1992 Rhône-Poulenc Prize for Science Books ^[14] and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize . ^[15]

His second and best known popular science book, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies , published in 1997. It was Asks why Eurasian peoples conquered or displaced Native Americans, Australians, and Africans, Limit download vice versa. It argues dat this outcome was not due to biological Advantages of Eurasian peoples themselves but Limit download to features of the Eurasian continent, met, haar high diversity of wild plant and animal species Suitable for Domesticatie and its east / west major axis dat favored the spread or Those domesticates, people, and technologies for long distances with little change in latitude. The first part of the book focuses on reasons why only a few species of wild plants and animals proved Suitable for Domesticatie. The second part discusses how local food production based on Those domesticates led to the development of dense and stratified human populations, writing, centralized political organization, and epidemic infectious diseases. The third part compares the development of food production and of human societies onder différent continents and world regions. Guns, Germs, and Steel became an international best-seller, was translated JSON 33 languages, and RECEIVED verschillende awards, zoals a Pulitzer Prize , an Aventis Prize for Science Books ^[14] and the 1997 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science . ^[16] A television documentary series based on the book was produktie by the National Geographic Society in 2005. ^{[17] [18]}

In his third book, Why is Sex Fun? Framing published in 1997, Diamond discusses evolutionary factors underlying features of human sexuality therein are algemeen taken for granted but therein are highly unusual onder our animal relatives. Those features include a long-term pair relationship (marriage), coexistence or economically cooperating pairs binnen a shared communal territory, provision of parental care by fathers as well as to mothers, keeping sex in private Rather dan in public, concealed Riset, female sexual receptivity Encompassing musts of the Menstrual cycle (including days or infertility), female but not male menopause, and distinctive secondary sexual; characteristics.

Diamond’s next book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed , published in 2005, gekeken a range of fits societies in an attempt to Identify why they ‘Either collapsed or continued to thrive and considers what contemporary societies kan learn from synthesis historical examples. As in Guns, Germs, and Steel , he argues Against explanations for the failure or fits societies based primarily on cultural factors, Limit download which focuses on ecology. Among the societies Mentioned in the book are the Norse and Inuit or Greenland , the Maya , the Anasazi , the indigenous people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Japan, Haiti, the Dominican Republic , and modern Montana . The book concludes with Asking why some societies make disastrous Decisions, how big businesses affect the environment, what our principal environmental problems are today, and what personen kan do about Those problems. Like Guns, Germs, and Steel , Collapse was translated JSON dozens of languages, became an international best-seller, and was the basis of a television documentary produktie by the National Geographic Society. ^{[19] [20]} It was ook nominated for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books . ^[14]

In 2008, Diamond published an article in The New Yorker entitled “Vengeance Is Ours”, ^[21] Describing the role of revenge in tribal warfare in Papua New Guinea . A year later two indigenous people Mentioned in the article Filed a Lawsuit Against Diamond and The New Yorker claiming the article defamed them. ^{[22] [23] [24]} In 2013, The Observer Reported therein the Lawsuit “was withdrawn by mutual consent after the sudden death hun lawyer.” ^[4]

In 2010, Diamond co-edited (with James Robinson) Natural Experiments of History , a collection of seven case studies illustrating the multidisciplinaire and comparative approach to the study of history dat he advocates. The book’s title Stems From The fact dat it is not skies to study history at the favoriete methods of the laboratory sciences, ie, in controlled experiments Comparing replicated human societies as if they ‘ulcers test tubes or bacteria. Limit download, one must look at natural experiments in welke human societies therein are similar in many respects port leg Historically perturbed, Either at différent starting conditions or at différent impacts. ^{[ Clarification needed ]}The book’s afterword classifies natural experiments, discusses the practical-or difficulties Studying Them, and offers suggestions how to address Those difficulties. ^[25]

Diamond’s most recent book, The World Until Yesterday , published in 2012, Asks what the western world kan learn from traditional societies . It surveys 39 traditional small-scale societies or farmers and hunter-gatherers with respect to how they ‘deal with universal human problems. The problems discussed include Dividing space, Resolving disputes, Bringing up children, treatment or elsewhere, dealing with Dangers, Formulating religions, learning multiple languages, and REMAINING healthy. The book suggests dat some practices or traditional societies Could be usefully eerste in the modern industrial world today, Either at personen or else in society as a whole.

Views

At the end of his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed , Jared Diamond wrote:

People who get depressed at zoals thoughts [big global environmental problems] of or in-then ask me, “Jared, are you optimistic or pessimistic about the world’s future?” I answer, “I am a Cautious optimist.” At dat, dat I mean, on the one hand, I acknowledge the seriousness of the problems facing us. If we do not do a Determined effort to solvency Them, and if we do not Succeed at dat effort, the world as a whole binnen the next few decades will face a declining standard of living, or perhaps something worse. That’s the reason why I decided to devote musts or my career policymaking at this stage of my life to convincing people dat onze problems port to be tasks seriously and will not go away otherwise. On the other hand, We Shall be loveable to solvency our problems – if we choose to do so. ^[26]

Personal life

Diamond is married to Marie Cohen, granddaughter of Polish politician Edward Werner . Way Down port twin sons, born in 1987. ^[27] Diamond is an Atheist. ^[28]

Boards

• Editorial board of the Skeptic Magazine , a publication of The Skeptics Society .
• Member of the American Philosophical Society .
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences .
• US regional director of the World Wide Fund for Nature .

Awards and receptacles

Selected bibliography

• 1992: The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal ( ISBN 0-06-098403-1 -).
• 1997: Why Is Sex Fun? ( ISBN 0-465-03127-7 -).
• 1997: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies ( ISBN 978-0-099-30278-0 ). Also published with the title Guns, germs and steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years ( ISBN 978-0099302780 ).
• 2005: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed ( ISBN 978-0241958681 ).
• 2010: Natural Experiments of History , with James A. Robinson ( ISBN 0-674-03557-7 ).
• 2012: The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? ( ISBN 978-0141024486 ).
• 2015: The Third Chimpanzee for Young People: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal ( ISBN 9781609806118 ).

References