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The World Until Yesterday What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies?
Jared Diamond
Viking, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-670-02481-0 |
It is my deeply held opinion that everyone, regardless of area of study, should read Jared Diamond. I consider him to be one of the most erudite individuals in the modern academic world. He is quintessentially the Professor's Professor- the person experts go to for advise and to further their knowledge. Trained as a physiologists, he is also an expert ornithologist, geographer, historian and evolutionary biologist (among other things), and speaks about 10 languages to boot. He has written several books over the decades, mostly focused on human cultures evolve, and this book continues that rich tradition. In particular, Jared uses this book to teach readers how "traditional cultures" (i.e. those that still live today as all humans lived for most of their natural history, as hunter gatherers) tackle life's challenges, and therefore allow a direct comparison to our own "modern westernized" lifestyle. Readers will glimpse how traditional cultures establish territories, deal with conflict, raise their children, manage aging and use religion (to name some topics), and in the process will immediately be able to discover how modern societies have evolved, for better or worse. Being one of the most intelligible authors of our age, Jared not only provides all his readers (regardless of their previous knowledge) with clear, objective facts, devoid of judgment, but also asks the right questions to make us critically think throughout the book. In the end, readers might not make any meaningful changes to their lives (as Jared ultimately wishes), but they are guaranteed to learn a wealth of information that will at least make them more open minded.
