At some point during the last 100,000 years, humans began exhibiting traits and behavior that distinguished us from other animals, eventually creating language, art, religion, bicycles, spacecraft, and nuclear weapons—all within a heartbeat of evolutionary time. Now, faced with the threat of nuclear weapons and the effects of climate change, it seems our innate tendencies for violence and invention have led us to a crucial fork in our road. Where did these traits come from? Are they part of our species immutable destiny? Or is there hope for our species’ future if we change?

With fascinating facts and his unparalleled readability, Diamond intended his book to improve the world that today’s young people will inherit. Triangle Square’s The Third Chimpanzee for Young People is a book for future generation and the future they’ll help build.

In addition to teaching geography at UCLA, researching the birds of New Guinea and the Southwest Pacific Islands, and promoting the practice of sustainable environmental policies to leaders around the world, JARED DIAMOND is also the author of bestselling books about evolution and human history. Diamond studied physiology at Harvard and Cambridge, before narrowing his research to the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the gall bladder. It was on a summer trip to New Guinea in 1964, however, that he first began to carefully consider the questions that would intrigue him for the next half-century: why did New Guinea’s extremely intelligent and resourceful indigenous peoples have no writing, chiefs, or steel tools? His Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies was an attempt to answer that question. Diamond is the author of several other books on geography and evolutionary biology, including Why is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. The Third Chimpanzee for Young People is his first book adapted for younger audiences. Diamond lives in Los Angeles.

REBECCA STEFOFF specializes in writing nonfiction for young readers, with a focus on scientific, historical, and literary subjects. Her adaptations include A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and A Different Mirror for Young People by Ronald T. Takaki.

Introduction: what makes us human?

part one: just another big mammal
chapter 1: a tale of three chimps
chapter 2: the great leap forward

part two: a strange life cycle 
chapter 3: human sexuality 
chapter 4: the origin of human races
chapter 5: why do we grow old and die?

part three: uniquely human 
chapter 6: the mystery of language
chapter 7: animal origins of art 
chapter 8: agriculture, for better and worse 
chapter 9: why do we smoke, drink, and use dangerous drugs? 
chapter 10: alone in a crowded universe

part four: world conquerors
chapter 11: the last first contacts
chapter 12: accidental conquerors
chapter 13: in black and white

part five: reversing our progress overnight 
chapter 14: the golden age that never was 
chapter 15: blitzkrieg and thanksgiving in the new world 
chapter 16: the second cloud 

Afterword : nothing learned, everything forgotten? 

Glossary

Index

Photograph and Illustration Credits 

About the Authors