The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies? (UK HB - SIGNED)

Diamond, Jared

ISBN 10: 0713998989 / ISBN 13: 9780713998986

Published by Allen Lane, 2012

About this Item

UK hardback second impression, INSCRIBED to ffep by Diamond with 12 March 2013 date. Good only with some spotting, and knocks to corners and boards edges. The jacket has some rubbing and creasing. SLIGHTLY HEAVIER THAN AVERAGE - THERE MAY BE SOME EXTRA POSTAGE OUTSIDE THE UK - THANKS.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1644250414599

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies? (UK HB - SIGNED)
• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0713998989
• ISBN 13: 9780713998986
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author

About this title

Synopsis

In The World Until Yesterday, Diamond reveals how tribal societies offer an extraordinary window into how our ancestors lived for millions of years - until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms - and provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.

In his most personal book to date, Jared Diamond writes about his experiences over nearly five decades working and living in New Guinea, an island that is home to one thousand of the world's 7,000 languages and one of the most culturally diverse places on earth. Drawing on his own fieldwork, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians and other cultures, Diamond explores how tribal peoples approach essential human problems, from childrearing to old age to conflict resolution to health. He unearths remarkable findings - from the reasons why modern afflictions like diabetes, obesity and hypertension are largely non-existent in tribal societies, to the surprising cognitive benefits of multilingualism. As Diamond reminds us, the West achieved global dominance due to specific environmental and technological advantages, but Westerners do not necessarily have superior ideas about how to live well.

About the Author

Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. He began his scientific career in physiology and expanded into evolutionary biology and biogeography. Among his many awards are the National Medal of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Japan’s Cosmos Prize, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Prize honoring the Scientist as Poet, presented by The Rockefeller University. His previous books include Why Is Sex Fun?, The Third Chimpanzee, Collapse, The World Until Yesterday, and Guns, Germs, and Steel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.