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The World Until Yesterday
- What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
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More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.
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Publisher's Summary
Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence. Societies like those of the New Guinea Highlanders remind us that it was only yesterday - in evolutionary time - when everything changed and that we moderns still possess bodies and social practices often better adapted to traditional than to modern conditions.
The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years - a past that has mostly vanished - and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today.
This is Jared Diamond’s most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesn’t romanticize traditional societies - after all, we are shocked by some of their practices - but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. A characteristically provocative, enlightening, and entertaining book, The World Until Yesterday will be essential and delightful listening.
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What listeners say about The World Until Yesterday
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- Paul Bowen-Smith
- 2021-10-13
Stick with it!
I’m a huge fan of Jared Diamonds work, however by the end of chapter 15 I was contemplating giving up on the subject matter as it seemed overburdened by the stories and lifestyle of his work in New Guinea. The book changed course in chapter 16 and once again I became engrossed in his work. I’m happy I stuck it out for the long haul. Highly recommended.
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- PATO
- 2019-05-02
Great follow up to Guns, Germs and Steel.
Makes for a more complete picture and creates a thirsting for more or the human story so far.
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- Anonymous User
- 2018-11-19
Great book
Thought and conversation provoking. Really interesting information and perspectives. It's quite long but worth it.
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- Bradley Foster
- 2023-02-22
A wealth of knowledge and wisdom
I enjoyed listening to this book. I learned so many things and connected dots. I feel much richer having been in the presence of Diamond’s knowledge and wisdom.
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