我爱英语网 > 英文书屋 > 非小说类 > 第三种猩猩(The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee) 第三种猩猩(The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee) 我爱英语网  http://www.52en.com     This is one of those books that stay in the mind (in my mind, anyway) long after reading it. The third chimpanzee of the title is, of course, Homo sapiens, and Diamond's theme is our relation to the rest of the natural world, in which we are, from one point of view, just one mammalian species among others. But there is more to the book than that; if there weren't, it would not be much point in writing it, for there have been many books on that theme. What Diamond does is to place the facts about human biology and evolution in a historical context, to show why this species of ape attained the status of a world conqueror and, more disturbingly, how the whole story may end in disaster unless it is too late. Other books have uttered similar kinds of warnings too, of course, but what is special about this one is the power and width of scope that characterize the writing     The story is told in five parts. Part 1 covers the period from several million years ago to just before the appearance of agriculture ten thousand years ago, and Part 2 deals with changes in the human life pattern which occurred during this vast expanse of time. Part 3 is about those cultural traits which, we believe, distinguish us from other species, including our closest relatives. In Part 4 the story takes a darker tone as Diamond considers two of our more destructive traits: warfare and environmental degradation. Finally, in an epilogue Diamond reviews the story and looks to the future, not over-optimistically but still not with total despair.     >>第三种猩猩(The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee)电子书下载<<