Jared Diamond is a popular American non-fiction author. He writes science books in a number of fields, ranging from evolutionary biology to anthropology to geography and genetics. Moreover, he also delivers lectures on geography at the University of California.
Born on September 10, 1937, Jared Mason Diamond belongs to a Jewish family. His mother, Flora Kaplan was a linguist, teacher and a pianist while father, Louis K. Diamond, a physician. Following his mother’s footsteps, he also took lessons in piano. He received his early education from Roxbury Latin School and obtained his B.A degree from Harvard College. Later he studied at the prestigious Trinity College, University of Cambridge where he did Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics in 1961. Subsequent to becoming a Junior Fellow at Harvard, in 1968 UCLA Medical School offered him a position as a Professor of Physiology. His career branched out as he worked in field of ornithology and ecology. Decades later he again switched his career and became a geography professor teaching environmental history at UCLA.
Diamond has been called a polymath for his interest in multifarious subjects. He has contributed in ecology and ornithology through writing. He made his academic writing debut with his The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal in 1991. The book investigates the human evolution in relation to the modern world. He has substantiated his arguments providing references from an array of disciplines, including, linguistics, ecology, anthropology and evolutionary biology. Chimpanzee is discussed in relation to its uncanny likeness to human DNA, yet it is not as evolved as human beings. Other human traits and use of language among animals are being discussed. The unique approach employed to study the subject matter had it earned the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and 1992 Rhône-Poulenc Prize for Science Books.
In 1997, he published his second book, titled Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. The book elaborates on the displacement of Native Americans, Africans and Australians by Eurasians. Diamond argues that the geographical factor has much to do with the fact rather than biological. The book instantly climbed the international bestseller list. It has been awarded an Aventis Prize for Science Books and the most prestigious Pulitzer Prize. It has been translated into 33 languages and served as a model for a television documentary series.
The next book penned by Diamond focuses on human sexuality, titled Why is Sex Fun? It sheds light on evolutionary factors regarding human sexuality and how they differ from animals. Published in 2005, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is his fourth book. This book concerns the factors determining social collapse or its prosperity. Diamond surveyed a wide range of historical societies to substantiate his argument that ecological factors have more to do with the success or failure of the society rather than cultural aspects. The rise and fall of those historical societies also provide a lesson for contemporary ones.
In 2013, Diamond has been served with a lawsuit for defaming tribal culture by publishing an article, Vengeance Is Ours (2008), in The New Yorker. The article highlights the revenge culture in tribal system in Papua New Guinea. He was sued by two natives, although the lawsuit was withdrawn later. Jared Diamond’s other critically acclaimed works include, Natural Experiments of History (2010) and The World until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?
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