Kirsten Garrett: In his introduction, Professor Michael Cook went on to talk about the book ‘Guns, Germs and Steel' for which Jared Diamond won the Pulitzer Prize. It's called ‘Why is Sex Fun?' and it's such a hot item that if you go to the library they won't let you have it for more than three hours at a stretch.īut it is nevertheless, like everything else that Professor Diamond writes, it's a serious answer to a serious question. The second book has an even more inflammatory title.

The first one which he published back in 1992 is called, it has a rather teasing title, ‘The Third Chimpanzee', and what he's telling us is that we humans could perfectly well be classified as just another species of chimp. In this field too, he's published a couple of books, but this time they're books that you and I will find fully accessible. From birds, he went on to develop a lively interest in primates, including the primate species which is so abundantly present in this room tonight. And that's exactly what Professor Diamond has done.

And more than that, they can jump whole orders. In one respect they're rather like the germs that they study, that's to say they can jump species. Michael Cook: There's something that you need to remember about biologists. He's Professor of Islamic Studies at Princeton. Introducing Jared Diamond was Michael Cook. And today, Background Briefing will broadcast that talk, edited and including some questions and answers at the end. At Princeton University in America, earlier this month, eminent professor Jared Diamond gave a speech about the collapse of ancient societies.

The reasons, obviously, have lessons for the whole of our intricately interlinked planet today. Kirsten Garrett: Throughout human history, societies, civilisations have prospered and collapsed over time.

Collapse jared