World until yesterday : what can we learn from traditional societies? / Jared Diamond

Indhold: Setting the stage by dividing space (Friends, enemies, strangers, and traders). Peace and war (Compensation for the death of a child ; A shorth chapter, about a tiny war ; A longer chapter, about many wars). Young and old (Bringing up children ; The treatment of old people : cherish, abandon, or kill?). Danger and response (Constructive paranoia ; Lions and other dangers). Religion, language, and health (What electric eels tell us about the evolution of religion ; Speaking in many tongues ; Salt, sugar, fat, and sloth)

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 book gives a picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today