The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn
from Traditional Societies? is a 2012 popular
science book by American intellectual Jared
Diamond.
It explores what people living in the Western
world can learn from traditional societies,
including differing approaches to conflict
resolution, treatment of the elderly, childcare,
the benefits of multilingualism and a lower
salt intake.
== Reception ==
The World Until Yesterday has had a mixed
reception.
Abby O'Reilly of The Independent called it
"essential reading" that "cements [Diamond's]
position as the most considered, courageous
and sensitive teller of the human story writing
today."
In The New York Times, David Brooks' review
was mostly positive; but he lamented the lack
of individual indigenous voices in the book,
calling it "curiously impersonal."Anthropologists'
reception of the book was less positive.
Ethnobotanist Wade Davis said both the scope
of the "lessons" drawn and the range of ethnographic
evidence used to support them was limited,
characterising it as "a book of great promise
[that] reads as a compendium of the obvious,
ethnology by anecdote."
Indigenous leaders in West Papua and indigenous
rights organisation Survival International
objected to Diamond's characterisation of
tribal societies as violent
