The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?, the first book from Jared Diamond in more than five years, is due out on December 31. In a joint venture between The Lavin Agency and The New School, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author will unpack the powerful themes explored in his new book in a free keynote event on January 7th. In his talk, Diamond will expand on the theories he provides in The World Until Yesterday; comparing life in modern, industrialized societies with traditional ways of life and arguing that traditional societies have much to teach us about conflict resolution, care of elders and children, risk management, multilingualism, and nutrition. The event will take place in New York at the Tishman Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall on 66 West 12th Street. While the event is free, registration is required and seating will be on a first-come-first-serve basis. You can register for the event here.

In his work, Diamond combines anthropology, history, sociology, and evolutionary biology to contrast a way of life that is starkly different from how we live today. This comparison provides us with lessons from the past that we can apply to our future to improve contemporary society. Diamond—a professor of geography at UCLA—has won numerous awards for his work including the National Medal of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Japan’s Cosmos Prize, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Prize: Honoring the Scientist as Poet, presented by the Rockefeller University.

His previous books, Guns, Germs, and Steel (which won the Pulitzer) and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, were cited by the New York Times as “one of the most significant projects embarked upon by any intellectual in our generation.” His writing and speeches cover some of the most pressing and sweeping questions in science, and in society. His talks are comprehensive, intriguing, and help us understand where we came from, how we got to where we are today, and where we are headed in the future.