Jared Diamond was in New York several weeks ago and we had an early dinner across the street from the Museum of Natural History where he was scheduled to speak later in the evening. Jared first visited the Museum in 1963, when he was 25 years old, preparing to go to New Guinea on his first expedition to study New Guinea birds. Subsequently he analyzed his bird collections in the museum where he is on the staff of the Museum's Department of Ornithology in addition to his position at UCLA..