Does Jared Diamond write his books on his free time as hobby, or books are actually his real "academic work"?

Question

I am a big fan of his book "Guns, Germs and Steel", but I never understood this. Does he also publish professional articles in academic journals? Or writing the book for general audience is the primary work?

Answer 1

As he writes in his book, GGS is an indirect result of his second career in the ecology and evolution of New Guinea birds.