Chimpanzee Memoirs

Named a best book to give as a Christmas present. -- Frans de Waal * The Guardian * Chimpanzees sit in the Venn diagram overlap of topics that are intellectually compelling and those that are emotionally irresistible. Chimpanzee Memoirs shows that it can be fascinating to study the people who have devoted their lives to their fascination with chimps. These superb essays reveal the varying backgrounds that can prompt this obsession, and show that slogging through underbrush out in the field, and battling to save chimps from extinction can both constitute heroism. This is a great read. -- Robert M. Sapolsky, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor, Stanford University This compelling and inspiring collection of memoirs should thrill and delight all animal-loving readers. The editors have selected a range of tales from the most famous primatologist of all—Jane Goodall—to little-known local African researchers. Each person tells us how they came to study chimpanzees and how their research turned to passion and then grave concern as chimpanzee populations across Africa dramatically declined. If you’re not worried about the future of our closest relatives, you will be after you finish this volume of loving, heartfelt memoirs. And you’ll want to do all you can to help them. -- Virginia Morell, author of the <i>New York Times</i> best seller <i>Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel</i> Chimpanzee Memoirs is an invaluable collection of essays by a who's who of researchers who know these amazing nonhuman beings in astonishing detail. Reading these pieces, which come straight from the authors' hands and hearts, is an inspirational experience that explains what they did, why they did it, what it all means, and most importantly, what still needs to be done in the future to give these remarkable great apes the best lives possible in an increasingly human-dominated world. I hope it enjoys a global audience because the numerous lessons that are offered can be applied to many different species who depend on our goodwill for their very survival. -- Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, coauthor of <i>A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World Without Humans</i> I’d choose to give Chimpanzee Memoirs, edited by Stephen Ross and Lydia Hopper (Columbia University Press), in which fellow primatologists convey the joy and challenge of working with animals as intelligent as chimpanzees. -- Frans de Waal * The Guardian * Compelling and evocative...Highly recommended. * Choice * A rich collection of primary sources not only for historians of primatology and animal behavior but also for scholars of the history of fieldwork and the politics of African wildlife conservation. * H-Sci-Med-Tech * A well organized collection of essays that are accessible and interesting to read. * Sharon the Librarian * Ross and Hopper remind us that stories are one of the most compelling ways to capture the attention and minds of readers and I will be using this book in undergraduate primate classes as a compliment to the primary literature. * Quarterly Review of Biology *