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Robert Sapolsky, the author of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers and other popular books on animal and human behavior, decided early in life to become a primatologist, volunteering at the American Museum of Natural History and badgering his high school principal to let him study Swahili to prepare for travel in Africa. When he set out to conduct fieldwork as a young graduate student, though, Sapolsky found that life among a Kenyan baboon troop was markedly different from his earlier bookish studies. Among other things, he confesses, he had to become a master of shooting anesthetic darts into his subjects with a blowgun to take blood samples, a mastery that required him to become "a leering slinky silent quicksilver baboon terror." He also had to learn how to negotiate the complexities of baboon politics, endure the difficulties of life in the bush, and subsist on cases of canned mackerel and beans.
His memoir is, in the main, quite humorous, although Sapolsky flings a few darts along the way at the late activist Dian Fossey--who, he hints, may have indirectly caused the deaths of her beloved mountain gorillas by her unstable, irrational dealings with local people--and at local bureaucrats whose interests did not often coincide with those of Sapolsky's wild charges. It is also full of good information on primates and primatology, a subject whose practitioners, it seems, are constantly fighting to save species and ecosystems. "Every primatologist I know is losing that battle," he writes. "They make me think of someone whose unlikely job would be to collect snowflakes, to rush into a warm room and observe the unique pattern under a microscope before it melts and is never seen again." --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
"I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming-of-age in remote Africa.
An exhilarating account of Sapolsky's twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate's Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti -- for man and beast alike. Over two decades, Sapolsky survives culinary atrocities, gunpoint encounters, and a surreal kidnapping, while witnessing the encroachment of the tourist mentality on the farthest vestiges of unspoiled Africa. As he conducts unprecedented physiological research on wild primates, he becomes evermore enamored of his subjects -- unique and compelling characters in their own right -- and he returns to them summer after summer, until tragedy finally prevents him.
By turns hilarious and poignant, A Primate's Memoir is a magnum opus from one of our foremost science writers.
Customer Reviews:
Highly Recommend A Primate's Memoir.......2007-06-02
Sapolsky's humor, wit, and intelligence blend beautifully in this entertaining yet eye-opening novel about his years spent following baboons in Africa. He brings out the human-primate connection that so many people forget or never realize exits, and he's a great testament that scientists can be funny and smart! A really great story for anyone, especially biologists, animal lovers, and anyone with an interest in animal behavior and research.
funny and moving.......2007-05-20
I bought this book completely on a whim and just loved it. I keep telling people about it, but I just can't quite convey what is so great about a book about babboons. Sapolsky doesn't take himself too seriously as he tells us about his amazing adventures.
Warm, Funny, Informative.......2007-05-14
For three months of each year over a couple of decades Robert Sapolsky studied a troop of olive baboons in Kenya. His main interest was stress-related disease and he darted male baboons to take blood samples. Unfortunately, female baboons could not be a part of the study because of the dangers involved to mothers and infants. The insights into this baboon troop are fascinating - the different personalities and behaviors clearly do away with the simplistic ideas of the anthropologists of the 60s and 70s. We have some males less interested with the battle for top rank, preferring the company of youngsters, and savvy females outmaneuvering undesirable top-ranking males during estrus. Though it should be added there is plenty of male battling and bullying too.
Much of this book is also about east Africa - particularly Kenyan history and the local tribes, including the Masai. The various human individuals and the various adventures of the author make this a far wider study of primates than baboons. It is impossible not to become involved in these adventures as well as the lives of the baboons. I felt enormous sympathy with the author when he ultimately has to face the relative insignificance of his baboons to anyone else when tragedy struck.
Excellent warm, funny, informative book.
Interesting and Educational!.......2007-03-29
What a life! This guy lived with baboons, Masai, and other "people"! Fascinating! boland7214@aol.
You'll Wish You Had Finished That Degree In Biology..........2007-03-03
What a great book! An absolute pleasure to read! The writing is honest and humorous, the stories are great, his baboons are complex and fascinating, and you close the book each time with a taste of real Africa and its peoples. For everyone who secretly wishes they had become a biologist instead, it's a wonderful adventure story for regrets and daydreaming.
Book Description
Not since the publication of Lee's case study on the Dobe Ju/'Hoansi and Turnbull's case study on the Mbuti Pygmies, has there been such an interesting addition to the African cases of the Spindler Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology series. Set in the subSaharan Africa in a contemporary context, this ethnography represents over 12 years of field research that focuses on the popular twin themes of culture change and gender roles amongst the BaKgatla of Botswana.
Book Description
Just before the turn of the century, a renegade Russian aristocrat named Madame Blavatsky came to America claiming that man was descended not from the ape but from spiritual beings. Thus began Theosophy, the very first "new age" religion. This thought-provoking and often hilarious study delineates the course of Theosophy and other sects which have come down through the years. Photos.
Customer Reviews:
Good read.......2007-06-12
I found this book to be quite a good read. Yes, Mr. Washington is clearly skeptical about the Theosophical Movement but he is hardly the first. I think reading ISIS UNVEILED or THE SECRET DOCTRINE would not cause most people to conclude that Washington is wrong to be skeptical. Many of the negative reviews attack his facts but few cite concrete examples. Scroeder (T) does. He claims that Washington places Madame Blavatsky's death in 1909 not its correct 8 May 1891. In my copy of the book, on page 100, Washington writes that Madame Blavatsky died on 8 May 1891. As one who grew up in Fort Wayne myself, Scroeder (T), please help me and supply a citation for the 1909 reference.
Great book on the beginnings of New Age spiritualism.......2007-02-27
Excellent history tracing the beginnings of New Age thinking and where its roots began. The current new Age movement has its antecedents in the past, which this book sets out to document in an interesting way. The cast of characters that the author brings to life, sheds light on some the the dubious claims made by these so-called spiritual teachers. If you have an open mind, this book is an eye-opener and is a sober assessment of this time period which has great resonance with today.
Laughs and last laughs.......2007-01-27
Except for the eyes, Helena Blavatsky "looked overall like a badly wrapped and glittering parcel."
And with that, Peter Washington is off to the races. In a way, there is no reason for people who do not believe in spooks to care about Madame Blavatsky and her progeny, apart from the practical fact that she introduced cremation into America, which up until the 1870s had been an exclusively burying nation. For the first century after she began, the numbers of Theosophists and their numerous offshoots were small. Washington does not attempt to enumerate them, but they could hardly have outnumbered even such small sects as Jehovah's Witnesses.
But they were so funny. Sympathetic people will feel a tug at the heartstrings at the hopeless search for inner contentment by the mystics. Heartless people, like myself, will read with glee of the self-inflicted psychic wounds of these nuts, who are summarized by Washington in one place as "the neurotic, the hysterical, the destructive and the downright mad" and in another as "bossy matrons, artistic maiden ladies, wealthy idealists and faddists of every variety."
By what must have been an effort of self-denial as heroic as anything Gurdjieff or Leadbeater ever demanded of their acolytes, Washington manages not to simply jeer for 400 pages. His occasional jabs are all the funnier for not being overdone.
In a sense, though, the last laugh is on Washington and the rest of us sane people. After three or four generations of strife, hilarity, thievery, libel, betrayal, adultery etc. by what were basically small coteries of people who had inherited money but not sense, the Theosophists, although the formal group is quite decayed, have spread their attitudes widely, if shallowly, throughout American popular culture.
The story of how this developed is amusing and almost beyond belief, but Washington, professor of literature at Middlesex, has the documents and some personal interviews to back him up.
Most of the leading spiritualists were compulsive writers, and besides being incomprehensible, their works are tedious past belief. How Washington was able to plow through the hundreds of volumes of this literature is really more astonishing than any of the claims the spiritualists themselves ever made, except bringing people back from the dead.
The spoor of the guru.......2006-06-20
To track the spoor of the Western guru from the late nineteenth century onward is the prodigious challenge which Peter Washington gamely accepts. Whether he is the right man for the job is another question. His study's title, Madame Blavatsky's Baboon, signals an unfortunate tendency to reduce issues of psychological, historical and metaphysical complexity to a tract about twisters and duffers. Extrapolating his forgivable disdain for the turquoise track suit of David Icke, he cheerfully deconstructs major progenitors of the New Age: Madame Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Rudolph Steiner, Piotr Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Aldous Huxley and Gurdjieff; seven at one blow. That Icke is to Krishnamurti as a nail is to requiem goes unremarked.
Resta's famous "Sphinx" photo of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky ensures a splendid book cover. What a woman! Much is to be forgiven a mystic who, apart from owning a stuffed baboon
"claimed to have ridden bareback in a circus, toured Serbia as a concert pianist, opened an ink factory in Odessa, traded as an importer of ostrich feathers in Paris, and worked as an interior decorator to the Empress Eugénie." But forgiveness is not Washington's strong suit. Just a spell of remission from his remorseless subtext écrasez l'infame would have doubled the value of this ambitious historical study. Almost everyone here is a "baddie"; it is only a question of degree. Blavatsky's obesity is grotesque, her cigarettes foul, her merits non-existent. Julia Ostrowska ("I think she is splendid", wrote Katherine Mansfield) is simply "a Polish prostitute". Young Krishnamurti is a wash-out intellectually, but, in any case, "the Oxford of the 1920s was unlikely to accept a black man who had not only been proclaimed the Messiah but also accused of sodomy by his own father". Gurdjieff, "shocking, disgusting and rude", stands for the "fascination with barbarism and primitivism which colours the politics of Fascism". Such eruptions of authorial bile are disturbing; shades here of Freud's insistence on sexual dogma as a bulwark against "the black tide of occultism". Theodor Adorno's assault on esotericism ("The offal of the phenomenal world becomes, to the sick consciousness, the mundus intelligibilis") strikes a similar note of morbid intensity.
What links Washington's galère of Western gurus and, in his view, reduces their overlapping endeavours to a baboon-like "comedy of passion, power and gullibility", is their reliance on a secret brotherhood or Hidden Directorate, tucked away in Central Asia or on some supernal plane. For Mme Blavatsky and Annie Besant, this seems a fair cop. (It would be a fair cop too for Alice Bailey, whose twenty-five books written as an amanuensis of "the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul"" seem curious omissions from the charge-sheet.) But for Steiner? For Krishnamurti? The link allows the author his forgivable fun and intellectual indignation, but at the price of an entirely false emphasis. What this singular platoon do have in common is that all were fervently concerned, in discrepant ways, with the evolution of consciousness and the transformation of being.
And were they all quite the dunderheads implied here? To shuffle off as "fearsomely complex" Gurdjieff's integrated cosmology (Richard Rees, incidentally, shuffled it off as "bewilderingly simple") is to miss entirely its sophistication. Whether licensed theologians like it or not, here is an unconsidered by-product of esoteric spirituality which tackles audaciously the "ghost in the machine" dilemma of Cartesian dualism; bridges the discontinuity between creation and an ultra-transcendent Creator (the "Wholly Other" of Kierkegaard and Barth); eschews, conversely, the puerilities of interventionist "Thought for the Day" theism; and reconciles the suffering of sentient beings with God's putative benignity, by denying his omnipotence at the law-constrained periphery of creation (God himself cannot beat the ace of trumps with the two of hearts).
Like any tour d'horizon of modern esotericism, this book affords some entertaining cameos. Yet the genre is hardly novel. In the past twenty years, we have had James Webb's scholarly study, The Occult Establishment, Colin Wilson's amiable potboiler, The Occult, Christopher Evans's sardonic Cults of Unreason, not to mention a clutch of profound French texts by Antoine Faivre, Professor of the History of Esoteric and Mystical Trends in Modern and Contemporary Europe, at the Sorbonne. With these, as well as primary biographies, conveniently on tap, Washington lofts the art of synthetic paraphrase to new altitudes. If in these 470 pages there nestles some smidgen of original research, it is well camouflaged. Sportingly enough, the author mentions my own recent biography of Gurdjieff as one "to which the present book is much indebted". This could explain my recent feeling - almost occult in its intensity - of déjà vu.
The Western guru phenomenon does offer many delightful moonbeams from the larger lunacy; it is palpably a sector where dereliction of intellectual vigilance is commonplace and perfectly fair game. But such lunacy and dereliction are also commonplace in politics, consumerism and institutional religion. Even Voltaire nods: A.R. Orage edited the New Age, not the Little Review; Sufis do not "combine the roles of priest, magician and teacher"; Ernst Haeckel was not an Australian; Gurdjieff's birthplace, Alexandropol, is not in Central Asia; the Theosophical Society was not officially founded on September 13, 1875 (but on November 17); Upton Sinclair and Sinclair Lewis were different chaps; and Dr Vernon Harrison is a sight more germane to theosophy than George Harrison, the Beatle.
James Moore is Gurdjieff's biographer.
He undertook the Gurdjieff module in the
Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism.
Second rate at best.......2006-01-05
This is a People magazine type approach to the biographical history of some of the key players in modern western esotericim. Unfortunately, the author never rises above the level of gossip informed by a palpable contempt for his subjects.
Sadly, the author isn't even a good writer. He has as his subjects the most eccentric and quirky individuals imaginable. Yet the book is really quite dull. It takes considerable commitment to trudge through the 400 pages of text.
Besides a lack of sympathy for his subjects, it is also clear that the author's knowledge of theosophy, anthroposophy, the work of Gurdjieff and his progeny is entirely superficial. The author's intepretations and insights range from banal cliches to ill informed whoppers.
No one who actually knows anything about this subject will find this book to be satisfactory. Those who don't know much will gain little from this book except some background information.
Book Description
Mr. Thundermug is the inventive, entertaining, and—against all odds—poignant story of an animal who acquires the ability to eloquently speak human language. Using his own beautiful, eerie lithograph illustrations, Cornelius Medvei places us in a vivid world that is both familiar and alien. It's a world in which Mr. Thundermug and his family take up occupancy in an abandoned apartment building. On the roof of that building, Mr. Thundermug gazes at the heavens and thinks deep thoughts while his wife picks bugs off him and eats them. Understandably, he's somewhat confused by his complex existence as a fluent member of human society who has the essential nature of a more ancient species, but he assimilates as best he can. His worlds inevitably collide, and he is eventually brought to court for a petty crime and asked to defend himself in impossible ways.
Simultaneously playful and foreboding, Mr. Thundermug announces the arrival of a bold and imaginative talent.
Customer Reviews:
Great story and enjot it as such.......2007-06-21
I purchased this after hearing a review on NPR. I love the book and have passed it around several friends. Everyone loved the story. We all tried to put the old "deeper meaning" on it. My take was that maybe this is a vehicle to think about relationships. All that being said just sit back and enjoy it.
Mr. Thundermug.......2007-03-11
I bought this book because it has a positive review on NPR. I got the book and loved the characters,their way of life. Unfortunately I got no info from the book about his wife except she could not learn the English language.
Thoughts on Mr. Thundermug.......2007-02-18
I've never written a review before but I had to after reading the other reviews for Mr. Thundermug. One of the reviewers said they thought the book was about monkeys and people having sex. Did they read the same book I did? There is only one sentence in the book that even slightly hints that Mr. Thundermug was the result of cross-breeding. It takes place at the top of page 5: "...which was to consider the possibility of cross-breeding between humans and baboons...". That's it right there. The baboon becomes friends with Miss Young later in the book, but nothing led me to believe that there was anything going on. That reviewer would probably read a Curious George story and come away thinking the Man In The Yellow Hat was George's boyfriend. That's just silly.
I don't necessarily agree with the first reviewer who said children would like Mr. Thundermug, but not because there's anything "adult" about the story. It's a sad book and the ending probably isn't the kind that would appeal to children. I guess it depends on their age and reading ability. I have two of my own, and I certainly wouldn't prevent them from reading Mr. Thundermug.
I realize now that I'm at the end of my review that I haven't actually said what I thought of the book. I've just commented on other reviews. Well, I liked Mr. Thundermug a lot. It's a very short book, but it was a nice way to spend a snowy afternoon. I'd recommend it.
an auspicious beginning.......2007-02-15
OK, so you know the plot. Baboon and family suddenly appear in exotic city and move into condemned building. Mr. Thundermug (the BABOON) learns how to speak, read, interact, even love and then he vanishes along with his family.
The story is being reconstructed by a newspaper reporter. One reviewer has complained that this should be called a "novella" due to it's length. I can't quibble with that but what needs to be said is that Medvei is a bold new talent. His writing is pithy and succulent. Sure, the book could have been longer but that's all that he needed to say.
It's a fantastic debut. He's witty and funny and he knows his way around "THE WORD." And one other thing...this is NOT a kid's book. Teenagers perhaps. This is a book for adults as there are subtle issues here. Do you think that humans and monkeys should have sex ? Well, that's the kind of issue being raised here. A book for kids? I don't think so.
Book Description
Description: What does it take to follow your dreams? "DEAD MEN DON'T LEAVE TIPS: Adventures X Africa" by Brandon Wilson is an edge of your seat tale about a couple's seven month dream odyssey - 10,000 miles across Africa from top-to-tip. After their "ship of fools" safari turns into a nightmare, they set off across Africa alone. DEAD MEN DON'T LEAVE TIPS takes readers onto the crazed roads of African adventure and into the hearts of its people-while transforming the travelogue into a raw, penetrating, more poignant genre. From the award-winning author of YAK BUTTER BLUES: A Tibetan Trek of Faith. From flap: What does it take to follow your dream? Quite a bit, if your "dream" involves crossing Africa. That's what one couple discovers when they set off on a seven-month overland journey from Morocco to Cape Town. As dedicated independent travelers, they'd already traveled around the world. But was a trans-African odyssey too much for even them? Who do you "cadeau?" How do you create tantalizing dishes from grubs? Or avoid having a spear tossed through your camera? With trepidation, they join an English do-it-yourself overland safari. Flung into the midst of twenty-one odd companions, they're shocked to discover that many of them have never even camped before. And the "guides" know Africa as well as the dark side of the moon. After their dream turns into a nightmare, they eventually set off across Africa-alone. DEAD MEN DON'T LEAVE TIPS is a captivating tale filled with a passion for travel, spontaneity and unbridled adventure. It is often funny, sometimes anguished, yet always real. Nothing is held back or glossed-over. Wilson takes you onto the crazed roads of Africa, through the everyday ups and downs, and into the lives and hearts of its people. He shows us once again that the real joy of travel is the thrill of getting there. Reviews: "Journeys of body and soul in every sense of the word... Interlaced with this honesty and detail are Wilson's beautiful prose, obvious passion for adventure and a deep inquisitiveness about other cultures, making this book a pleasure to read. Highly recommended." ~ Midwest Book Review "A masterful crossroads of characters, exotic places, history and human drama in a rig that never stalls, and allows the devil to drive his own ill-behaved backyard..." ~ Richard Bangs, author of "Mystery of the Nile" "Entertaining and a monument to those who would take on the challenge of land travel across one of the most dangerous, unhealthy continents in the world." ~ Heartland Reviews "Honest, gritty and insightful...it makes the world's most exciting continent read just like that." ~ John Heminway, author of "No Man's Land: A Personal Journey into Africa" "I was swept away by the drama and storytelling...Wilson is never a tourist. He travels heart-first with both feet solidly on the ground and his curiosity always in high gear. He is exactly the right person to be writing travel books for the rest of us." ~ Maui Weekly "Travel writing at its most sublime, a paean to Africa in all her contradictory beauty, and a tribute to the resiliency of those who travel beyond boundaries not only in search of meaning, but also of understanding." ~ C.W. Gortner, author of The Secret Lion "One of the most engaging travel books we have read." ~ RealTravelAdventures.com "Powerful and gripping story...Fascinating, informative, humorous, poignant, surprising...a terrific read from first page to last-would make a popular addition to any personal or community library Travel section." ~ Midwest Book Review, Travel Shelf "Aficionados of travel books will delight in "Dead Men Don't Leave Tips"...a hybrid of Paul Theroux and Tom Robbins, combining the raw frankness and keen observation of Theroux with the intelligent humor & playful language of Robbins...Readers who have a penchant for traveling will happily devour this book and be sorry it ended. I was!" ~ A. Buklarewicz, Reviewer, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
A 10,000 Mile African Odyssey.......2007-07-03
"Wild, pristine beauty surrounded us as we drove to the base of remote Djomba to establish camp. Towering green peaks sprouted out of ripe clusters of lush vegetation. Massive pyramidal volcanoes rose of the verdant floor suggesting its prehistoric past. Churning, whitecapped rivers cascaded over mountainsides into translucent pools below, and its beauty didn't end with nature." ~ pg. 146
Brandon Wilson is an expert storyteller who masterfully weaves a story of a seven-month odyssey across Africa. His exciting writing style keeps you on the edge of your seat as you journey to the heart of Africa. The detailed descriptions bring the story alive with the sounds, scents and sights of a real-life adventure.
Brandon Wilson is an award-winning writer and photographer who has spent his life exploring the world. He is also a keen observer of human nature and deftly describes the human drama that is ever present in the stories of the overlanders and exotic locales. There are a few photographs to compliment this journey but the writing captures scenes in seconds and transports you to a different time and place.
As Brandon and his partner travel from Mororcco to Cape Town you are invited to vicariously experience every nuance and challenge experienced by independent travelers. He and his partner have a passion for adventure and are inquisitive about the local peoples and unique cultures. They maintain their sense of humor throughout and press on, undaunted towards their final goal. Some of their adventures include:
Hunting with Pygmies
Climbing Africa's Highest Mountain
Meeting Mountain Gorilla
Horseback riding in lion territory
Sitting out underneath the stars by campfires
Watching Antelope and Cape Buffalo graze
Visiting Serengeti National Park
Watching Hippos in Zaire
Experiencing village life and living with locals
Surviving Torrential Rains
Sampling local foods and finding restaurants
Swimming and rafting in African rivers
Through vibrant prose and the eye of an artist, Brandon Wilson paints his recollections with startling clarity. His writing unleashes an immense longing for the experiences he describes. There is a profound beauty of freedom in the way he travels. As they reach Gillman's Point on Mt. Kilimanjaro you can't help but cheer them on to even more exciting adventures like surviving a rafting trip down the Zambezi river.
I can also highly recommend Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith. Brandon Wilson's writing is the best travel writing I've ever read and his adventurous spirit is inspiring.
~The Rebecca Review
Great Reading.......2007-05-01
Humorous, insightful and at times moving, this book almost has a taste of the nineteenth century explorer to it as the pair strikes out on their adventure, learning as they go. For those of us that would always take the "comfort route," it's well worth reading!
A Travel Addict's Fix.......2007-01-06
Aficianados of travel books will delight in "Dead Men Don't Leave Tips".Travel is truly an art mastered by few and Brandon Wilson reveals an expertise that inspires. His rich descriptions transport the reader into the unfamiliar and his ability to delve into the cultural core of the humanity he encounters is sure to nourish the spirit.His writing style is a hybrid of Paul Theroux and Tom Robbins, combining the raw frankness and keen observation of Theroux with the intelligent humor and playful language of Robbins.
Africa offers travelers the height of potentiality and Brandon Wilson embraces opportunity with constant relish. Readers who have a penchant for traveling will happily devour this book and be sorry it ended. I was!
Images of Africa.......2006-06-17
"Dead Men Don't Leave Tips" documents a journey across Africa in a manner that lets the reader experience the trip as though they were there. It's a book that makes you realize that, indeed, such things as taking a trip across Africa are actually possible for "regular" people. We see all the problems of arranging the trip, trouble at borders, problems with roads that are not much more than mudholes. It's presented with humor. But then there are the special moments, where the hassles of the trip fade into the background, and the reader is brought face to face with the beauty of Africa. It is these special moments, where the vital beauty of Africa is brought into focus, that stand out for me.
For example, when the author visits gorillas in the mountains, he spends over 90 minutes with a gorilla family, moments that seem to pass in an instant. At one point "... the inquisitive baby climbed down again, this time headed directly toward me. Tottering back and forth, her tiny feet tramped through the tall grass. Finally, she paused just inches away. The pop-eyed, eighteen-inch high, thistle-haired imp stretched out her tiny hand toward me ... she caressed my beard then touched my lips with her slender black finger."
It's these unforgettable moments that make "Dead Men Don't Leave Tips" stand out for me. If you've ever wished you could experience modern Africa, you'll like reading this book.
Terrific Adventure Read.......2006-06-02
DEAD MEN DON'T LEAVE TIPS BY BRANDON WILSON is one of the most engaging travel books we have read. The author and his partner set out to live their dream of crossing Africa from top to tip, not as tourists but as travelers. The difference is that travelers experience the country almost as if they were natives living there, not in full service hotels and fancy restaurants. The author's adventure turned sour in many difficult ways because of the ineptness of the guides they had selected and the group with which they were placed to travel. The couple's seven month honeymoon dream odyssey - 10,000 miles across Africa from top-to-tip. After their "ship of fools" safari turns into a nightmare, they set off across Africa alone. However, being adventurers and seasoned travelers, they perservered through dust, mud, starvation, fever, sickness, being stranded in the desert, and many other situations that are horribly fascinating. We shuddered as they overcame each diffuculty. The trip took over seven months, and they came through it unbelievably in tact to tell their fascinating tales. A must read!
Book Description
In 1838 Charles Darwin jotted in a notebook, “He who understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke.” Fifteen years ago, following the extraordinary success of their How Monkeys See the World, Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth set out to take up Darwin’s challenge. Baboon Metaphysics is their fascinating response.
Cheney and Seyfarth set up camp in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, where they could intimately observe baboons and their social world. Baboons are a perfect model for such a study because they live in groups of up to 150, including a handful of males and eight or nine matrilineal families of females. Such numbers force baboons to form a complicated mix of short-term bonds for mating and longer-term friendships based on careful calculations of status and individual need. The result is enough interpersonal drama to rival Jane Austen, as the baboons make and break alliances and try to anticipate the actions of their friends and rivals, all while avoiding frequent attacks by predators.
But Baboon Metaphysics is concerned with much more than just baboons’ social organization—Cheney and Seyfarth aim to fully comprehend the intelligence that underlies it. How do baboons actually conceive of the world and their place in it? Using innovative field experiments, the authors test whether baboons understand kinship relations, how they make use of vocal communication, and how they manage the stress and dangers of life in the wild. They learn that for baboons, just as for humans, family and friends hold the key to mitigating the ill effects of grief, stress, and anxiety.
Written with a scientist’s precision and a nature-lover’s eye, Baboon Metaphysics gives us an unprecedented and compelling glimpse into the mind of another species.
Customer Reviews:
Into the minds of baboons..........2007-07-19
Humans have minds. We know this indirectly, or a least we think we do. By examining the actions and vocalizations of others we seem able to infer, or at least to guess at, the mental states of others. If we witness some moral degenerate kicking a cat out a window while yelling "%$!# cat!" we may assume that the kicker had a negative mental attitude towards the now plummeting feline. In such cases humans engage more in "mind inferring" than "mind reading." As of now we seem capable of little else, for other's mental states sit locked in the Fort Knox of their minds. Not much hope there. So what about other animals? Do they infer thoughts from actions? How could anyone prove this? The authors of "Baboon Metaphysics" take up this challenge and follow Darwin in their choice of "brute" to study. The father of modern evolution, Darwin was also a budding metaphysician. He thought that baboons provided a good model for the early evolution of the human mind. The authors agree and so begin with the premise: Baboons, like humans, have minds. Building off this, they then ask a series of questions: Can baboons infer the mental states of other baboons? Do they feel empathy? Do baboons have a sense of self? What do baboons "know" about their environment and their existence? Do baboons utilize an internal or external language? And, finally, what do the answers to these questions tell us about human minds?
In the first chapter the authors divide the book into three sections: Chapters 1 through 5 discuss general information on baboons; chapters 6 through 11 delineate scientific research carried out on a group of baboons in the Okavango Delta in Botswana; Chapter 12 summarizes the research findings and explores the implications of these studies for the human mind. After a short historical survey of baboons, which includes the eyebrow raising tale of a baboon "hired" as a railroad track switcher and the equally intriguing Ahla the goat-herder, the book delves into baboon culture. They have rather stressful lives. Lion attacks. Crocodile attacks. Uncertain and dangerous water crossings. Not to mention the wandering alpha males. When a female with an infant sees a new male enter into her social network, she runs away as fast as she can. And who can blame her? Males dominate each other, and thus increase their reproductive success, not only by rigorous wahoo contests but also by killing the infants of previous alpha males. Given the data presented, Shakespeare could have penned a gripping baboon drama. While the males dominate, procreate, and murder, the females hold together an intricate, almost inexplicable, social nexus. With a dizzying complexity that would make Gödel proud, the women maintain numerous social strata, protect their infants via platonic male friendships, and maintain a steadfast, almost chivalric, loyalty to their kin. Their main stressors remain changes in the social rank, which creates uncertainty, wandering power hungry alpha males, and loss of a loved one through predation or infanticide. The text reveals some startling correlations between baboon and human life, which peaks when a member of the royal family visits the research site. After they relate baboon life and social rankings to the young aristocrat, she screams with glee that baboons provide evolutionary proof for her own elevated position. "Shortly thereafter," the authors relate, "she returned to her entourage, spirits lifted, leaving us to ponder the wider implications of our work." Did the authors point out to her that alpha male baboons typically reign for only six to seven months? Then, like ancient kings, they get deposed by a bigger wahoo.
Next, the book takes a decisive philosophical turn. The authors turn their focus from baboon life and biology to baboon theory of mind (the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others), self-awareness, social intelligence, communication, and language. To what extent are baboons "aware" of their standing in the world and their relation to other baboons? By measuring glucocortocoid levels, an indication of stress, and performing sound experiments within the group itself, the authors draw several conclusions, though several require further experimentation. Baboons don't seem able to attribute mental states to others. As such, empathy seems beyond them. Though the authors do find some evidence for attribution of basic intentions. Looking at language, baboons use grunts and vocalizations, but not in the way that humans use language. Both humans and baboons do possess great amounts of social knowledge, and the authors argue that this intelligence provides a possible foundation for language. The basis of this argument lies in "the language of thought" that the authors claim predated spoken language. Over time mental concepts relating to objects, events, and relations in the world became vocalized. Thought first, then language. Thus, baboons may represent a living model of our evolutionary linguistic development. From this basis humans evolved into beings with a theory of mind that then spurred the development of language and vocabulary. Recursive thought then allowed our ancestors and us to form mental representations of themselves, others, and even of thoughts (i.e., we can think about the thoughts of others).
Accessible enough for most general readers, "Baboon Metaphysics" does not assume prior knowledge of baboons, biology, or philosophy. Anyone dedicated enough can pick it up and digest its fascinating contents. Nonetheless, the book has its challenges as it prods into new territory and the mental states of animals. Doubtless others will follow the path that this book has trodden and build upon the experiments and observations of a team that spent fourteen years with a group of baboons in Africa. Anyone seeking appreciation of the complexities of both animal and human life will find it here. Rev up your recursive thinking abilities and dive in.
What would the baboons say?.......2007-07-06
The intrepid team of Cheney and Seyfarth has done it again. Their work has a long-standing and deserved reputation for being both pioneering and sensible, a rather rare combination. This book traces implications for human evolution of their research on baboons in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. I have had my camps in the Delta raided by baboons who must be close relatives of Cheney and Seyfarth's friends. I formed a healthy respect for their intelligence. They can bring off a raid with military precision and scientific thoroughness, taking advantage of the least opportunity to steal everything usable and wreck everything else.
The title comes from Darwin: "he who understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke." Of course, we don't really learn about the baboons' metaphysics here; we learn how their behavior can change our metaphysics, as Darwin intended. (I don't know if baboons have metaphysics or not, but if they do, they surely believe that God is a huge dominant male baboon who mercifully sends endless parties of humans with crackers and bacon and peanuts.)
This book describes baboon social behavior and communication, and then goes on to show how it is and is not similar to human equivalents. They argue, convincingly, that human communication, complex thought, and high intelligence could and did evolve from primate social interaction. We need our smarts for our social life more than for toolmaking or feeding or avoiding predators. Their discussion of language is particularly good--a really thoughtful, excellent, up-to-date discussion of how human language differs from animal communication, and how this might have come about.
The authors also compare baboons with dogs, jays, and other highly social creatures. This leads them to many of their best insights.
I have three minor criticisms. First and worst, they take philosophy too seriously. We hear a lot about "theory of mind," "consciousness," "concept of the self," and other ineffable and "metaphysical" entities. The authors do as well as anyone could with these concepts, but one can go only so far in making a plate of cooked spaghetti stand up straight. Daniel Dennett's book CONSCIOUSNESS EXPLAINED pretty well devastated philosophers' talk about consciousness, as opposed to the good old testable folk notion that contrasts being conscious with being knocked out, drunk, or asleep. And how do you really assess what an animal knows? I have spent thousands of hours listening to mockingbirds and still have no idea whether they actually think of or remember a jay or killdeer when they imitate one. I suspect they think only "This is a fun sound to work into my song." I suppose we will never know. At least we can know that they do NOT merely repeat mindlessly; they subtly change the imitations to fit their song patterns, such that the imitations change over time, according to a real if rudimentary plan. Cheney and Seyfarth try bravely to make operational science out of "theories of mind" and "the self," and say some very important things in the process, but one can go only so far in applying abstract, debatable, mentalistic concepts to animals, or even to humans.
Conversely, it seems to me that the real difference between people and baboons (and other animals) is that people can form deep hierarchic plans. We can go from tactics to strategy to goals, or from words to sentences to books to life work to whole literary genres. A baboon has trouble with "to be," and could never discuss how "to be or not to be, that is the question" fits with Shakespeare's oeuvre and the history of western drama. Baboons have tactics, strategy, and goals, but only at a quite simple level. They can raid camps and manage troops brilliantly, but can't do much beyond that. In communication and foraging, their plans are excellent but simple.
Second, somewhat related: The authors are somewhat primate-centric, and a bit unaware of how different other animals' communication and "consciousness" may be. Dogs, notably, live in a world of scent that is closed to humans. Dogs are alleged to have "no self-concept" because they don't make a big deal of mirror images of themselves. But, if you put a dog in front of a mirror for the first time, you learn why: the dog is startled by the strange dog in the mirror, sniffs it, and immediately loses interest--realizing that this is a trick of the light rather than a real dog. Similarly, when dogs meet, they don't communicate just by barking or whining; they interact by visual displays (which are exceedingly complex in their own right) and by pheromone releases. These latter are not detected by humans, so humans don't usually realize how complex the interaction really is.
Third, the baboons' very real abilities get somewhat short-counted here, because the interest is so much on humans. If baboons could talk (and read), they would surely say: "All very well for these stupid humans to talk about what we can't do, but let's see them execute a perfect campsite raid! Let's see them get into a 'guaranteed animal-proof' container in five minutes! Let's see them give up their fancy gear and still detect and escape lions, leopards and crocodiles!" Evolution gives us the minds we need, and documenting that is more interesting to this reviewer than trying to make sense of theories of "theories of mind" and self-consciousness about "consciousness of self."
That said, this is a totally delightful book. Cheney and Seyfarth write well; no dry scientific dullness here. You will find yourself getting fascinated with even the most arcane matters of baboon social life.
konrad lorentz, move over.......2007-06-24
Ok, that's a little hype. But the earlier chapters especially were practically as charming. Several thousand undergraduates will be assigned this book and for many of them it will be one of the most memorable things they read in college. Who's Simon and who's Garfunkle in this team of authors I don't know, but their style is very engaging. This is one aspect of the work, the pure ethology, and it's very good. How many of us have been chased up a tree with a bunch of monkeys by a lion? Me, only once or twice.
Another aspect is a running series of experiments done by the authors interspersed with others carried on by other researchers on monkey (and a little ape) behavior designed to "get inside their minds" in order to obtain a sense of how they view the world. No doubt many readers will have encountered many of these results here and there in their other reading. It's nice to have so many collected in one book and I can't help feeling up to speed on the subject now.
The BIG IDEA is that "social intelligence" is a precursor to language as it appears in humans, and I'll let the reader make her own judgments on that. It at least gives one a lot to think about and despite the remarks of one professional reviewer, it's not a particularly "challenging" book if that means hard-to-read. It is challenging for sure in that it-makes-you-think.Anyone interested in origin of language theory will need to read this book.
((I would only negatively remark as a onetime philosophy teacher that the authors have an inordinate amount of respect for the (current) folk philosophy of D. Dennet and the philosophy speak of intention and recursiveness. That's probably why the book is called "challenging". It's not really part of the science in the book, though reading the book you might think it is. Pain is a "mental state" and it doesn't have a referent. And is "belief" a mental state? Is it really that simple? Oddly, though the title "Baboon Metaphysics" is supposed to refer to the baboon's world-view, it would be more accurate to think of it as a book about baboons PRESUMING a particular metaphysics. Like all metaphysics it assumes a particular epistemology, fashionable but questionable. However, this does little to diminish the book or its interest, the philosophy is mostly irrelevant being mostly a fill-in for ideas that are simple and unexceptional in this domain of science. I hope all non-philosophy people ignore these remarks, it's a great book.))
Product Description
Author's life in science, especially with baboons in Africa. By one of the best science writers.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining and enlightening memoir of primate life........2005-09-19
As much fun to read as any book by Redmond O'Hanlon or Gerald Durrell, A Primate's Memoir is funny, irreverent, and full of adventure, while also being a serious scientific study of the savanna baboons of Kenya. Sapolsky's goal is to determine the relationship of baboon stress levels to their overall health over a period of years. A neuroscientist, he observes the social hierarchy and interactions of his baboon group, guesses which individuals appear to be most stressed or most relaxed and then checks their hormones and blood chemistry, not an easy procedure, given his clever and not always co-operative population. Sapolsky, who works alone, must first outwit the baboon, use a blowgun to dart him, follow and wait for him to become unconscious, and then carry him half a mile or more to his portable lab facilities, where he then draws blood and does measurements. The baboons, of course, react to stress the way humans do.
The title of A Primate's Memoir is deliberately ambiguous--it is both Sapolsky's memoir and that of his baboon population, and his experiences and interactions with the outside world are remarkably similar to theirs. Leaving the relative safety of the game reserves and hitchhiking into dangerous territories during his "down time," Sapolsky describes his travels with enthusiasm, impeccable timing, and great, self-deprecating humor, subtly selecting details which show how similarly he and his baboon population deal with their worlds' uncertainties. Kenya is experiencing civil unrest and corruption; Uganda has just deposed Idi Amin; the Sudan is in the midst of a long civil war; the border of Zaire is under siege; and the Somalis refuse to accept any borders at all, stealing lands and property wherever they go--all dangerous and stressful atmospheres for their populations and for visitors like the author.
Sapolsky is a great story teller, however, equally entertaining in presenting both his adventures and his research, his world and that of his baboons. While life may be "nasty, brutish, and short," Sapolsky shows us it's a lot more fun if one keeps a sense of humor--and a lot less stressful. Mary Whipple
Average customer rating:
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The Blue Baboon
Kevin Dwyer , and
Shawnae Dwyer
Manufacturer: Outskirts Press
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ASIN: 1598002473 |
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Is Christian's messy room the fault of the Blue Baboon?
Christian's room is in a terrible state. His mom knows that when his friends come over to play, his room ends up looking like a jungle. Christian says it's the fault of the Blue Baboon, but is this a tale too big to be believed? When Christian insists that his giant imaginary friend is the culprit, only the sweetest of solutions can save the day.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful book!!.......2007-05-07
Kevin and Shawnae Dwyer capture the essence of a great childrens book! Colorful characters and a wonderful lesson in imagination. Hopefully this will just be one in a long line of Blue Baboon books! Can't wait for the next installment!!
What a delightful book!.......2007-04-18
My children love it! We especially love the illustrations and are very much looking forward to the stuffed animal. Your child(ren) will shine as they are transcended into this animated world of imagination and adventure. Simply magical!
Great Book!!.......2007-04-13
I thought this book had a lot of great imagination and it was full of adventure. I can't wait for the stuffed animal to come out!!
Makes kids laugh.......2007-03-21
Kids look at the Blue Baboon picture and just laugh all kids have an imagination and this creature seems to bring it out in them. I have a one and four year old and they both enjoyed it.
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- A Baboona, a balloon-a, a Loon-a and a jazzy Raccoon-a
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Altoona Baboona
Janie Bynum
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ASIN: 0152164049 |
Amazon.com
"Altoona Baboona / flicks peas with a spoon-a. / She dances all night / and sings songs to the moon-a." And that's not all. She gets bored on her dune-a and takes to the skies in her hot air balloon-a! Her real adventures begin when she flies south to Cancun-a, blows east to Rangoon-a, and picks up a couple of new friends along the way. Children will revel in the silly read-aloud rhyme and sketchy, colorful, detail-rich baboona cartoon-a in Janie Bynum's buoyant flight of fancy. (Ages 2 and older) --Karin Snelson
Book Description
Altoona begins her journey in search of adventure, but a little lost loon-a and a jazzy racoon-a help her find something even better.
Customer Reviews:
A Baboona, a balloon-a, a Loon-a and a jazzy Raccoon-a.......2007-02-19
This is a marvelous, silly read-aloud about a baboon-a named Altoona who gets bored on her dune-a and goes for a hot air balloon-a ride. It was one of the first books that our daughter started asking for over and over (and over) again (the very first book she did that with was Chris Raschka's Charlie Parker Played Bee Bop). The text is brief and the rhyme is accomplished mostly by adding "-a" to the end of various words, but the pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are lovely and since babies and toddlers love rhyme, it really works for little ones. We have a special place in our hearts for the "jazzy Racoon-a" (who plays a saxophone like Charlie Parker and thus allows us to at least alternate between two books the eighth or tenth time she hands Altoona Baboona to us). The sequel, Altoona Up North, is somewhat longer and has a more traditional rhyme scheme, but is not as popular at our house. That may change as our 16-month-old gets older.
We love Altoona!.......2006-12-29
Altoona is the best! We first took Altoona out from the library and our son loved it so much we had to buy one! The rhymes are easy and cute, and the story is very sweet.
*~*~Altoona will make you swoon-a*~*~.......2003-02-27
Lovable Altoona has been a favorite in our home for years. Now my first grader loves that she can finally read Altoona to herself. She was hooked a long time ago by the first sentence.."Altoona Baboona flicks peas with a spoon-a."
Altoona Baboona is a bored baboon with wanderlust in her heart. She takes off on a high-flying adventure in a hot air balloon and discovers friendship along the way. The art is colorful, engaging and a world of fun - just like the story itself.
There are MUCH better books out there.......2003-02-17
The book was just awful! The reviews made me think it would be a definite hit, but I found it insipid, and my 2-year-old was completely uninterested. If you're going to make up words, you'd better be Dr. Seuss, and this author doesn't come anywhere near. The pictures are nice, though.
Some other books he really enjoys instead: "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight", "Owl Moon", "Come on Rain", "What Mmms Can't Do", "Make Way for Ducklings", "Where the Wild Things Are".
Altoona Baloona.......2001-08-10
This is a light and fun book that I enjoy reading as much as our three year old enjoys hearing it. As he says....Altoona Baboona sticks in our head long after we read it.
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