- What's new?
- Celebrate Black History Month!
- Poetry in Your Ears
- No wait, no problems
- Popular titles
- Mental Health Matters.
- Check these out!
- See all
Our Inner Ape
A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are
1 of 2 copies available
From a scientist and writer E. O. Wilson has called "the world authority on primate social behavior" comes a fascinating look at the most provocative aspects of human nature-power, sex, violence, kindness, and morality-through our two closest cousins in the ape family. For nearly twenty years, Frans de Waal has worked with both the famously aggressive chimpanzee and the lesser-known egalitarian, erotic, matriarchal bonobo, two species whose DNA is nearly identical to that of humans.
De Waal shows the range of human behavior through his study of chimpanzees and bonobos, drawing from their personalities, relationships, power struggles, and high jinks important insights about our human behavior. The result is an engrossing and surprising narrative that reveals what their behavior can teach us about our own nature.
"An informative and engaging work." —Library Journal
"De Waal offers vivid, often delightful stories of politics, sex, violence and kindness in the ape communities he has studied to illustrate such questions as why we are irreverent toward the powerful and whether men or women are better at conflict resolution."—Publishers Weekly
"Never has he [de Waal] written better on his great theme than in this absorbing overview of power, sex, violence, and kindness among apes—and humans."—Booklist
"Sklar adds just a touch of a smile to his sonorous voice, conveying friendliness, warmth, and humor."—AudioFile Magazine
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
November 1, 2005 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781400121922
- File size: 294888 KB
- Duration: 10:14:20
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
Narrator Alan Sklar turns what could have been a dull rendition of an analytical study into a fascinating description of what could be our closest primate cousins. Listeners will learn about the group dynamics of these captivating creatures and how different they are from humans, yet how alike. Sklar adds just a touch of a smile to his sonorous voice, conveying friendliness, warmth, and humor. Listen to who screeches the loudest at the next office party or watch who takes the head of the table at the next family reunion, and you'll have an idea how De Waal finds the connections between Bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from August 8, 2005
Noted primatologist de Waal (Chimpanzee Politics
) thinks human behavior cannot be fully explained by selfish genes and Darwinian competition. Drawing on his own primate research on chimpanzees and bonobos—our closest animal relatives—he shows how much we can learn from them about ourselves: our qualities of "fellow feeling and empathy" as well as our power-obsessed, violent side. We are "bipolar apes," de Waal says, as much like bonobos as like chimps. The latter are known for their viciousness and "red in tooth and claw" social politics, but bonobos offer a radically different social model, one of peace and hedonistic orgies; de Waal offers vivid, often delightful stories of politics, sex, violence and kindness in the ape communities he has studied to illustrate such questions as why we are irreverent toward the powerful and whether men or women are better at conflict resolution. Readers might be surprised at how much these apes and their stories resonate with their own lives, and may well be left with an urge to spend a few hours watching primates themselves at the local zoo. Agent, Michelle Tessler
.
-