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Summary: Goodall's gentle spirituality of life
Review: This book touched my life in a profund way-- Goodall's philosophy of life is so gentle and compassionate, that one cannot help but be truly moved by her work. If you read no other book this year, please let it be this one. Mixing her autobiography with her unique and gentle outlook on life and spirituality, this book will insipre all who read it in amazing ways.
Rating: 
Summary: Hope for Reason
Review: This is a wonderful, affirming book in which we get to glimpse the "inner workings" and personal life reflections of a scientist. Sit back and experience Jane Goodall's spiritual struggles over the decades, how her love of animals was affirmed and nurtured, and her courageous obstinancy not to be a "cookie cutter" researcher, stuck in someone else's idea of proper science. There were only two reasons why this book did not get 5 stars. One is a small but glaring error, when she refers to one of the most famous behavioral scientists, psychologist Albert Bandura, as the "psychiatrist Robert Bindora"; this is glaring given the importance of Bandura's research on vicarious learning of violence, and that both were contemporaries at Stanford. The other reason was how the style rambled on occasion, especially describing the nature of "evilness," which otherwise detracted from a wonderfully written personal narrative. If your thoughts are not derailed temporarily when you reach these minor concerns, you will thoroughly love this work.
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Summary: A Look Within
Review: This one book captured the beautiful essence of Jane Goodall. Not only did I get a good overview of her life and her work, but I was able to understand her motives and desires. It was a pleasant surprise to see that Dr. Goodall is such an intensely spiritual person. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to find out more about Dr. Goodall and also to people who want to see how God can work through a person to make His world a better place.
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Summary: Mystic moments in an engaging memoir
Review: To describe an intimate mystical experience so clearly that the reader can virtually participate in it -- this is a truly rare gift! Jane Goodall possesses the ability to take you right into her moments of vision, glimpses of spiritual realities. For me, these are the unforgettable highlights of her memoir. The story of her childhood, adolescence and young adulthood is enchanting, as a portrait of an essentially normal and loving, supportive family (why is that so unusual in autobiographies!?). I would have liked to learn more of how and why her marriage dissolved, but Goodall chooses to veil that part of her life in privacy. The final chapters of the book are somewhat less interesting, dealing with fairly well-known information about the serious conditions on the planet. Jane Goodall probably deserves to feel like a saint if anyone does, but it was a little off-putting to sense the halo in her self-image. She recommends that we all become "saints" in saving the earth and its creatures, even in such simple ways as turning off the lights we don't need (it makes me smile to feel like a saint as I flip a switch). This is one of the most engaging memoirs I've read. It seems particularly appropriate for the teenager and young adult reader, showing how a unique life path can develop from seemingly random events and the simple faith to step into the unknown.
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Summary: Very Interesting
Review: What I mean by my title is that it is very interesting that this year has brought out a spate of books in which great "men" (generic, includes women) reflect on their lives and their lives in science. We have Nabokov's Blues telling of the scientific odyssey of a great artist and now Dr. Goodall also revealing her inner most self when it comes to the deeper parts of her own larger journey. Perhaps it is the millenial bug? There are so many sides to this book and each of them is quite riveting. Like the other books of this genre, it is so important that we know the other side, the "whole" side, of personages who have influenced science or art. Its easier to understand now why such "celebrities" often go to the trouble to write down and make permanent their deeper thoughts, and angles of themselves moving outside of their "fields"-- because they seem to know what we all hunger for these kinds of insights, and they are the ones to give them to us.
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Summary: A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Review: When it comes to issues concerning animals and the environment, most people have a hard time staying cool. But from the minute I heard Jane Goodall speak back in my freshman year of college, to the second I finished reading this book, I knew that I?d found a new role model?A gentle, contemplative, and fiercely intelligent role model.
It?s Jane Goodall?s calm, sensitive approach to effecting change that made her life extraordinary, and made Reason for Hope a pleasure to read. In this book she tells a story, woven with memories, lessons learned, and quiet introspection.
From her blissful youth overshadowed by World War II, to her peaceful days in Gombe surrounded by violence, Jane struggled to understand the sharp contrast between her life and those of others. Her compassion was not limited to people?it was amplified by her love of animals and appreciation for nature.
But you?ll never find Jane Goodall protesting on the streets. You?ll never find her raiding animal laboratories in the middle of the night and freeing its prisoners. Instead, you?ll see her chatting quietly with the ?bad guys,? sharing her experiences in such a humble and non-threatening way that they don?t even realize how much it?s changed the way they see things. Jane has the ability to take a step back and analyze her observations logically without losing sight of or being overcome by the emotions that started it all. She writes:
?Real change will come only from within; laws and regulations are useful, but sadly easy to flout. So I keep the anger?which of course I feel?as hidden and controlled as possible. I try to reach gently into their hearts? (p. 270)
This is what makes her unique among most of the scientists and activists we see today.
?Not that her story will resonate with everyone. Even I didn?t identify with some of her religious speculations, or the little poems scattered throughout the book. I was particularly put off by her call for a ?moral society,? driven by her belief that ?We will have to evolve, all of us, from ordinary, everyday human beings?into saints! Ordinary people, like you and me, will have to become saints, or at least mini-saints?? (p. 200). It?s not that I don?t believe it?s possible?I just don?t think turning 6 billion people into saints is the most effective way to go about doing things.
Then again, what I appreciate most about Jane Goodall is her approach, and not necessarily the beliefs that underlie them. In dealing with issues that are so often drenched with emotions, Jane Goodall remains an example of how to handle things both gracefully and objectively. This is something we could all stand to learn.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawn
Review: While I certainly cannot find fault with the content of this book --after all who can argue with Ms. Goodall's genuine desire for a better world for every living thing--I found the writing so tedious, dull, simplistic, and downright boring that I could hardly bear to keep plodding through. If it weren't for my book club choosing this, I would have quit mid-way. Ms. Goodall apparently has absolutely no sense of humor and takes herself way too seriously (even comparing herself to Saint Paul). Her beliefs are described in banal anecdotal lists (humans are cruel--Hitler, etc. but also good--Mother Theresa, etc.) with nothing new or intellectually stimulating to think about and no scientific evidence or research data provided to support her arguments. She just drones on and on! I couldn't wait to finish and get back to some good writing.
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