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Summary: A Primate's Memoir
Review: A rollicking,enthralling, insightful life's adventure
told by a wonderful scientist who is also incredibly comfortable in a literary skin. To date, I have given eight copies away to friends who have given it to their friends. This is the kind of book you are really sorry to finish;I only let myself read one chapter each night so I could stretch it out as long as possible!
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Summary: Entertaining and enlightening memoir of primate life.
Review: 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.
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Summary: An interesting description of two primate species
Review: I found this book to be a manic-depressive romp. I bought it to examine the author's take on behavior and "behavioral neuroscience," but enjoyed reading it after seeing the author's sense of humor shine on almost every page -- his tale of a journey up the Nile through lower Sudan was one of the best descriptions of "budget travel" that I can remember reading. I can understand why so many of his students at Stanford enjoyed his classes. Science can be as entertaining as anything else in life.
Both primate species -- human and baboon-- can show wonderfully hopeful and redeeming signs of our brain's activity expressed through our behavior. Despite such an uplift, the author also shows us the dark side of both primates, and it is a very deep side indeed. His view of conflict resolution and crisis management in both species show that we carry much unpleasant baggage deep within our genes and our psyches, and that we have a lot of very very hard effort ahead of us if we think we can productively modulate our behavior and our reaction to the flow of life. As a species, there is no easy path to the Age of Aquarius.
Readers should be aware this book has but a page or two about his direct neuroscientific findings among the baboons, so don't expect to find much analysis (although you will find much descriptive value). I agree with several other reviewers who found his "researcher-centered universe" a bit annoying and rather arrogant, although I would hesitate to call it neo-colonialism. Although this book went in a different direction than I had anticipated, such detours can be wonderful, too. I cheerfully gave the book five stars because of its humor and its powerful desciptive observations.
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Summary: Laughs all the way plus insights to social behavior
Review: I recently listened to this book on tape.
I receive it from the Handicpped Library in Pittsbuurgh, but use them while I am framing up my art work.
Robert has such insight to both the animals he loved as well as the social similar behavior of the Humans he interracted with while in Africa (and America!)
To listen to his description of the elephants with breasts like VOLKSWAGONS, add in the adventrues of Samwelli's house as the elephants ate it, then to finish off, as all of us who come to live with & love animals.
We find their social behavior similar to our own no matter what motives we initially seek.
That Robert carries a photo of his favorite Baboon to this day, tells a lot about the love he established with the troop he followed.
I carry a portrait of my favotite, Labrador, Tristan, to this day and also know that regardless of the human-animal boundry, when you start to listen to them, you cannot forget the experience.
It made me laugh & cry , but more importantly as in all great Autobiograhpihes, gave me more insight to the Author as a person.
I LOVED it.
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Summary: A Great Laugh Is Hard To Find
Review: Many other people have recommended this book, and I would like to add my two cents to what they have said. It is a wonderful book in many ways, informative, well-written, and so on, but it is also the funniest nature book ever written.
If it is alredy on your shelf, read it next. If it isn't already on your shelf, buy it and read it next.
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Summary: Very funny, absorbing, and fascinating account
Review: Robert Sapolsky spent a total of 21 years in the Kenyan bush observing and studying baboons, learning about their way of life and studying their stress levels. During that time he had more funny misadventures than a whole precinct of Keystone Cops, and I have to agree with another reviewer here that Sapolsky's book is the funniest memoir by a naturalist that I've ever read. At times, however, it's more like the baboons who are getting to study the young human's response to stress, as Sapolsky is forced to eat nothing but canned mackerel in tomato sauce, rice, and beans for months at a time, hordes of wild animals like wildebeests trample and crap over everything in camp during the migration season, and even the local elephants take to invading the camp and eating the roof and walls of his hut. He has a seemingly never-ending stream of erratic and unreliable camp assistants, and the one other western scientist in the area, was, as Sapolsky puts it, as feral an example of the unwashed and unhousebroken species of field biologist as he had ever seen. Some of these images will stay with me for life, such as the time that he was ill with diarrhea and had to answer the call just as a troop of elephants decided to visit his camp, quizzically but stoically watching the miserable young scientist doing his duty as they ate the branches and leaves of his lean-to which he had only just built. Actually, it was his Kenyan camp assistant that had built it, who went crazy shortly thereafter when his attempt to dam the upper part of the river with a mud dam came to naught. But that's another story. Then there's the time he encountered a couple of Masai tribesman, his only real neighbors, who wanted to know how he was tranquilizing the baboons he was studying. Sapolsky explained it was with a tranquilizer dart, and that the drug would work on a human too. No way, said the Masai, a baboon and human are totally different. Sure, says Sapolsky, we're very similar. In fact, we came from them and used to have tails just like them. No way, say the Masai, who are getting more agitated. Yes, insists Sapolsky, in fact you could have a baboon heart. Now the two Masai are really upset and are brandishing their spears in his face, after which point Sapolsky stopped arguing the point with the Masai "fundamentalists" and everything calmed down. There is a dark side to Sapolsky's memoirs too as he recounts his visit to Uganda which occurred during the Tanzanian/Ugandan war, when it wasn't safe to travel through much of the countryside, but Sapolsky was determined to see some of the sights there, and one night the part of town he was in got shelled by Amin's army and he and the driver of the truck he'd hitched a ride with spent the night huddled under the truck for protection. During a failed coup, he was beaten at an army checkpoint and witnessed street violence in Nairobi. And he had many sad as well as funny stories to tell about the hapless Kenyans, mostly young men from the local maize farms who came and went as his camp assistants, who seemed less happy about the rigors of a bush camp life than Sapolsky himself. But the book isn't all about the funny and sad stories of us (presumably) more evolved humans. Sapolsky gives much interesting and detailed information about the lives of the baboon troop he studied, especially their mating and dominance rituals and interactions, which aren't so different from us humans in many ways. The most aggressive and determined individuals rise to the top of baboon society. The females want to mate only with them. Sound like a familiar pattern? :-) Anyway, there are dozens of other funny and entertaining stories in this book. Sapolsky writes well, and we often see the absurdities and complexities of our more advanced culture reflected in the simplicity and naivete of local tribal life. I just had one minor nitpick. Although this is a trade-sized paperback, the print on the page is still a little small and even then the book is 300 pages long. They needed to make the font about 25% larger but obviously they were trying to keep the book from being 400 pages long because of the extra expense. Overall, this is a very funny, entertaining, and interesting account, and without a doubt is the funniest scientific memoir I've ever read.
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Summary: Both laugh-out-loud funny and deadly serious
Review: Sapolsky's memoir manages to tell the story of several Africas few of us will ever experience: an up-close, intimate relationship with one of its species (the baboon); an interesting, humorous, and often disturbing image of politics and culture in a place where good and evil seem to battle daily; and a glimpse of travel and life on the earth's second largest continent. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book. Who ever knew this was such a fascinating creature? I wept with Sapolsky and laughed with him, too.
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Summary: As Entertaining as Great Fiction
Review: This has got to be one of the best books I've ever read, fiction or non-fiction. It is non-fiction, but Sapolsky's writing is so engrossing that the book is as entertaining to read as a great novel. It made me laugh and it made me cry, especially the ending. I've travelled extensively and worked on relief and research projects in west Africa. I read a lot of books about that area (e.g., Peter Matthiesson's "Tree Where Man was Born"). "A Primate's Memoir" is (so far) my favorite. I've given it to dozens of friends.
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Summary: More than monkeys
Review: This is one of my favorite books of all time. Sapolsky is a great writer, and very witty as he describes his time studying wild baboons in Kenya. Not only does he detail the amazing behavior of the baboons, but he introduces us to the local workers, Masai, and travelers and shares his experience living in a political atmosphere very much unlike our own. He matures with his troop, connecting with the animals and feeding some introspection for life in the world today. I initially bought the book because the title caught my attention and the back made the book seem amusing and educational as well. While every word the back says is entirely true and couldn't describe the book better, somehow it seems the understatement of the century.
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Summary: Gets my vote for best nonfiction of the year
Review: When a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" decides to write about his work for the general public, it's a good idea to pay attention, especially when the author already has a reputation for being as entertaining a storyteller as neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky. This book could not be improved upon. Part travel adventure, part coming of age story of a young scientist, and part life among the baboons, A Primate's Memoir tells what happens as the author travels to Kenya at age 21 to study how the social rank of baboons winds up affecting their physiological stress levels. Sapolsky readily describes himself in primate terms "young transfer male" as he recounts his hilarious, poignant and truly harrowing encounters with the world around him, sharing his candid reactions to some pretty novel events. In the course of this book he does achieve "full adult status" and circumstances grow more serious. You just have to read it yourself as examples could not convey the genuine humanity and originality of his overall experience. How does social status affect one's stress levels? He gives a bit of the answer in this book, but if you want to know more about the science of stress, still told very much in layperson's terms, read The Trouble with Testosterone, (thought provoking and hilarious) or the more fact-filled (if potentially anxiety-arousing), Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers. These books could affect how you perceive the world
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