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Rating: 
Summary: Good Points Made Poorly
Review: This book deserves credit for pointing out the mistakes made by Galdikas in Tanjung Puting National Park.
These include swarming a natural habitat with tamed apes that can never become wild again but pass on human diseases to the wild population and outcompete them for food in the area.
It also reveals how OFI "volunter-programs" and "study tours" were little more than overpriced package tours for naive animal lovers, simply aimed at making cash.
In that respect, it is a real eye-opener which is also very accessible to the general reader.
In fact the publication of this book has already caused OFI/Galdikas to address some of the issues publicized in it!
Thus the author has probably achieved more than the she had hoped for.On the downside I found it somewhat poorly-researched.
It is obvious that Spalding knows very little about the culture, fauna, and conservation issues of Indonesia.
She seems also rather naive - all information obtained from Indonesians on her short trips to Borneo is taken at face-value.
The book is also quite unbalanced - Galdikas is put in an all negative light, ignoring the postive aspects of her long work in the area.
Finally, I also found the book too personal - Spalding speaks way too much about herself, which has bored me though may interest others... For those with a serious interest in the issues raised in this book I recommend reading: "Our Vanishing Relative: The Status of Wild Orang-Utans at the Close of the Twentieth Century" by H. D. Rijksen & E. Meijaard which is a proffessional summary of anything that has to do with the conservation of these great apes.
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