Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters - Goodall/Peterson
3 stars

The sub-title says it all. This is a collection of Jane Goodall’s correspondence, beginning with a childish note to her mother written in 1942 and ending with the personal and business letters of 1967. Each chapter is introduced with biographical and interpretive information written by Dale Peterson.

I have great admiration for Jane Goodall. I stood in line for a signed copy of this book at an early Los Angeles Times Book Festival. I’d dipped into the book to read bits and pieces over the years, but this is the first time that I read it cover to cover. It was not an easy book to read. As much as I respect this woman, or possibly because I respect her, I didn’t like reading her very personal letters. I wasn’t especially interested in her personal life and it felt like an invasion of her privacy. Much of the early correspondence bored me, until she started writing from Gombe.

There were some insights to be gained from this book that made it worth reading. It brought home the very primitive nature of Goodall’s early research. This isn’t news, but her personal letters highlight her absolute focus on her task despite dire conditions and a substantial amount of serious illness. It’s unfortunate that these are all Goodall’s letters to others, and not their letters to her, but it’s clear that even at a distance, she was very connected to her family and dependent on them for emotional support. Her early, pervasive interest in animals is everywhere in her letters. Even in her earliest letters, it is sometimes difficult to tell if she is talking about an animal or a person in her comments.

I think my biggest take-away from this reading has to be the vast changes in technology that have taken place since the mid-twentieth century. She apologized for writing on airmail flimsy paper. Letters were lost and she waited weeks for return mail. Funding was not only limited but how the money would be distributed was complicated (the check was in the mail, but the river is flooded….). She wrote her reports on malfunctioning manual typewriters. The most technologically complicated piece of equipment that she started with was probably a pair of binoculars. Film from her first poor photographic efforts (before Hugo van Lawick arrived) were frequently overexposed or had film damaged by heat or water.

I’m just about to press a button to post this inconsequential book review to anyone in the world who would like to read it. It boggles the mind. ( )

An autobiography in the form of letters Jane Goodall has written to family throughout her life. It gives insight for her passion of chimps and how she considered them family.

The time spent on her studies was monumental. It was a good way to see her on a personal level and her family origin.