Dale Peterson (1) (1944–)

First, I would like to thank Bloomsbury USA and Goodreads for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. I won this through a Goodreads contest.

The blurb about this book made me think that it would be chock full of animal stories and how morality is displayed in the animal's behavior patterns. The reality of the book is that it is directed more towards philosophy or psychology aficionados, rather than average, "regular" animal lovers. The depth in which Peterson explains morality, its concepts, origins, rules and future is quite verbose and pedantic. Certainly his thoughts are well explained and contain examples; however, I expected a lot more animal stories. What I got was a long explanation of what human morality is, and how it came to be, intertwined with a few examples here and there from the animal kingdom. That being said, the book wasn't ALL bad.
I found Peterson's way of including a quote from Moby Dick at the head of each chapter very refreshing, as it both set the tone for the chapter's contents and also brought the concept to life, even before you got into the subject. The animal examples that were included were new to me and made me think about how animals co exist, even without being taught morality as humans are. They seem to act morally to ensure the maintenance of the species, not because they are being pushed by their peers. Certainly their behavior is shaped by others around them, and both good and bad behaviors have their place in each animal society.
Both religion and science play a part in explaining morality and its "cause and effect" relationship on both humans and non-humans. Modern and ancient schools of thought are noted, with no particular emphasis being placed on either of them. The author does a great job of telling the facts about our moral code, without passing judgment.
I will have to re-read this again with a more open mind, a mind that is geared towards the philosophical rather than the mind of an animal lover. I cannot say that after reading this book I think of animals differently; but I WILL say that I definitely view humans in a new light.… (más)

She's a personal hero of mine, so I had to read the book. I feel you could remove 400 pages without missing anything about the subject--do we really need to know about the ancestry of everyone she met? The minutia sometimes overwhelms the subject. That said, it's impossible not to fall in love with a woman of such character--intelligence, perseverance, compassion, and above all courage. The book mourns the passing of each of her loved ones, both human and not, and I can't help thinking how much better whe world would be if we all shared her view of it.… (más)

A hefty, very thorough biography on Dr. Jane Goodall... I was fascinated and awed by what this amazing woman has done with her life, and the things she discovered about our closest living relative, chimpanzees. The book tells about her early life- she was born in England, grew up in a nice family, always had an interest in animals from a young age... Then her early secretarial jobs, and the many young men who tried to gain her favor. It tells how she met the famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, who wanted someone to study great apes in the wild, thinking they would give us glimpses into how early man had lived and behaved... I’d had the impression that Jane Goodall went very suddenly to Gombe to study the chimpanzees, but in reality she worked for Leakey several years while he sought funding for the project. When she finally got there, she spent months trying to habituate the chimpanzees to her presence, and it finally paid off. She was able to observe them closely, doing all their normal everyday activities, and made the shocking (for that time) discoveries that chimpanzees make and use rudimentary tools, and hunt and eat meat on occasion. Her methods were unheard of at the time- and her habit of giving the animals names and describing their behavior in a manner anyone could understand, made her material accessible to the public...

There’s a lot of details in this book about supporting people in Jane Goodall’s life- her family and friends, Louis Leakey, the Nat Geo photographer Hugo van Lawick who became her first husband, the many many people who came and went from Gombe as the project grew. Eventually Jane Goodall had assistants trained to also follow the chimpanzees and make observations, resulting in one of the longest sustained study on a group of animals in the wild, ever. Many graduate students came to Gombe to do their own research projects on different aspects of chimpanzee behavior. Jane Goodall found herself as the years went on doing more of the administrative work and less of the studies herself. She travelled all over the world giving lectures and attending conferences- at first to share her findings about chimpanzees, then to advocate protecting them and preserving the wild habitat. Near the end of the book her focus shifted again to urge world peace, to encourage young people in finding ways to better the world around them, and to improve the lives of chimpanzees and other simian species that live in zoos or were used in research... As far as I know, Dr. Goodall is still working tirelessly to further the causes she believes in so deeply.

There’s so much in this book I have barely touched on any of it. Her work at Cambridge University to earn a Ph.D. (so she would have credentials to get published in scientific circles) even though she hadn’t done any undergraduate work. An early job she had at the London Zoo assisting the filmmaker who produced a popular television show about wildlife. Her mother Vanne wrote a romantic fiction book set in a rain forest! How her son Hugo nicknamed Grub, grew up more or less in the research camp. The many mishaps, frustrations and dangerous moments during fieldwork in Africa- especially when political situations made it unsafe. Glimpses into the lives of the chimpanzees. Why she and Hugo didn’t write the sequel to Innocent Killers (another book I loved- it was about hyenas, jackals and wild dogs in the Serengeti. The sequel was supposed to be on studies of leopards, lions and cheetahs). Her second marriage to Derek Bryceson (and how both marriages eventually ended in divorce). The many many famous people she has met. Her lively, humorous and energetic writing style- as numerous passages are quoted from letters, diaries and field journals. Normally I might feel distracted and annoyed at so much being presented in a biography about other people- Louis Leakey’s childhood for example- but in this case I was already familiar enough with the main person that I found all the secondary stories interesting and insightful. Even the brief ones about people who cooked in her camp, or worked as her secretaries, or helped her care for her pets (small wild animals when she was younger, lots of different dogs later on).

Maybe this is rambling, and it sure is a lot, but that’s my grand impression of this long and detailed book on the life of an awe-inspiring person. Sure did revive my desire to read her other books on chimpanzees, conservation work, etc.

more at the Dogear Diary… (más)