Overview
We have long attributed man's violent, aggressive, competitive nature to his animal ancestry. But what if we are just as given to cooperation, empathy, and morality by virtue of our genes? What if our behavior actually makes us apes? What kind of apes are we? From a scientist and writer E. O. Wilson has called the world authority on primate social behavior comes a fascinating look at the most provocative aspects of human nature-power, sex, violence, kindness, and morality-through our two closest cousins in the ape family. For nearly twenty years, Frans de Waal has worked with both the famously aggressive chimpanzee and the lesser-known egalitarian, erotic, matriarchal bonobo, two species whose DNA is nearly identical to that of humans. De Waal shows the range of human behavior through his study of chimpanzees and bonobos, drawing from their personalities, relationships, power struggles, and high jinks important insights about our human behavior. The result is an engrossing and surprising narrative that reveals what their behavior can teach us about our own nature. An informative and engaging work. -Library Journal De Waal offers vivid, often delightful stories of politics, sex, violence and kindness in the ape communities he has studied to illustrate such questions as why we are irreverent toward the powerful and whether men or women are better at conflict resolution. -Publishers Weekly Never has he [de Waal] written better on his great theme than in this absorbing overview of power, sex, violence, and kindness among apes-and humans. -Booklist Sklar adds just a touch of a smile to his sonorous voice, conveying friendliness, warmth, and humor. -AudioFile Magazine
Full Product Details
Author: Frans de Waal ,
Alan Sklar
Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
Imprint: Tantor Media, Inc
Edition: Unabridged edition
Dimensions:
Width: 16.30cm
, Height: 2.70cm
, Length: 13.70cm
Weight: 0.079kg
ISBN: 9781400101924
ISBN 10: 1400101921
Publication Date: 01 November 2005
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Out of Stock Indefinitely
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
An informative and engaging work that stresses the similarities and differences among humans, bonobos, and chimpanzees. ---Library Journal Starred Review
De Waal offers vivid, often delightful stories of politics, sex, violence and kindness in the ape communities he has studied...Readers might be surprised at how much these apes and their stories resonate with their own lives...
An informative and engaging work that stresses the similarities and differences among humans, bonobos, and chimpanzees. ---Library Journal Starred Review
Author Information
Frans de Waal, Ph.D., is a biologist and ethologist, world-renowned for his work on the social intelligence of primates such as chimpanzees, bonobos, capuchins, and macaques, and the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Ape and the Sushi Master. Audie Award finalist Alan Sklar has narrated nearly two hundred audiobooks and has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards.
