Sturmey Archer 2008-09-27

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I found this book to be uneven. At the beginning there was an interesting thesis that conventional wisdom (I think he was implying it's conventional wisdom, but I'm no expert) that humans are savage because we're closely related a to a savage species: chimanzees, is wrong. Instead, we're more closely related to an empathetic species, bonobos, so we're not predestined to be savage.

At the end was another interesting thesis, that humans benefit from inheriting characteristics of both chimps and bonobos.

The in-between though, wasn't so interesting. It was basically a review of chimp and bonobo behavior, and comparisons of that behavior to humans. Much of it seemed self-evident. But then, that could be said about much of sociology and that's where the bulk of this book seemed to be targeted.

Georgina Vaughn 2008-04-08

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

I found this work very enlightening. I think all students should read this work so they might understand why we have what are sometimes contradictory natures. It s such strong support for our evolutionary relationship to the Great Apes. I was both touched by some of the stories of kindness, compassion, and social cleverness and disturbed by the stories of violence, cruelty and political deceit. I was amazed by the number of characteristics we share primarily with Chimpanzees and Bonobos. The book gave me hope that with acknowledging and learning about our evolutionary heritage, we can begin to foster the cooperative character to mold a future with less xenophobia and more word-wide human cohesiveness. My conclusion is that this is the only way we will survive as a species.

Todd Phillips 2008-02-20

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Our inner ape has lots of observations of chimp and bonobo behavior and it is interesting to hear how these observations apply to human nature. The focus was more about apes and experiments that have been done, the author's experiences, the nature of these apes. Really anyone who has lived around apes could have written this book--and has. I've heard a lot of the same information in other books. I was hoping for more profound. Perhaps about how much of an animal we really are, direct comparisons of our nature to that of apes and other animals. The author doesn't seem to have any special knowledge of human nature which leave is coming up short. Interesting overall tho.

Matthew Smith 2007-11-19

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

I really enjoy De Waal's books. They are all well written with a very entertaining and easy to read style. He knows his subjects thoroughly and has the unique ability to convey that knowledge in such a way that is accessible to everyone. He doesn't talk down to his audience, but is able to put the information in a context that is easy to understand. Many times those who reach the top of their respective fields end up only being able to speak in a language that only other academics can understand.

I have been interested in evolutionary biology for some time now and have read quite a bit on the topic, but I continually find myself coming back to De Waal's works. He has this immutable optimism in his books that I find refreshing. He doesn't ignore the baser aspects of human and primate nature, but he focuses on the positive aspects of nature and how the two sides of nature play off each other. Both sides of our nature have been equally important for our survival and our evolution, and so neither one is necessarily "bad" or "good". They are just what we are and the more we understand what function these qualities play in our lives the better off we will be.

For me, De Waal's optimism is why I enjoy his books so much. His insights and knowledge are very valuable, but his optimism is very important in a field that seems to be populated with many books focusing on the negative. Many books and experts would have us believe that we are nothing but base instincts looking out for only number one and any good we achieve is based on purely selfish motives. I myself lean towards cynicism and have a pronounced nihilistic streak in myself. I sometimes can't help but to look at us humans and think that we are doomed to destroy ourselves. De Waal thinks this is not the case at all, and his writing helps bring me from the verge of full blown nihilism back to some form of pragmatism.

I really enjoy De Waal's books they are well written, entertaining, insightful and educational. I think anyone will find this book among their favorites.

J. Stewart 2007-09-19

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Our Inner Ape compares the social behavior of apes to that of humans. It focuses mainly on bonobos and chimpanzees although various monkeys and other apes make brief appearances throughout. This book provides a large number of ape stories, many of which are drawn from Frans de Waal's own experiences as a primatologist, to give an overview of power, sex, violence and kindness in primate communities.

I enjoyed the stories given in this book; I did not realize that apes were either as violent or as compassionate as de Waal portrays them. Many of the parallels that de Waal draws between ape behavior and human behavior were intriguing to me (such as the basic roles of empathy and reciprocity in stabilizing social communities). I found this book to be an instructive read on ape-human similarities; de Waal's presentation of the human as the "bi-polar ape" provides much food for thought. I would recommend this book to others.