Hugo van Lawick (1937–2002)

Jane Goodall (then Jane Van Lawick)’s account of her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s. She observed and interacted with chimps in a way that no Westerner had before, and documented and published them for the world to see. Her work completely changed the way that scientists, and eventually the general public, viewed both apes and humans.

I’ve come to realize that narrative scientific observation published well before I was born is not for me. I have grown up knowing the things that Goodall discovered, like that chimpanzees have individual personalities and can use tools. I appreciate the lifetime of hard work that Goodall had to accomplish in order to provide me with this knowledge basically from birth, but the book was very tedious for me to read. I read a copy from the library, which turned out to be a first edition, and then later bought my own copy. Apparently this book is not very popular anymore? My large library system only had the one copy and the bookstore did not have it in stock.… (more)

It's rare for me to give a book 5 stars so it deserves some justification. Jane Goodall has been around a long time, as she nears the end of her life (85 now) we can begin to evaluate her life as a whole. Her non-profits are global and effective, she is a beloved global super-star whose mere presence instills a sense of peace and harmony at conferences and gatherings that have nothing to do with primates. She travels so much she has not lived more than 3 weeks in any one place since 1985. So returning to her origin story, what this book is, we see her as simple young woman, a secretary with no college degree. This enchanting story of discovery of the chimpanzees and of herself is so romantic and timeless it's for the ages. And it all comes back to this book. Granted she first made public attention around 1965, in newspapers and National Geographic magazine, but her 1971 memoir is (still) hugely influential. She actually wrote it to raise money after National Geographic pulled funding for research. In 2017, 100s of hours of lost color film from the 1960s were re-discovered and director Brett Morgen put together a documentary simply called Jane (music by Philip Glass!) which in combination with the book, which the film is based on, makes for some of the most compelling multi-media I have experienced in a while. Goodall leaves one feeling enriched, her impact is remarkable and inspiring.… (more)