- Hardcover: 326 pages
- Publisher: Harvard University Press (22 Feb 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0674026640
- ISBN-13: 978-0674026643
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.7 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,321,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Central America & Caribbean > Caribbean Islands > West Indies > Leeward Islands
- #14 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Central America & Caribbean > Central America > Costa Rica
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More About the Author
Product Description
- Phyllis C. Lee, THE, 12 June 2008
"Perry's book, with her husband and research partner, is far more than just stories
about monkeys' social lives. It offers fascinating biology from Costa Rica's tropical
forests [...] We desperately need such studies [long-term studies] to be sustained.
Let's hope this fascinating book will go some way towards achieving this aim."
about monkeys' social lives. It offers fascinating biology from Costa Rica's tropical
forests [...] We desperately need such studies [long-term studies] to be sustained.
Let's hope this fascinating book will go some way towards achieving this aim."
Review
Susan Perry and Joseph H. Manson's book reveals capuchins as having social lives as rich and as complex as those...of humans...Perry's book, with her husband and research partner, is far more than just stories about monkeys' social lives. It offers fascinating biology from Costa Rica's tropical forests, including the small, somewhat ugly, Machiavellian capuchin monkeys. They act as the focus for a discourse that ranges over "big questions" why evolve large brains and intelligence; how do youngsters learn group-typical behavior; why does lethal aggression occur? These questions are embedded in the human drama of fieldwork; snakes, bugs of all kinds, plants with deadly toxicity, ill-fated collaborations, deep friendships and human poachers...We desperately need such studies to be sustained. Let's hope this fascinating book will go some way towards achieving this aim.--Phyllis C. Lee"Times Higher Education Supplement" (06/12/2008)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book as I enjoy reading about different apes and primates and there are very few good books on capuchins available. This book is written by anthropolohist Susan Perry and follows her study of wild White-faced capuchin monkeys at Lomas Barbudal in Costa Rica since 1990 (together with her husband who is also an anthropologist. For me this book had it all; personal accounts of what studying 'in the field' is really like, science and learning about the individual monkeys and their groups. Susan Perry is really dedicated to her work and the monkey's conservation and this is shown throughout the book. It's chapters are split into different aspects of the monkey's lives; e.g. feeding, infants, social relationships etc. I thouroughly enjoyed this book and I am no scientist or primatologist (I don't even have a degree) so I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in different species, animal behaviour and equally for anyone studying capuchins or primatology. Also, I am glad to have contributed to the work done at Lomas Barbudal by buying this book as Susan explains how much of a struggle it is from year to year to get grants and funding in order to continue the studies and conservation.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A wonderful book dedicated to an astonishing, insightful species
10 Feb 2008
Format:Hardcover
This book gives you and amazing and in depth look into the lives of these highly social, complex monkeys. Primatology has often been dominated by studies on apes, but the Lomas Barbudal project has brought us leaps closer to understanding primate behavior by dedicating decades of intense research to this species of new world monkey. Reading about some of the daily family, political, and terretorial dramas of the white-faced capuchins, you cannot help but see just how similar they are to us. These are some remarkable and intelligent capuchins just bursting with personality. They are problem-solvers, drama queens, pranksters, lovers and fighters. I highly recommend this book to any primatologist or person interested in social behavior!!! This book has some wonderful photos and gives you glimpses into what it is like to be a primatologist in the field. It is a great resource!!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Studying Monkeys the Hard Way
5 April 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Readers will likely agree with Susan Perry that capuchins are the most intelligent and fascinating of the New World monkeys. This fine book, in the tradition of Jane Goodall's "In the Shadow of Man" (1971), mixes rich descriptions of the personal lives of primates (in Goodall's case, chimpanzees) and of the primatologists. Perry and her husband, Joe Manson, and their coworkers, during nearly two decades of on-going study at a site in Costa Rica, rise at 3 AM to follow the capuchins, machete-cutting through the entangling forest, suffering ticks, wasps, snakes, fungal infections, frequent hospital visits, and maniac drivers when back on the road. For my own brief "study" of capuchins, I sat at a comfortable restaurant and bar on the beach near Manuel Antonio National Park, cold drink in hand, watching these little animals in the surrounding trees, but that hardly counts as primatology.
Like Goodall and subsequent primatologists whom she inspired, Perry offers anthropocentric interpretations of her subjects' behaviors, less objective that one would find in a research journal but certainly permissible in this accessible account, which is further enlivened by the author's wit and her obvious love for the arduous work. I suspect that many young readers will contact Susan Perry about signing on for a year as research assistant. I know one who has already.
Like Goodall and subsequent primatologists whom she inspired, Perry offers anthropocentric interpretations of her subjects' behaviors, less objective that one would find in a research journal but certainly permissible in this accessible account, which is further enlivened by the author's wit and her obvious love for the arduous work. I suspect that many young readers will contact Susan Perry about signing on for a year as research assistant. I know one who has already.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A most fascinating read!
30 May 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is one of the best to understand what it takes to be a field biologist--an often overlooked detail. But most importantly, I found the topic to be akin to a novel, though it is clearly simply the reduction of many years of hard work into a few hours' worth of reading. Each monkey has a personality that the authors were able to capture and present in such a pleasant way that one could feel attached to some monkeys and clearly dislike the personalities of others. What captured me the most, and what most literature does not talk about, is that monkeys' social structure is a baseline that several modern human social structures are built upon. Their hierarchical nature is akin to the type of fiefdoms that can be found today in many developing nations (and in some extremely rich and famous nations of the world that need not be mentioned in specific). Though the authors do not suggest that monkeys are able to foresee and be goal-oriented, as these are thought to be exclusively human traits, I argue that some of the monkey behaviors portrayed in this book provide a hint otherwise. As a Neuroeconomist, I enjoy learning about the decision-making processes of non-human primates and other non-human animals. This book is exemplary in its deliverance and is very entertaining to read. I highly recommend it at all levels.
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