"A startling view of man, stripped of the facade we try so hard to hide behind." In view of man's awesome creativity and resourcefulness, we may be inclined to regard him as descended from the angels, yet, in his brilliant study, Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to the apes--is in fact, the greatest primate of all. With knowledge gleaned from primate ethnology, zoologist Morris examines sex, child-rearing, exploratory habits, fighting, feeding, and much more to establish our surprising bonds to the animal kingdom and add substance to the discussion that has provoked controversy and debate the world over. Natural History Magazine praised The Naked Ape as "stimulating . . . thought-provoking . . . [Morris] has introduced some novel and challenging ideas and speculations." "He minces no words," said Harper's. "He lets off nothing in our basic relation to the animal kingdom to which we belong. . . He is always specific, startling, but logical."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Review
"Stimulating" (Arthur Koestler)
"Thought-provoking...Morris has introduced some novel and challenging ideas" (Natural History)
"Fascinating" (Sunday Times) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"Thought-provoking...Morris has introduced some novel and challenging ideas" (Natural History)
"Fascinating" (Sunday Times) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Book Description
'Original, provocative and brilliantly entertaining. It's the sort of book that changes people's lives' Sunday Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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First Sentence
There is a label on a cage at a certain zoo that states simply, 'This animal is new to science'. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
There is a label on a cage at a certain zoo that states simply, 'This animal is new to science'. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A truly enlightening account of the human condition. Using a scientific approach, refering to Darwinian theory, Desmond Morris explains many of the physiological and phsychological characteristics of human beings. This book seems to hit the nail on the head and although written over 30 years ago, still makes perfect sense.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Naked Ape covers a vast amount of natural science and psychology yet still remains compelling to read. Morris really hits the nail on the head even 30 years later. This study, the first popular one studying the human as an animal species shows us in a completely new light. You certainly never look at mankind in the same light again; so much of our seemingly bizarre behaviour is explained here.
Although I would recommend Morris' The Human Zoo over this book as it is more thorough, the Naked Ape is a great introduction to anthropology.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By J. Erlank
Format:Paperback
I generally liked this book and I definitely recommend it for its view of humans as just another species. However, in my view it has two weaknesses.
Firstly, the author has a tendency to descend to political and social commentary, which tends to come across as a bit dated at times. In some cases it feels more like a view into the culture of 1967 than any profound insight into human nature. For example, he asserts that the "psychological damage" done to our territorial nature by "rows of uniformly repeated, identical houses" is "incalculable" - surely a social comment, not a scientific view. Nuclear war and population growth are mentioned more than once as real concerns - again, his analysis is a reflection of the time and place that the book was written. (He may well be right about his theories of course, and probably is in many places - it's just quite subjective).
Secondly, quite a lot of the book reads like a "just so" story. <Just So Stories (Wordsworth's Children's Classics)>. E.g. when discussing how humans feed, he describes how we like a few well-spaced meals rather than continual grazing. This is held as an example of our carnivorous ancestry. On the next page however, he describes how we do sometimes eat (sweet) inter-meal snacks. This doesn't present any problems though: hey presto! in this case we do it because of our primate ancestry. If you follow the same line of reasoning, you could conclude that we like sunbathing because of our reptile ancestry.
The chapter on animals seems the worst in this respect, sometimes almost laughably so. For example, he analyses, in detail, the results of a survey of eighty thousand young children who voted for their most and least favourite animals. From the list of the top ten favourites (with chimps and monkeys in the top two slots), he concludes that there's a strong bias toward preferring anthropomorphic features. Maybe. However, the list also includes horses, elephants, lions and giraffes; and I find it hard to see how these particular species are particularly more anthropomorphic than any others. (He decides elephants are popular because they have trunks - just so).
However, regardless of the criticisms above, I would still recommend the book as genuinely interesting and full of thought-provoking ideas - but I suggest you read it with a skeptical eye open.
Firstly, the author has a tendency to descend to political and social commentary, which tends to come across as a bit dated at times. In some cases it feels more like a view into the culture of 1967 than any profound insight into human nature. For example, he asserts that the "psychological damage" done to our territorial nature by "rows of uniformly repeated, identical houses" is "incalculable" - surely a social comment, not a scientific view. Nuclear war and population growth are mentioned more than once as real concerns - again, his analysis is a reflection of the time and place that the book was written. (He may well be right about his theories of course, and probably is in many places - it's just quite subjective).
Secondly, quite a lot of the book reads like a "just so" story. <Just So Stories (Wordsworth's Children's Classics)>. E.g. when discussing how humans feed, he describes how we like a few well-spaced meals rather than continual grazing. This is held as an example of our carnivorous ancestry. On the next page however, he describes how we do sometimes eat (sweet) inter-meal snacks. This doesn't present any problems though: hey presto! in this case we do it because of our primate ancestry. If you follow the same line of reasoning, you could conclude that we like sunbathing because of our reptile ancestry.
The chapter on animals seems the worst in this respect, sometimes almost laughably so. For example, he analyses, in detail, the results of a survey of eighty thousand young children who voted for their most and least favourite animals. From the list of the top ten favourites (with chimps and monkeys in the top two slots), he concludes that there's a strong bias toward preferring anthropomorphic features. Maybe. However, the list also includes horses, elephants, lions and giraffes; and I find it hard to see how these particular species are particularly more anthropomorphic than any others. (He decides elephants are popular because they have trunks - just so).
However, regardless of the criticisms above, I would still recommend the book as genuinely interesting and full of thought-provoking ideas - but I suggest you read it with a skeptical eye open.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book
The naked ape is a book written in the 70's and I'm sure it raised a few eyebrows when it came out. I learnt alot from the book, its main strength I think is that it gives a view... Read more
Published 4 months ago by barrybaker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
This book is a little dated now but still an interesting read. Easy to read and understandable, even for a non academic like myself.
Published 6 months ago by Suzanne Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal
The Naked Ape is a very informative and funny book, full of great "did you know facts". Great for talking about at the pub when you had too much to drink. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Max T
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping insight to the human condition past and present.
I first read this book over twenty years ago as a undergraduate and found it groundbreaking in its breadth and scope concerning the human race, it's evolution in relation to the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ruffnote
4.0 out of 5 stars
purchased as a gift
As this was purchased as a present I cannot give a fair appraisal, so hope this will be of use.
Published 14 months ago by Ike
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eye opening ideas on why we MAY be like we are (Psychologically and...
Very interesting book that I think everyone should have a read of. Our behaviours and physiological characteristics are looked at from a zoological perspective, we're analysed in... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. N. J. Bolam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book Review
Delivered on time. This is as described and a is a tremedous insight of knowledge on your inner workings. Thank you.
Published on 6 Dec 2010 by Kevoh
4.0 out of 5 stars
good but a bit dated
good book, definetely worth a read and a really good insight - changes your outlook completely - is a bit outdated in parts though and some parts are a bit slow / boring. Read more
Published on 15 April 2010 by William K
5.0 out of 5 stars
Will change the way you look at life
This truly is a modern classic, a sort of Origin Of Species for the 20th century.
Written in an informative, accessible and lucid style, it is packed full of information about... Read more
Written in an informative, accessible and lucid style, it is packed full of information about... Read more
Published on 14 July 2009 by Charles
4.0 out of 5 stars
man
A brilliant depiction of our species.
A subversive work that dares to confront man with its origins and to reduce (?) him to its natural animal state. Read more
A subversive work that dares to confront man with its origins and to reduce (?) him to its natural animal state. Read more
Published on 27 July 2007 by Belmiro Vilela
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