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A Primate's Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa
 
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A Primate's Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa [Paperback]

Robert M. Sapolsky (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (4 April 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099285770
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099285779
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 40,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #2 in  Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Biology > Animal Sciences > Primates
    #7 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Africa > Kenya
    #2 in  Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Animal Sciences > Mammals > Apes & Monkeys

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More About the Author

Robert M. Sapolsky
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Product Description

Product Description

'I had never planned to become a Savannah baboon when I grew up; instead I assumed I would become a mountain gorilla,' writes Robert Sapolsky in this riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming of age in remote Africa. Upon graduating from college, a booksmart and naive Sapolsky leaves the comforts of the Northeastern United States for the very first time, to join a baboon troop in Kenya as a young transfer male'. An expert in primate behaviour, Sapolsky sets out to study the relationship between stress and disease. As he observes the Machiavellian politics of the troop, giving the primates biblical names and pinpointing his favourite (Benjamin) and his nemesis (Nebuchadnezzar), he also immerses himself in the society of the neighbouring Masai tribesmen and ventures far from his camp on a series of jaw-dropping adventures. Combining irreverence and humour with the best credentials in his field, Sapolsky writes as originally and vividly about people and their society as he does about animals and theirs. "A Primate's Memoir" is the culmination of over two decades of experience and research - an astonishing masterpiece from the unique talent Oliver Sacks has called 'one of the best scientist-writers of our time.'

About the Author

Robert Sapolsky is Professor of Biology and Neurology at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya. He lives in San Francisco
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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and enlightening memoir of primate life., 19 Jan 2003
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: A Primate's Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa (Paperback)
As much fun to read as any book by Redmond O'Hanlon or Gerald Durrell, A Primate's Memoir is funny, irreverent, and full of adventure, while also being a serious scientific study of the savanna baboons of Kenya. Sapolsky's goal is to determine the relationship of baboon stress levels to their overall health over a period of years. A neuroscientist, he observes the social hierarchy and interactions of his baboon group, guesses which individuals appear to be most stressed or most relaxed and then checks their hormones and blood chemistry, not an easy procedure, given his clever and not always co-operative population.

The title of A Primate's Memoir is deliberately ambiguous--it is both Sapolsky's memoir and that of his baboon population, and his experiences and interactions with the outside world are remarkably similar to theirs. Leaving the relative safety of the game reserves and hitchhiking into dangerous territories during his "down time," Sapolsky describes his travels with enthusiasm, impeccable timing, and great, self-deprecating humor, subtly selecting details which show how similarly he and his baboon population deal with their worlds' uncertainties. Kenya is experiencing civil unrest and corruption; Uganda has just deposed Idi Amin; the Sudan is in the midst of a long civil war; the border of Zaire is under siege; and the Somalis refuse to accept any borders at all, stealing lands and property wherever they go--all dangerous and stressful atmospheres for their populations and for visitors like the author.

Sapolsky is a great story teller, however, equally entertaining in presenting both his adventures and his research, his world and that of his baboons. While life may be "nasty, brutish, and short," Sapolsky shows us it's a lot more fun if one keeps a sense of humor--and a lot less stressful.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars putting your heart into your work, 29 Aug 2002
By Ms. E. A. Thompson "lizfromleeds" (Leeds, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: A Primate's Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa (Paperback)
Which is exactly what the author has done over his long career studying baboons. Starting with his early reasons for fascination with our close primate relatives, and narrowing down onto the particular baboon troop he studied, Robert Sapolsky has described with love and fervour the individuals he met, both human and baboon, during his stays in Africa. The lives of 'his' families, their relationships with each other (and occasionally with him), their trials and triumphs, and, finally, their destruction as a group through the carelessness and cupidity of their human neighbours, are all described with passion and outrage and fascination. A book to read and lend to as many people as possible!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Just buy it, 13 Nov 2006
By Joao Daniel (Lisboa, Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: A Primate's Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa (Paperback)
One of the best books I ever read!!!

Is it a biography?... NO! Is it a science book?... NO! Is it a romance?... NO! Is it a traveller's account of Africa?... NO! Is it a creative writer's diary?... NO! IT'S ALL OF THAT IN JUST ONE BOOK!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One of those books that you lend that never gets returned
I first heard a chapter of this book on the radio, It was BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week. Unfortunately i was driving at the time, and was soon laughing so much I had to pull... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Miti

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and enlightening memoir of primate life.
As much fun to read as any book by Redmond O'Hanlon or Gerald Durrell, A Primate's Memoir is funny, irreverent, and full of adventure, while also being a serious... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2006 by Mary Whipple

5.0 out of 5 stars Africaphile or not, I recommend this book.
During the course of this book, which is also a partial biography of the author's life and career, we follow Sapolsky's research in Kenya as he studies "his" baboons. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2004 by kaveyf

5.0 out of 5 stars Baboon love...
I have bought and given this book to five people as a present and they have all said that it is one of the best books that they have read in years. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2004 by Mr. A. Shah

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