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The Soul of the Ape Paperback – 28 Jun 1973

by Eugene N. Marais (Author)

3 customer reviews

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Product details

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Penguin; New edition edition (28 Jun. 1973)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140036210
ISBN-13: 978-0140036213
Package Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.7 x 1 cm
Average Customer Review: 3 customer reviews
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 698,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Lina

Three Stars

5 February 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

It was a bit scruffier than described

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Recommended

21 January 2009

Format: Paperback

The life of Eugene Marais is certainly as interesting as his subject matter. A South African journalist, lawyer, poet, naturalist, and morphine addict, Marais took his own life in 1936 after half of his life's work was plagiarised and published in Europe. He was the first man to conduct a prolonged study of primates in the wild, living amongst and making minute observations of the natural history of chaoma baboons. His meticulous and skilled observations of the social and biological organisation of the termites is relayed accurately but with such fervour you feel personally drawn in alongside him as though holding a magnifying glass. The Soul Of The Ape/ The Soul Of The White Ant is actually two books in one, yet is perhaps best considered as one book in two parts, such is the intimate connection in the mind of the author between these two seemingly disparate fields of research. In his writing, you will see a deeply philosophical and reflective man, considerate of the great questions in nature such as what drives behaviour, disturbances in the sexual sense, natural selection and the evolution of primate mentality, hypnosis, somatic death, language in the insect world, and the concept of a termite superorganism- does a termite colony (or indeed a baboon troop) act with a single mind? By discussing the concepts of mind, social organisation and evolution, Marais brings these areas together in a unique and powerfully thought provoking book. Eugene Marais is like David Attenborough on acid. With a delightful neo Victorian gentlemanly style, you can almost hear the Afrikaans infused poetry in his voice.

7 people found this helpful

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ICG

extremely interesting theory

10 March 2006

Format: Paperback

This book has a short essay on the author's life which is followed by his final (incomplete) book The Soul of the Ape. This is a theory of the origins of consciousness/cognition in humans that is based on his own observations of apes in the wild.
Marais' ideas are very interesting but his theories go far beyond any evidence that he presents. The book is incomplete (because he killed himself before he finished it) and his theories are interesting and still hold merit today but in places flawed.
Nevertheless it is a fascinating insight into the mind of a remarkable man, as well as an unusual reference for anyone also interested in human cognition.

5 people found this helpful

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Jeri Dickerson

The Components of Intelligent Behavior - Inherited and Learned

9 February 2015 - Published on Amazon.com

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

An outstanding book. It was the first of such books written in later years about the apes by Dian Fossy and others. The Soul of the Ape is much broader than the title indicates because it is really about the two components of intelligence - inherited and learned. Two facts make this book especially interesting: 1) Marais lived with baboons and observed their behavior for several years and 2) This book was lost for several decades before it was found and eventually published with a forward by Edward Abbey. But this is not a book that Abbey would have written - this book is the leading edge of animal behavior a century ago.

3 people found this helpful.

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