Our Inner Ape
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Our Inner Ape

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14  ·  rating details  ·  487 ratings  ·  85 reviews
Power, sex, violence and kindness: these four broad-spectrum categories encompass much of human behavior, so it's only fitting that they're also the primary subject material for Frans de Waal's (The Ape and The Sushi Master) book Our Inner Ape. The few (but deeply detailed) chapters are a mesmerizing read that spans biology, child psychology, postmodern theorists and fund...more
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Michael
As one would expect from a book called "Our Inner Ape" written by a popular primatologist, this book was largely about similarities between humans and our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, and the evolutionary cause of these similarities. At the heart of De Waal argument that biologists, primatologists, and most importantly evolutionary psychologists have emphasized the connections between chimp behavior and human behavior at the expense of the other side of human be...more
Flint
Flint rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: literate apes
Better than Jared Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee. Diamond only mentioned bonobos in passing; while Frans de Waal discusses them as much as he discusses chimpanzees while only mentions gorillas, ourang-outang, baboons and various monkeys in passing. Frans de Waal's willingness to explore bonobo sexuality make Diamond's "The Third Chimpanzee" seem prudish.

Studying the behavior of our closest species relatives provide a lot of insight into human social behavior.

...more
Suzanne
This is a very fine book. While most authors just explain to you fact after fact after fact, which is a fine approach to teaching, of course, this author instead tends to rely on detailing to you his hands-on observations of bonobos and chimpanzees. This approach allows you, the reader, to conduct your own analysis via his descriptions, which is really thought-provoking.
Shannon
Wonderfully written on our closest genetic relatives: chimpanzees and bonobos, this book delves into the behavior of patriarchal, aggressive chimpanzees and the matriarchal, peaceful and sexually free bonobos. I find it telling that behavior-wise humans are in the middle of the behavior of the aforementioned apes. Discussing a wide variety of topics such as power, sex, food competition, language, and scapegoats the author shows how humans differ and are similar to the other great apes. The ...more
Michael
Our Inner Ape by Frans de Waal looks as the behavior of gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos in the wild and captivity and evaluates how the behavior of our closest animal relatives might inform our perspective on human behavior. He's particularly interested in the behavior of sexually promiscuous, affectionate, cooperative bonobos and how their behavioral adaptations compare to the notoriously patriarchal, competitive and aggressive chimpanzees. I didn't think he spent enough time emphasizing th...more
Clif
I'm a curious person. I'm dedicated to learning why we behave the way we do. Our Inner Ape is a book after my own heart because it's devoted to the topic.

Frans de Waal has a warm and welcoming writing style and provides a large number of stories based on his experience with chimpanzees and bonobos, and to a lesser extent, gorillas. Along the way he has several insights to share about our own species.

The book looks at the behavior of the three of us - chimps, bonobos and m...more
Andrew Pace
It is conventional wisdom that human society is in many ways opposed to human nature. When we do destructive things, we are simply succumbing to our animal nature. When we are compassionate, creative or otherwise positive, we are becoming something different. We are being "human".

This book attacks that conventional wisdom by demonstrating that many of the traits and abilities we consider to be unique to us are not only observable in the great apes, but quite common.

...more
Sandy D.
De Waal doesn't have the frenetic and funny writing style that Sapolsky does (another primatologist whose books I've raved about here), but he is nevertheless good and not without a bit of dry humor. He waxes much more philosophical than Sapolsky - this book is organized into sections on Power, Sex, Violence, and Kindness, and he looks at our how these things are displayed by our nearest animal relatives: chimpanzees, bonobos (formerly called 'pygmy' chimps, now recognized as a separate species)...more
Christina
A couple of months ago I was at Barnes and Noble and they had a shelf of books from which you could choose one free with the purchase of any book. So I made off with this bad boy FREE! I chose it because the author's name stuck out to me- I cited him in a paper I wrote about chimp social behavior back in college. I really enjoyed the research that I did for that paper, so I was excited to learn more, and learn I did.
The premise is that, thanks to our common ancestor, we can learn about...more
Kay
I only ended up reading a third of this because I just wasn't in the mood for it I guess. It was interesting though, it talked about how humans are equally related to both chimps and bonobos, and how chimps can be incredibly violent whereas bonobos are generally very peaceful. He makes interesting points about how apes are far smarter than people give them credit for, because they have empathy and the ability to think ahead. He also makes the point that apes are capable of teaching new things...more
Robert
I really enjoyed de Waal's sections describing experiments on primates. He is a first-rate primatologist. I somewhat enjoyed his philosophical musings on the implications of those experiments. He is a third-rate philosopher. I abhorred his ignorant discussion of evolution in humans. He is poor evolutionary biologist. For example, he described the increasing rate of c-sections in the world as evidence that women's vaginal canals are shrinking as an evolutionary response to medical advanceme...more
Christine
Dr. Waal compares human behavior to the apes he has studied. The book is totally varied. In many parts, he has the most fascinating information that includes lots of scientific data, his careful observations and his insightful ruminations.

Other times he is annoying as shit and goes off on these tangents about politics and things he pulls out of his ass that are totally not scientific. He just seems to have a feeling and know.

And I felt like he favored the bonobos b...more
Sandra
Frans de Waal is on a mission to explain our "human" nature by taking a look at our biological heritage and our closes genetic ancestors, the chimpanzee and bonobo.

By looking at how these creatures deal with power, sex, violence, and kindess, de Waals shows us the parallel between our human society with animal society. While this does a lot to explain politics, our basic impulses etc, de Waal's writing is more of an examination and less of an opinion about modern humanity....more
Greg
It was interesting, with a lot of studies covered, but it also lacked balance. As I read it, I got the impression that the conclusion was more important than the evidence - studies that didn't support him were dismissed, the idea of a "theory of mind" sneered at and there was no real attempt to investigate other explanations for the observations. Some of this was covered in "Not a chimp", though the behavioural studies only composed a section (about a third) of that book, w...more
Jacqui
I selected this book based on De Waal's reputation in primatology, interested in his thoughts on the root traits that define our human societies. Instead, he stumbled into politics often enough I finally set the book aside, unwilling to mix an objective study of science with a subjective analysis of world political problems. He could have cited a variety of international examples, but chose to concentrate on the USA and a few others, leaving me uncomfortable about his motives. I suggest he stick...more
Tahleen
This book was very thought-provoking. I think his main goal was to show people that we don't have to look at our ape ancestors as strictly violent (like the chimpanzee) and that it is therefore inherent in us, as there is also the gentle and sensual bonobo, a much more peaceful species. De Waal makes his subject very accessible for the average reader, though he does tend to make large generalizations on humans. I think he was writing about what he thinks ought to be true about our species, and i...more
Rory
Frans de Waal is at his best when recounting his observations of chimpanzees and bonobos based on his own experience with the individuals and groups that he has become intimately acquainted with over the past twenty years. Much of this is anecdotal, but very insightful and a joy to read. There are detailed accounts of interactions at a level that I have not seen anywhere else.

On the other hand, de Waal is at his worst when speculating about human nature. He goes out of his way to dista...more
John Wiswell
I went into this book wanting to believe everything de Waal wrote, as his Good Natured shone such light on how much we have in common with other primates. He demonstrated that most of our ideas of goodness exist in our older genetic neighbors and that goodness is more natural than we often give it credit. Like in much of de Waal’s writing, here he compares beliefs of human behavior to observation of other primates, specifically chimpanzees and bonobos, which sport radically different social beha...more
Lobeck
if you've read chimpanzee politics, you will hear lots of rehashed and recycled ideas. i don't particularly like de waal's writing style, which is awkward due in part to the fact that english is not his native language and, i suspect, to his own personal style of speach. conclusions and trains of thought are a little too anthropocentric, focusing too frequently on what ape behavior means for humans. although all species are bound to be different in some way, we still insist on legitimizing be...more
Ron
Frans de Waal is a natural storyteller who rather seamlessly segues from great stories about apes to the lessons they illustrate. He contrasts the chimps and bonobos in ways that give insights into the "natural" dispositions of humans. Bonobos resolve issues of power with sex whereas chimps resolve issues of sex with power. Bonobos are affectionate and chimps are violent. Bonobos groups are led by females and chimps by males. (And, of course, none of the social dynamics explored here a...more
Cynthia
de Waal's major premise is that there's a lot more going on in the ape world than humans usually assume to be true, and I thought his contrast between chimps (agrressive and male-dominated) and bonobos (peaceful and female dominated) interesting. One of his points is that it's not necessary to assume that humans evolved from a similar violent social organization (from chimp-like ancestors) when other models are possible. It's worth a read.
Ross
Interesting comparison of human nature and behavior to that of out closest relatives. I learned quite a bit about the bonobos which I had not known before. Bonobos are rated to be a separate species with morphological differences from chimpanzees, but at the end of the book a hybrid between the two is mentioned, raising questions about the separate species designation. I suspect the truth may be that the bonobos are an offshoot in the process of becoming a separate species due to geographical s...more
Heather
This book by a primate researcher explores the nuances of ape behavior and its connection to human behavior. I won't say that I was surprised to read that apes exhibit most of the complex social behaviors that humans do, or that much of what we think of as civilized is deeply rooted in animal instinct. But I did thoroughly enjoy this look at the lives of our ape cousins.

This book explores all aspects of ape behavior- adult readers only, please.
Keeley
I had to read this for school. This author truly believes that we are descended from apes. I on the other hand do not. There were a lot of things that we obviously disagree on, but he also had some really good points as well. I agree that we can learn a lot about ourselves from animals, but not because we evolved from them. Because they have thought processes and emotions like us. Definately an interesting read.
Dave Gaston
Light behavioral science served up in the form of classic field study reporting. Our Inner Ape is a guy book and a nerd science book all rolled up in one. What’s not to love? OK, the title is a little too obvious. But let’s admit it, we all have a fascination with the “other branch” just to the left (6MM yrs/ago) of our own humanity. The similarities between the two specie's societies are not earth shattering but they are somehow life affirming. Seeing ourselves through a primal reflection power...more
Erin
Really interesting anecdotal stories and research based information about chimps and bonobos. In general I like the way de Waal connects ape behaviors to human behaviors, but occasionally the connections seem like a bit of a leap. Still, a good quick read about war-like chimps and sexy bonobos and might tell us about who we are.
Norm
Norm rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Norm by: Malini
Shelves: 2009
My cousin is a graduate student under Prof. de Waal, so this book was particularly interesting for me. Definitely worth a re-read to reinforce the nuances of insight that get blurred after a single pass. Like any non-fiction, the book is dense. However, it is quite readable.
Stef
Narrated by Alan Sklar. I didn't care for the narration; he added a sly nudge-nudge tone of voice to any discussion of sex (and in a book about chimpanzees and bonobos there is plenty of discussion about sex) and a scoffing or superior tone to any discussion of morality/ethics.

I enjoyed the descriptions of animal behavior and of interactions between the apes and their human observers.

I was less impressed with de Waal's attempts to draw conclusions about human behavior fr...more
Rebecca
De Waal's firsthand accounts of chimpanzee and bonobo social life make for a compelling read. His writing style is very personal, and I'm hoping that my students will find the book both engaging and provocative.
Maggie Dijkstra
excellent. recommend this book to anyone interested in evolution and our primate ancestry. de Waal gives excellent examples from observation and from designed research in zoo primates that support his points.
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Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We are Who We Are (Paperback)
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"Frans B.M. de Waal, PhD (born 29 October 1948, 's-Hertogenbosch), is a Dutch psychologist, primatologist and ethologist. He is the Charles Howard Candler professor of Primate Behavior in the Emory University psychology department in Atlanta, Georgia, and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and author of numerous books including Chimpanzee Politi...more
More about Frans de Waal...
The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society The Ape And The Sushi Master Reflections Of A Primatologist Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals

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