This book was in the bibliography of Sara Gruen’s Ape House and, because I loved the part of her book dealing with the animals, I wanted to know more about apes learning how to communicate with humans. I enjoyed this look of the first chimpanzee to be taught American Sign Language by Roger Fouts, co-director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute. It’s fascinating to see how close these chimps are to us, and Fouts has some very valid and moving points about the sad way that humans treat research animals.