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May 12
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Gwen
gave
to:
Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human (Hardcover)
by Elizabeth Hess
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my rating:
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read in May, 2008
Gwen said:
"Well, hell. I assume it won't come as much of a surprise to you that a book about a chimp raised by humans might turn out to be really depressing.
I kept thinking of the case of Genie, the "wild child" found living in an attic, devoid of...more
Well, hell. I assume it won't come as much of a surprise to you that a book about a chimp raised by humans might turn out to be really depressing.
I kept thinking of the case of Genie, the "wild child" found living in an attic, devoid of all socialization, in the 1970s. A group of researchers took her in and intended to study her acquisition of language and whether a child who had no early socialization could learn to speak. They obviously cared for her, but at the same time they also wanted to build their careers off of her. When it became clear they'd gotten all the useful data they were going to--and that her language acquisition had stalled--she entered foster care and moved from one bad situation to another, being abused at several points. She eventually died in a nursing home. Whenever I read about that case, I get really angry at a group of people who seemed to forget that their research subject was a PERSON, not just part of a research project.
And I felt the same way with Nim. The practices of the researchers, and their complete inability to see that chimps suffer psychological distress and depression, is hard to contemplate. Chimps were sent to "foster families" who had no training and were completely unprepared for what having a chimp would be like as it got older and became aggressive and destructive. Once researchers were done with them, they dumped them back where they bought them--often from the Institute for Primate Studies at the University of Oklahoma, where I got my bachelor's degree--or looked for sanctuaries to take them.
Nim was raised in a human family for a couple of years and then remained in a human environment. He learned to sign many words and was very attached to the people around him. But eventually he was sent back to IPS, where he had to live in a cage much of the time. Then he was sold to a medical research facility. An outcry eventually saved him from being injected with hepatitis and he ended up in a sanctuary in Texas in less than ideal conditions, but at least with human interaction and chimp companions until he died.
The whole book made me really horrified about chimp testing--not that I'd never thought about it before, but not recently--and the way they're repeatedly tested on until they die from depression or infections in research labs or are shipped somewhere for "retirement." I do not consider myself an animal rights activist, but I guess I'd fall into the "animal advocate" category, and I can't help feeling that there's something wrong when people can accustom an animal to human interaction and attention and then abandon it to whatever fate it might encounter when it's no longer useful for publishing and getting tenure....less
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May 06
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Gwen
gave
to:
What Maisie Knew (Paperback)
by Henry James
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2008
Gwen said:
"I feel sort of "meh" about this book. Parts of it were the sort of Henry James writing I like--incisive ridiculing of the rich. But I never cared about the bigger meaning, other than it being funny at times, so in the end I just can't care ...more
I feel sort of "meh" about this book. Parts of it were the sort of Henry James writing I like--incisive ridiculing of the rich. But I never cared about the bigger meaning, other than it being funny at times, so in the end I just can't care too much about it. And I'm a person who admits liking books that make fun of the 19th century aristocracy....less
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May 03
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Gwen
marked as to-read:
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less (Hardcover)
by Terry Ryan
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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May 06
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Gwen
is currently reading:
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Paperback)
by Mary Roach
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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May 03
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Gwen
marked as to-read:
Beautiful Children: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Charles Bock
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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Gwen
marked as to-read:
Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society (Paperback)
by Nadia Abu El-Haj
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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Gwen
marked as to-read:
Heyday: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Kurt Andersen
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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Gwen
marked as to-read:
A Death in Brazil: A Book of Omissions (John MacRae Books)
by Peter Robb
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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April 24
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Gwen
gave
to:
Blacktop Cowboys: Riders on the Run for Rodeo Gold (Hardcover)
by Ty Phillips
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my rating:
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read in April, 2008
Gwen said:
"I have to admit that I liked this book more than I wish I did. I can't help it--I love rodeos!
The book follows a group of steer wrestlers around the rodeo circuit in 2004 as they all try to make the National Finals in Vegas. I grew up around cow...more
I have to admit that I liked this book more than I wish I did. I can't help it--I love rodeos!
The book follows a group of steer wrestlers around the rodeo circuit in 2004 as they all try to make the National Finals in Vegas. I grew up around cowboys and rodeos, but even I didn't know how insane the schedules of full-time cowboys are. They might drive from California to Denver overnight, just to spend 5 minutes in the arena, miss their steer, and head out to another rodeo somewhere else. Rodeo is a lot like gambling--it's irrational and you spend way more than you'll ever make. In addition, your body gets torn to shreds along the way. I know these kinds of guys--they can't quite take a regular 9-to-5 job for regular wages, so they go broke taking one more shot at it...every year.
The book is a fun read and you can't help but like the characters and root for them to make it to the NFR. At the same time, you're not going to get any analysis from the author--no discussion, for instance, of the particular type of high-risk masculinity on display here (huge amounts of alcohol, not wearing seatbelts, etc.). Women exist in the book in two roles: the long-suffering but mostly invisible wife/girlfriend who takes care of the family at home while the men go out and spend huge amounts of money and time on the road, or nameless women who exist just as sex objects. The author doesn't question the male privilege at play here--that women should take responsibility for kids AND an income while their husbands hang out in the country version of a frat house will into their 30s (or even 40s). This is definitely the kind of group among whom women are either respectable women who they marry, or those who are just their for the men to ogle, laugh at, try to have sex with, and then forget about.
If you can take it for what it is, it's a quick, engaging read that will leave those not familiar with rodeo wondering why the hell anyone would do it....less
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April 13
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Gwen
gave
to:
Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War (Hardcover)
by James Risen
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my rating:
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read in April, 2008
Gwen said:
"This is an excellent, non-partisan history of the anti-abortion movement that culminated in Operation Rescue in the early 1990s. The authors trace the beginnings of the organized anti-abortion movement to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Early activis...more
This is an excellent, non-partisan history of the anti-abortion movement that culminated in Operation Rescue in the early 1990s. The authors trace the beginnings of the organized anti-abortion movement to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Early activists were mostly Catholic and often connected their opposition to abortion to a general opposition to violence and killing--they often had an anti-war and anti-death penalty stance as well. The early leaders urged the use of non-violent tactics such as sit-ins and saw their movement as an extension of other progressive social movements.
But in the '70s and '80s new leaders emerged who were much less committed to non-violent tactics and believed attempts to connect their movement to a broader anti-war and anti-violence stance turned off conservative voters. Evangelical Christians took up the cause and soon dominated the movement. The book chronicles the rise and fall of several important leaders (almost all male) who helped form the anti-abortion movement most familiar to the American public.
As a core of fervent Evangelical Christians took over leadership of the movement, rhetoric hardened and civil disobedience displaced mere sit-ins; protests changed from a symbolic display to actually attempting to stop individual women from entering an abortion clinic. Randall Terry and Operation Rescue especially engaged in these tactics, as well as entering clinics and destroying property. Increasingly, top anti-abortion leaders also refused to denounce those who engaged in violence, including the murders of several doctors who provided abortions in the early 1990s.
This book came out in 1998, when Operation Rescue had disbanded, violent abortion protests had generally ceased, and Bill Clinton was the president. This affects the authors' conclusions considerably--the epilogue describes the "end" of the anti-abortion movement and the emergence of an American "consensus" that abortion should be legal but regulated. An unknowing reader could come away assuming there would continue to be legal skirmishes and perhaps protests, but that in general the fight over abortion had been decided and the disgrace and fall of Operation Rescue marked the end of the anti-abortion movement. I wonder what a new edition of the book would include as an update....less
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