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El simio y el aprendiz de sushi: Reflexiones de un primatologo sobre la cultura
En este libro, el conocido primatólogo Frans de Waal desfía nuestros planteamientos más básicos sobre quiénes somos y en qué nos diferenciamos de otros animales. A través de sus propias investigaciones con macacos, bonobos y chimpancés, estudios de otros científicos e ingeniosas reflexiones, nos lleva a preguntarnos si los simios tienen su propia cultura. Solemos pensar que únicamente los humanos disponemos de manifestaciones culturales libres y sofisticadas, que varían en cada comunidad. Pero ¿qué ocurriría si los simios reaccionaran ante situaciones diferentes con comportamientos aprendidos mediante la observación de sus mayores (lo que se llama cultura), en lugar de utilizar el mero instinto heredado genéticamente (lo que se llama natura)? Los macacos japoneses, por ejemplo, aprenden de sus congéneres cómo lavar patatas en el mar, y las hembras chimpancés enseñan a sus crías cómo utilizar correctamente piedras para partir nueces. Este escenario hace que se tambaleen nuestras creencias ancestrales sobre lo que nos diferencia de los animales, a la vez que desafía nuestra tendencia a ver a los animales como seres sometidos a leyes genéticas. Si los animales aprenden unos de otros de forma similar a como lo hacemos nosotros, entonces los tenemos mucho más cerca de lo que pensamos.
El título del libro proviene de una analogía que el autor establece entre la forma en que se transmiten los comportamientos en las sociedades primates y la manera en que las habilidades del maestro de sushi (pescado crudo elaborado) se traspasan al aprendiz a través de la meticulosa observación de sus movimientos. Pero al mismo tiempo que desmenuza las peculiaridades de la transmisión social, también trata el tema de cómo nuestra propia cultura humana condiciona la forma en que observamos a los demás animales. En definitiva, este libro constituye una respuesta a la pregunta: ¿qué podemos aprender sobre la evolución de nuestra propia cultura al estudiar la conducta de los primates?
El título del libro proviene de una analogía que el autor establece entre la forma en que se transmiten los comportamientos en las sociedades primates y la manera en que las habilidades del maestro de sushi (pescado crudo elaborado) se traspasan al aprendiz a través de la meticulosa observación de sus movimientos. Pero al mismo tiempo que desmenuza las peculiaridades de la transmisión social, también trata el tema de cómo nuestra propia cultura humana condiciona la forma en que observamos a los demás animales. En definitiva, este libro constituye una respuesta a la pregunta: ¿qué podemos aprender sobre la evolución de nuestra propia cultura al estudiar la conducta de los primates?
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 17, 2001
34 people are currently reading
1437 people want to read
About the author
Frans de Waal
47 books1,754 followersFrans de Waal has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. The author of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, among many other works, he is the C. H. Candler Professor in Emory University’s Psychology Department and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
April 26, 2022
The title refers to the training of a sushi chef - sheer observation, imitation and practice in private time over an extended period and with no official instruction at all. And that too is how apes acquire culture from each other.
I don't want to go into whether or not animals have culture, observation of my cats has shown me that of course they do. I've watched how the younger cat learned from the older one how to open doors and cupboards and how to nudge the shower tap to get water, not to mention all the learning of particular foibles of 'their' humans so they can manipulate them (me mostly) into doing what they want.
When I was much younger and interested in animal behaviour but had no appreciation of politics I read, enjoyed and learned from Konrad Lorenz, particularly King Solomon's Ring and Here Am I--Where Are You?: The Behavior of the Greylag Goose. I didn't know at the time that Lorenz believed that if two populations of animals that could interbreed but didn't usually because of geographic distance should find themselves in the same locality, the 'interlopers' should be exterminated as interbreeding would weaken the original population. I didn't know that this was Hitler's scientific justification for his policy of extermination of the Jews, a policy which Lorenz was fully behind.
To be a bit more specific, in 1938 Lorenz joined the Nazi party, writing on his application, "I'm able to say that my whole scientific work is devoted to the ideas of the National Socialists." This earned him a University chair. Later, when Germany had lost the war, he muddled and fuddled and changed his tune and eventually, in 1973, had been so rehabilitated he got the Nobel Prize. (Part of me thinks he absolutely, as the father of the modern discipline of ethology, deserved it. Part of me is disgusted...)
And that part of me was also disgusted with the author of The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist whose hero is Lorenz. He goes to endless, tortuous lengths to excuse him whilst having to admit that he was behind a lot of pseudo-scientific Nazi genocidal shit, but he manages never to once mention the word Jews.
So once I'd read that chapter the book was spoiled for me. The author's credibility had gone, I couldn't trust him to present an unbiased, scientific truth, how would I know if he twisted things to fit in with his own political axes?
I did plod on through, and it wasn't a bad book, but there are many others better and by authors whom I can fully respect.
I don't want to go into whether or not animals have culture, observation of my cats has shown me that of course they do. I've watched how the younger cat learned from the older one how to open doors and cupboards and how to nudge the shower tap to get water, not to mention all the learning of particular foibles of 'their' humans so they can manipulate them (me mostly) into doing what they want.
When I was much younger and interested in animal behaviour but had no appreciation of politics I read, enjoyed and learned from Konrad Lorenz, particularly King Solomon's Ring and Here Am I--Where Are You?: The Behavior of the Greylag Goose. I didn't know at the time that Lorenz believed that if two populations of animals that could interbreed but didn't usually because of geographic distance should find themselves in the same locality, the 'interlopers' should be exterminated as interbreeding would weaken the original population. I didn't know that this was Hitler's scientific justification for his policy of extermination of the Jews, a policy which Lorenz was fully behind.
To be a bit more specific, in 1938 Lorenz joined the Nazi party, writing on his application, "I'm able to say that my whole scientific work is devoted to the ideas of the National Socialists." This earned him a University chair. Later, when Germany had lost the war, he muddled and fuddled and changed his tune and eventually, in 1973, had been so rehabilitated he got the Nobel Prize. (Part of me thinks he absolutely, as the father of the modern discipline of ethology, deserved it. Part of me is disgusted...)
And that part of me was also disgusted with the author of The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist whose hero is Lorenz. He goes to endless, tortuous lengths to excuse him whilst having to admit that he was behind a lot of pseudo-scientific Nazi genocidal shit, but he manages never to once mention the word Jews.
So once I'd read that chapter the book was spoiled for me. The author's credibility had gone, I couldn't trust him to present an unbiased, scientific truth, how would I know if he twisted things to fit in with his own political axes?
I did plod on through, and it wasn't a bad book, but there are many others better and by authors whom I can fully respect.
did-not-finish
January 13, 2022I loved de Waal's book Mama's Last Hug, (I gave it 5 stars), but I only got as far as page 185 with this one, before giving up.
This book concentrated far too much on arguments about the different perspectives of various animal behaviourists, and why de Waal's perspective was right.
He uses long words, eg arguing that the animalcentric anthropomorphism view is better than the anthropocentric anthropomorphism view. (The former takes the animal's view, the latter the human observer's view.)
He argues that animal groups have different cultures in the way that humans have different cultures, and that animals show a lot of the same artistic impulses as humans.
But most of the book seemed to be a series of discussions about the sort of philosophical attitude that animal behaviourist's ought to adopt, and I'm afraid I found that rather boring. The thing that fires me up about de Waal is is amazing ability to observe animals - and it didn't look like there was going to be a lot of that in this book.
I'm not going to give up on de Waal - I shall gladly explore some of his other work, but this wasn't the book for me.
This book concentrated far too much on arguments about the different perspectives of various animal behaviourists, and why de Waal's perspective was right.
He uses long words, eg arguing that the animalcentric anthropomorphism view is better than the anthropocentric anthropomorphism view. (The former takes the animal's view, the latter the human observer's view.)
He argues that animal groups have different cultures in the way that humans have different cultures, and that animals show a lot of the same artistic impulses as humans.
But most of the book seemed to be a series of discussions about the sort of philosophical attitude that animal behaviourist's ought to adopt, and I'm afraid I found that rather boring. The thing that fires me up about de Waal is is amazing ability to observe animals - and it didn't look like there was going to be a lot of that in this book.
I'm not going to give up on de Waal - I shall gladly explore some of his other work, but this wasn't the book for me.
November 23, 2024
What did I learn from THE APE and the SUSHI MASTER ?
Monkeys are not Apes.
Apes are hominoids - a small, distinct primate family consisting only of bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, gibbons and HUMANS.
Ethologists & Naturalists work WITH animals; they observe. No preconceived notions.
Behaviorists assume all animals are alike; predictable.
No Dichotomy: culture is PART of human nature.
In the same way a sushi master’s apprentice silently absorbs information and technique by OBSERVATION ONLY over a period of years - no reward or punishment, no questions - animals too watch, learn, and copy TO FIT IN.
A new vocabulary : DARWISTOTELIAN ( deWaal coined that one)
: BAMBIFICATION
: ANTHROPODENIAL
: PEDOMORPHIC
: BIO L (deWaal, again)
- feel free to slip any of these into your next text to see if your recipient is awake.
What I did NOT want to learn ?
The text sometimes rambled, became mired in repetition.
Some paragraphs went from smooth to mental speed bump when a technical term or concept was inserted with little or no explanation.
Even worse ?
De Waal did not hide his bro-mance with predecessor/ fellow scientist Konrad Lorenz. This- great and that- great. He even sadly admitted that many of Lorenz’s theories have been modified or even since been disproved by 21st century ethologists.
Unfortunately a disproportionate amount of the book was devoted to dancing around the fact that Lorenz was a Nazi sympathizer whose early theories on racial purity and mass culling of the weak or “inferior” were adopted by Hitler. De Waal tried way too hard to not call him out, to appear objective, to not politicize science.
Bad news…..this is a large stain on an otherwise decent piece of popular science writing….
Monkeys are not Apes.
Apes are hominoids - a small, distinct primate family consisting only of bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, gibbons and HUMANS.
Ethologists & Naturalists work WITH animals; they observe. No preconceived notions.
Behaviorists assume all animals are alike; predictable.
No Dichotomy: culture is PART of human nature.
In the same way a sushi master’s apprentice silently absorbs information and technique by OBSERVATION ONLY over a period of years - no reward or punishment, no questions - animals too watch, learn, and copy TO FIT IN.
A new vocabulary : DARWISTOTELIAN ( deWaal coined that one)
: BAMBIFICATION
: ANTHROPODENIAL
: PEDOMORPHIC
: BIO L (deWaal, again)
- feel free to slip any of these into your next text to see if your recipient is awake.
What I did NOT want to learn ?
The text sometimes rambled, became mired in repetition.
Some paragraphs went from smooth to mental speed bump when a technical term or concept was inserted with little or no explanation.
Even worse ?
De Waal did not hide his bro-mance with predecessor/ fellow scientist Konrad Lorenz. This- great and that- great. He even sadly admitted that many of Lorenz’s theories have been modified or even since been disproved by 21st century ethologists.
Unfortunately a disproportionate amount of the book was devoted to dancing around the fact that Lorenz was a Nazi sympathizer whose early theories on racial purity and mass culling of the weak or “inferior” were adopted by Hitler. De Waal tried way too hard to not call him out, to appear objective, to not politicize science.
Bad news…..this is a large stain on an otherwise decent piece of popular science writing….
January 27, 2013
An interesting read, but I felt like it was more about the culture of the sciences than it was about the culture of non-human animals. That's not a bad thing, but I'm not sure it's what de Waal was trying to write about; consequently, the book feels unfocused.
Still, de Waal's bemused fascination with how people modify concepts to suit what they want to be true, as opposed to what has been empirically demonstrated as true, is infectious.
Still, de Waal's bemused fascination with how people modify concepts to suit what they want to be true, as opposed to what has been empirically demonstrated as true, is infectious.
October 21, 2011
Highly informative, insightful and enlightening to anyone interested in human nature. A very humbling yet thought provoking account of how much of this intangible matter – morals – we share with primates. You will also learn that a tremendously big part of our individual and collective behavior apparently started in apes. It robs us of our perceived uniqueness, but simultaneously enriches us with a widened realization of a bigger and more complex picture. And this is just a tiny sliver of many other wonderful revelations that are kept for your in store in this treasure trove of a book! A must read.
May 8, 2023
Whenever I hear someone say that non-human animals don't have language or organized systems, or that they do things instinctively rather than intentionally, willfully, and knowingly, I wonder: How could you know that when we know so very little about them? And more importantly, how is it possible that animals DON'T have language or systems or intentionality? How could they possibly survive without them?
Frans de Waal's 2016 book Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? deals with intelligence in animals beyond primates.
Frans de Waal's 2016 book Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? deals with intelligence in animals beyond primates.
July 17, 2015
An interesting book unfortunately marred by de Waal's refusal to understand, and perverse insistence upon misrepresenting, the metaphor of the selfish gene (and the general debate surrounding the unit on which natural selection acts). This is not a minor issue; it leads to woolly thinking on the nature of altruism and selfishness and it duly makes an unnecessary nonsense of quite a few sections in the book.
February 23, 2020
With fascinating stories of non-human primates and other animals, the author effectively makes the case that humans are not the only creatures that can claim to have what we call culture.
This already seemed intuitively correct to me, though, so I’m not sure a whole book was needed to make the argument. Of course there are those who think otherwise - but I would guess that either they haven’t given it enough thought, or else they have an agenda of human exceptionalism that they feel the need to adhere to. It does seem clear that there is a spectrum of cultural behaviors and artifacts, and that human culture differs in quality and quantity from that of our closest animal relatives, not to mention from most other animals. So the human-centrics should feel free to continue to hold that position at least.
I’m afraid de Waal lost me a bit in the last chapter, where he discusses selfishness, altruism, morality, and related topics. He takes the position that morality is an evolved tendency rather than a case of “breaking free” of evolution, which seems reasonable. However, he also engages in some criticism of those whom he accuses of disputing that view, including Richard Dawkins, Robert Wright, and Matt Ridley. I haven’t tried to track down the referenced opinions, but I doubt these folks would really disagree with the substance of this position. It does appear that de Waal wants to go a bit further than some, claiming that humans and some animals go beyond reciprocal altruism to exhibit “geniuine selflessness”. I suppose there’s room for debate on that.
The book overall is nicely written and largely entertaining, its arguments are well-stated, if not exactly controversial to me, and the conclusions are unsurprising.
This already seemed intuitively correct to me, though, so I’m not sure a whole book was needed to make the argument. Of course there are those who think otherwise - but I would guess that either they haven’t given it enough thought, or else they have an agenda of human exceptionalism that they feel the need to adhere to. It does seem clear that there is a spectrum of cultural behaviors and artifacts, and that human culture differs in quality and quantity from that of our closest animal relatives, not to mention from most other animals. So the human-centrics should feel free to continue to hold that position at least.
I’m afraid de Waal lost me a bit in the last chapter, where he discusses selfishness, altruism, morality, and related topics. He takes the position that morality is an evolved tendency rather than a case of “breaking free” of evolution, which seems reasonable. However, he also engages in some criticism of those whom he accuses of disputing that view, including Richard Dawkins, Robert Wright, and Matt Ridley. I haven’t tried to track down the referenced opinions, but I doubt these folks would really disagree with the substance of this position. It does appear that de Waal wants to go a bit further than some, claiming that humans and some animals go beyond reciprocal altruism to exhibit “geniuine selflessness”. I suppose there’s room for debate on that.
The book overall is nicely written and largely entertaining, its arguments are well-stated, if not exactly controversial to me, and the conclusions are unsurprising.
March 1, 2021
A wonderful little jaunt into the world of Chimpanzee and Bonobo culture, with some forays into the potential cultures of other animals. Also a bit of refutation to those who believe that Humans and Humans alone are the possessors of any type of culture.
I'd like to write more about this later, as it's endlessly fascinating. I've always been a supporter of not only animal rights, but the continued advancement of animals. People look at me like I'm crazy, but I'm a supporter of granting certain animals near-citizenship-like rights, up to and including voting, if they could be demonstrating to understand such a thing.
I'd like to write more about this later, as it's endlessly fascinating. I've always been a supporter of not only animal rights, but the continued advancement of animals. People look at me like I'm crazy, but I'm a supporter of granting certain animals near-citizenship-like rights, up to and including voting, if they could be demonstrating to understand such a thing.
Want to read
May 2, 2023From between the two shuffling dancers padded something on four feet. The canine-feline creature was more than just a head; it was a loose-limbed, graceful body fully eight feet in length, and the red eyes in the prick-eared head were those of a killer.... Words issued from between those curved fangs, words which Dane might not understand....
Dane slid his blade out surreptitiously, setting its point against the palm of his hand and jabbing painfully; but the terrible creature continued to advance.... There was no blurring of its lines....
Dane Thorson of the space-ship Solar Queen knew there was only one way to win out over this hideous thing- a battle to the end between his rational mind and the hypnotic witchcraft of Lumbrilo, the mental wizard of the planet Khatka.
Dane Thorson
Medic Tau
Chief Ranger Asaki
Captain Jellico
Nymani
Lumbrilo
VOODOO PLANET
ACE BOOKS
23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N.Y.
Dane slid his blade out surreptitiously, setting its point against the palm of his hand and jabbing painfully; but the terrible creature continued to advance.... There was no blurring of its lines....
Dane Thorson of the space-ship Solar Queen knew there was only one way to win out over this hideous thing- a battle to the end between his rational mind and the hypnotic witchcraft of Lumbrilo, the mental wizard of the planet Khatka.
Dane Thorson
Medic Tau
Chief Ranger Asaki
Captain Jellico
Nymani
Lumbrilo
VOODOO PLANET
ACE BOOKS
23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N.Y.
September 12, 2020
Classic Frans de Waal. Makes you think about what it means to be human and how we're not as special as we think (or rather, that animals are more special than we give them credit for). Also has some good insights on scientific philosophy/practices. Good read.
December 8, 2012
I think I would have found this a more pleasurable read if I didn't find it so redundant. I never actually finished reading this book because, so many times, I found myself saying "yeah, I get it, you said that already." I really wanted to like this book...but alas...maybe I'll pick it up another day. But for now, not my favorite...
March 5, 2017
Exploring how our thinking about culture in other primates reflects on us humans is a fascinating premise for a book. Unfortunately, the execution is fragmented and unfocused. De Waal's arguments are laboured and beleaguered by digressions. I happen to agree with his ideas, but had I disagreed, this book would not have changed my mind.
May 28, 2022
Well, Frans as always is educating me...I need it, so badly...This book was full of revelations and it did make me understand myself better. I used to have very limiting beliefs, the popular, nature vs culture, man is naturally good vs naturally bad..and of course, I thought that we are naturally bad and we only educate ourselves through culture, but this book clearly shattered my former convictions. I still have so much to find out, so much to learn... I think I will never be complete.
"The second reason for a book about animal culture is that it allows us to carry one more outdated Western dualism to its grave: the notion that human culture is the opposite of human nature. We in the West seem to have an uncontrollable urge to divide the world into two: good versus bad, us versus them, feminine versus masculine, learned versus innate, and so on. Dichotomies help organize our thinking, but they do so by neglecting complexities and shades of meaning. It is the rare thinker who keeps two contradictory thoughts simultaneously in mind; yet this is precisely what is often needed to get at the truth. Thus, while it is correct that learning affects all behavior, so does genetics, meaning that no behavior, whether human or animal, is dictated purely by one influence or the other."
"Culture is an environment that we create ourselves. For this reason, and quite contrary to the accepted view in some circles, culture does not deserve equal footing with nature. An entire generation of anthropologists has given this false impression by asking whether it is culture or nature that makes us act in a certain way. Natural selection, however, has produced our species, including our cultural abilities. Culture is part of human nature. To say that "man is made by culture," as many textbooks still do, is at the same level of accuracy as saying that "the river follows its bed." While true, the river also shapes its bed: the current river's flow is the product of the past river's action. In the same way, culture cannot exist apart from human nature, and there is profound circularity in saying that we are the product of culture if culture is the product of us."
Incredible, I am thirty and I find this out just now... It was a revelation... really. For me, it was a moment of intense excitement about finding one truth... What I used to believe was wrong, and Frans proved that to me through countless experiments on animals and presenting various situations he saw. Indeed, many views that are still held are outdated.
Now I am convinced, I am 100 percent sure that animals do have culture. I am so grateful and so glad I live in a world where Frans also lives. I am so grateful.
"The second reason for a book about animal culture is that it allows us to carry one more outdated Western dualism to its grave: the notion that human culture is the opposite of human nature. We in the West seem to have an uncontrollable urge to divide the world into two: good versus bad, us versus them, feminine versus masculine, learned versus innate, and so on. Dichotomies help organize our thinking, but they do so by neglecting complexities and shades of meaning. It is the rare thinker who keeps two contradictory thoughts simultaneously in mind; yet this is precisely what is often needed to get at the truth. Thus, while it is correct that learning affects all behavior, so does genetics, meaning that no behavior, whether human or animal, is dictated purely by one influence or the other."
"Culture is an environment that we create ourselves. For this reason, and quite contrary to the accepted view in some circles, culture does not deserve equal footing with nature. An entire generation of anthropologists has given this false impression by asking whether it is culture or nature that makes us act in a certain way. Natural selection, however, has produced our species, including our cultural abilities. Culture is part of human nature. To say that "man is made by culture," as many textbooks still do, is at the same level of accuracy as saying that "the river follows its bed." While true, the river also shapes its bed: the current river's flow is the product of the past river's action. In the same way, culture cannot exist apart from human nature, and there is profound circularity in saying that we are the product of culture if culture is the product of us."
Incredible, I am thirty and I find this out just now... It was a revelation... really. For me, it was a moment of intense excitement about finding one truth... What I used to believe was wrong, and Frans proved that to me through countless experiments on animals and presenting various situations he saw. Indeed, many views that are still held are outdated.
Now I am convinced, I am 100 percent sure that animals do have culture. I am so grateful and so glad I live in a world where Frans also lives. I am so grateful.
November 9, 2025
Ergens tussen de 4 en 5. , ik heb nu al enkele boeken van deze schrijver gelezen , en zou ze allemaal aanraden als men wat curieus is in dierenweetjes ( vooral apen ) en gedrag ,
Zoals bij muziek lijken de boeken van dezelfde schrijvers wat op elkaar , als een lp met verschillende nummers die wat gelijkenis hebben ,… moest het mijn eerste boek van deze schrijver zijn was het 5 sterren , maar door gewenning en andere boeken om mee te vergelijken is het dan wat 4 sterren geworden ,
Een bedenking
Op blz 192 : Het is riskant om natuur en cultuur als aparte en gescheiden domeinen te beschouwen : er zit heel wat natuur in de cultuur , net zoals er heel wat cultuur in de natuur zit , ….
Bij het laatste hoofdstuk was er wat ingegaan of de mens( heid) dan wel inherent goed of slecht is , ….
Dan heeft het waarschijnlijk ook wat te maken welk gedrag er lonend ( beloond) wordt en hoeveel , en of gestraft , …. als listigheid bv sterk beloond wordt zal men het meer zien dan als het wat meer afgestraft wordt ,
4 sterren , ik zal de schrijver wat laten rusten voor ik weer een nummer opleg , ….
Ik zou wel zijn oeuvre in het geheel aanraden. 4 sterren ,
Zoals bij muziek lijken de boeken van dezelfde schrijvers wat op elkaar , als een lp met verschillende nummers die wat gelijkenis hebben ,… moest het mijn eerste boek van deze schrijver zijn was het 5 sterren , maar door gewenning en andere boeken om mee te vergelijken is het dan wat 4 sterren geworden ,
Een bedenking
Op blz 192 : Het is riskant om natuur en cultuur als aparte en gescheiden domeinen te beschouwen : er zit heel wat natuur in de cultuur , net zoals er heel wat cultuur in de natuur zit , ….
Bij het laatste hoofdstuk was er wat ingegaan of de mens( heid) dan wel inherent goed of slecht is , ….
Dan heeft het waarschijnlijk ook wat te maken welk gedrag er lonend ( beloond) wordt en hoeveel , en of gestraft , …. als listigheid bv sterk beloond wordt zal men het meer zien dan als het wat meer afgestraft wordt ,
4 sterren , ik zal de schrijver wat laten rusten voor ik weer een nummer opleg , ….
Ik zou wel zijn oeuvre in het geheel aanraden. 4 sterren ,
March 18, 2024
Compared to The Bonobo & the Atheist, the start of this one was a bit of a slog - a history of the field and definitions, which could be made interesting to a layperson but strangely in this case was written at too slow a pace. It is only later on in the book that I felt a bit more interest pick up as he added more stories & examples. I think maybe this is due to it being an earlier work of his: where he is trying to explain his viewpoint on the arguments in academia. It seems less considerate of the reader’s point of view. However towards the latter part of the book his humanism & originality of thought (which comes to the fore nicely in The Bonobo & the Atheist) shimmers through & makes it more palatable. This one took me a longer time to read at the start because I kept getting bored & it wasn’t challenging enough to help me fall asleep, so I would alternate with chewier material.
August 7, 2023
Compelling and engaging account of the ways in which culture is far from unique to humankind, with significant ramifications for the nature \ nurture binary which the author persuasively dismantles. In doing so, de Waal relies on his experience of ethnology as a primatologist, critiquing behaviouralist schools and methods. The only weakness of this approach is a feeling the conclusions could be supported by other forms of evidence, beyond observation. Some strange gender essentialism at points which may reflect it being published over 20 years ago. But as a digestible and accessible account it more than succeeds.
June 19, 2024
De Waal's wisdom and line of questioning are captivating and thought-provoking. He calls to question the dichotomous thinking that permeates the Western world: one that places humans above and separate from all else in nature. But where did we come from? Given the evidence for evolutionary ancestry, what are the chances that our cognitive faculties, sense of morality, and ability to produce and benefit from culture are entirely new creations? Frans illustrates examples of culture from across the animal kingdom.
Without destroying our uniqueness, the author pulls you in and asks, "Where do you think you got it from?"
Without destroying our uniqueness, the author pulls you in and asks, "Where do you think you got it from?"
November 4, 2019
Looks at a lot of the research, and some anecdotal evidence, on the nature versus urture or instinct versus culture debate. He was preaching to the choir in my case, so its hard to gauge how compelling his arguments would have been to a skeptic. I am quite sure that man is an animal and shares many of his experiences and ways of reacting to them with his primate cousins and even some more distant relatives
April 6, 2020
Excellent discussion of culture in the animal kingdom. Although focused on apes, chimpanzees, and bonobos, there are other examples as well. As with his book on smart animals, I am surprised at the resistance to the idea of culture in other than humans. This book will stretch your mind, and isn’t that what reading is for?
October 21, 2023
This is an essential read, rich food for thought, full of most convincing (and sometimes entertaining) examples. I only found the first chapter too much on the polemic side and I think a second read may be needed.
You will never look at an animal -- or a human -- the same way after reading this book. More: the difference will seem tenuous at most.
You will never look at an animal -- or a human -- the same way after reading this book. More: the difference will seem tenuous at most.
November 21, 2019
“We define ourselves as the only cultured species, and we generally believe that culture has permitted us to break away from nature. We want to say that culture made us human. The sight of apes with wigs and sunglasses acting as if they have made the same step is therefore utterly incongruous.”
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April 1, 2021Stopped reading after page 119. Was excited to read it but it was repetitive and talked quite a bit about biographies of scientists for a while rather than case studies of different animals. Got busy with school so decided to drop it
June 9, 2019
An incredibly interesting book that challenges our assumptions about animal culture.
January 5, 2020
There's a lot of overlap in the material in de Waal's books, but I keep reading more.
April 29, 2024
One of my favourite books!
March 20, 2025
So what can I say, I liked it a lot, it’s not 5 stars just because it’s not really relevant for my research and it’s really far from my field but I enjoyed it a lot
September 1, 2016
When one of Kim Stanley Robinson’s characters in Green Earth talks about humans being from the savanna, that sounds familiar because of I’ve read quite a lot of Frans De Waal, probably the most prominent primatologist alive. His Chimpanzee Politics (1982) was revolutionary for the field. To me, the biological outlook proved to be a revelation and still is something that’s liberating when talking about ethics, behavior and society. At the same time he proves time and time again that the gap between animals and humans isn’t nearly as wide as we tend to believe. De Waal’s prose is accessible, even witty at times.
A lot of De Waal’s work has some overlap, so I could have just as well listed Our Inner Ape: A Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are (2005). I haven’t read his more recent books The Age Of Empathy – Nature’s Lessons For A Kinder Society (2009) and Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (2016), but I’m sure they’ll be good entry points too.
More non-fiction recommendations & SFF reviews on Weiging A Pig...
A lot of De Waal’s work has some overlap, so I could have just as well listed Our Inner Ape: A Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are (2005). I haven’t read his more recent books The Age Of Empathy – Nature’s Lessons For A Kinder Society (2009) and Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (2016), but I’m sure they’ll be good entry points too.
More non-fiction recommendations & SFF reviews on Weiging A Pig...
March 22, 2007
A fascinating read about animal culture told from the perspective of a primatologist. It's scientifically sound and De Waal is a charismatic writer who breaks down the subject in a very accessible manner. The human-animal divide is a highly contorversial topic - which De Waal addresses - but no matter how you side on the issue, you'll encounter some pretty remarkable observations in this book. Some argue that culture is exclusive to humans - De Waal shows that the answer is not so clear and that many things people may associate with humans exclusively -- tool use, complex learning, emotions -- are not in fact exclusive. (One particularly interesting story is about a Japanese macaque, Imo, who initiated the practice of washing sweet potatos in the ocean. Imo is long dead but the colony continues this practice today.) And, the book gives due credit to the fact that we are equally related to chimps AND bonobos (the only other primate known to walk bipedally). Even if this book doesn't sound like your thing, read it for the bonobos and their conflict resolution through sex.
January 14, 2013
Even more than an exploration of what we can learn about ourselves by studying other creatures with fewer preconceived Western notions about the differences between humans and other primates (not to mention other animal species), this book explores the science itself: how various schools of scientific thought arose, how difficult it is for scientists vested in one school of thought to open themselves to others, all with a tacit (and sometimes obvious) suggestion that scientists engage in more open discussion of our own biases and blinders. A good book for professional, amateur, and 'armchair' scientists alike. (5/5/10 Update: When I noticed I originally marked this with four stars, I had to stop and change it to five. As I continue to read many books of this sort and enjoy programs like the Science Magazine podcast, I find that I am often reminded of things I learned from Frans de Waal. It's definitely a book that I've appreciated even more over time.)
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