A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons

by Robert M. Sapolsky

Book Overview

In the tradition of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, Robert Sapolsky, a foremost science writer and recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, tells the mesmerizing story of his twenty-one years in remote Kenya with a troop of savanna baboons.

"I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743202414
• ISBN13: 9780743202411
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Didn't talk about the monkeys enough

Unfortunately, the bulk of this book is spend with the author talking about living in an African society, which is not what I purchased to read. There are chapters which go into excruciating detail on the behavior of baboons, but they are far and few between in comparison to the ongoing travel log.

Entertaining and enlightening memoir of primate life.

As much fun to read as any book by Redmond O'Hanlon or Gerald Durrell, A Primate's Memoir is funny, irreverent, and full of adventure, while also being a serious scientific study of the savanna baboons of Kenya. Sapolsky's goal is to determine the relationship of baboon stress levels to their overall health over a period of years. A neuroscientist, he observes the social hierarchy and interactions of his baboon group, guesses which individuals appear to be most stressed or most relaxed and then checks their hormones and blood chemistry, not an easy procedure, given his clever and not always co-operative population. Sapolsky, who works alone, must first outwit the baboon, use a blowgun to dart him, follow and wait for him to become unconscious, and then carry him half a mile or more to his portable lab facilities, where he then draws blood and does measurements. The baboons, of course, react to stress the way humans do. The title of A Primate's Memoir is deliberately ambiguous--it is both Sapolsky's memoir and that of his baboon population, and his experiences and interactions with the outside world are remarkably similar to theirs. Leaving the relative safety of the game reserves and hitchhiking into dangerous territories during his "down time," Sapolsky describes his travels with enthusiasm, impeccable timing, and great, self-deprecating humor, subtly selecting details which show how similarly he and his baboon population deal with their worlds' uncertainties. Kenya is experiencing civil unrest and corruption; Uganda has just deposed Idi Amin; the Sudan is in the midst of a long civil war; the border of Zaire is under siege; and the Somalis refuse to accept any borders at all, stealing lands and property wherever they go--all dangerous and stressful atmospheres for their populations and for visitors like the author. Sapolsky is a great story teller, however, equally entertaining in presenting both his adventures and his research, his world and that of his baboons. While life may be "nasty, brutish, and short," Sapolsky shows us it's a lot more fun if one keeps a sense of humor--and a lot less stressful. Mary Whipple

Gets my vote for best nonfiction of the year

When a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" decides to write about his work for the general public, it's a good idea to pay attention, especially when the author already has a reputation for being as entertaining a storyteller as neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky. This book could not be improved upon. Part travel adventure, part coming of age story of a young scientist, and part life among the baboons, A Primate's Memoir tells what happens as the author travels to Kenya at age 21 to study how the social rank of baboons winds up affecting their physiological stress levels. Sapolsky readily describes himself in primate terms "young transfer male" as he recounts his hilarious, poignant and truly harrowing encounters with the world around him, sharing his candid reactions to some pretty novel events. In the course of this book he does achieve "full adult status" and circumstances grow more serious. You just have to read it yourself as examples could not convey the genuine humanity and originality of his overall experience. How does social status affect one's stress levels? He gives a bit of the answer in this book, but if you want to know more about the science of stress, still told very much in layperson's terms, read The Trouble with Testosterone, (thought provoking and hilarious) or the more fact-filled (if potentially anxiety-arousing), Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers. These books could affect how you perceive the world

Baboon bon mots

Anyone who begins a book by telling us that he "had never planned to become a savanna baboon when [he] grew up" deserves a read. Such an opening promises witticisms and wisdom and A PRIMATE'S MEMOIR doesn't disappoint. The story is captivating whether Mr Sapolsky is telling us about his experiences in Kenya or about the interesting life of...his extended family? The book is only part scientific study: the effect that stress has on primate social behavior; it is also a travelogue, a little bit of cultural anthropology, a comment on globalization and economic inequality, a memoir of course, and finally, a pure joy to read.Although it is now widely known that stress affects health, Mr Sapolsky's work has shown that this differs among individuals. He has also exploded the myth of the supremacy of the alpha male in primate groups. Among the baboons he shows complex social arrangements where important leadership functions are carried out by senior females; and what else but a complex social order would show - as his troop did - that lower ranking males suffer higher stress levels and greater ill health? After twenty years of on and off study Mr Sapolsky has naturally grown fond of the baboons. He gives them Old Testament names not from affection, but simply because they exhibit individual personalities. The King of the troop is naturally Solomon and Nebuchanezzar is a vengeful, attacking female.The book is never sappy and does not romanticize the beasts and that is good - because wild animals they certainly are. A troop is an appropriate name for a group of baboons. Perhaps squad could work also because when approaching an unknown there is an element of military purposefulness and discipline about their behavior. As a 10 year old in Kenya in the sixties, I was stranded with my uncle in his car on the side of the road from Mombasa to Nairobi. While we waited baboons approached: there was the dominant male as point man - up front to get our attention; there were flankers on the sides, circling; and sure enough there were commandos coming up from the rear, behind the car. I can fully appreciate Mr Sapolsky's comment on their intelligence when he says: "you find yourself, a reasonably well-educated human with a variety of interests, spending hours each day and night obsessing on how to outmaneuver these beasts, how to think like them, how to think better than them. Usually unsuccessfully." The depradations of bush life, the difficulties that he occasionally got into, and the intruding, harsh reality of life in the Third World are all addressed by Mr Sapolsky is an honest and yet very humorous way. Overall, above and beyond science and the odd difficulty, A PRIMATE'S MEMOIR portrays a wonderful joi de vivre that both Mr Sapolsky and his baboons seem to have enjoyed most of the time.

A Great Read!

I loved this book from cover to cover. About 15% of the book is about the baboons themselves, each with distinct personalities and the rest is about the places he visits, the people he encounters and the incredible, and sometimes dangerous, situations he finds himself in. Sapolsky at his finest. He's a wonderful writer (and an extraordinary speaker--I've had the pleasure of attending his seminars). Hope he lives to a ripe old age and writes further memoirs, sharing his wit and wisdom with the rest of us.

Entertaining and Worthwhile

Sapolsky's tale does two things equally well. First, he shares his passion for both science and adventure as a young man. He rescues the notion of an active intelligence from any stereotype of driness or excessive seriousness, although the eccentricity stereotype certainly survives. This tale is entertaining, his enthusiasms contagious. He is as observant of politics with people as with baboons; does he anthropomorphize the baboons or is it the other way around? Except for the details (i.e., not wanting to have guns pointed at my head and a personal distaste for digging latrines or centrifuging baboon blood), I almost developed a desire to go join a baboon troop myself. The second story is of what happens to these youthful passions during a transtion to full adulthood, happening simultaneously for Sapolsky, for his baboons, and for his neighbors. This is a story of great moral complexity, of both great losses and great gains. It is in a real sense the story of every life, but easier for the reader when seen in a life so different from that lived by almost everyone. That the author can see this in his own life, share his fears, embarassments, irritations and grief, and continue to teach and write, and best yet, to still laugh, is what makes this book as worthwhile as it is enjoyable.