Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas

By Sy Montgomery

Book Overview

2017 is the 50th anniversary of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda. Three astounding women scientists have in recent years penetrated the jungles of Africa and Borneo to observe, nurture, and defend humanity's closest cousins. Jane Goodall has worked with the chimpanzees of Gombe for nearly 50 years; Diane Fossey died in 1985 defending the mountain gorillas of Rwanda; and Birut Galdikas lives in intimate proximity to the orangutans of Borneo. All three began their work as prot g es of the great Anglo-African archeologist Louis Leakey, and each spent years in the field, allowing the apes to become their familiars--and ultimately waging battles to save them from extinction in the wild. Their combined accomplishments have been mind-blowing, as Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas forever changed how we think of our closest evolutionary relatives, of ourselves, and of how to conduct good science. From the personal to the primate, Sy Montgomery--acclaimed author of The Soul of an Octopus and The Good Good Pig-- explores the science, wisdom, and living experience of three of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 160358062X
• ISBN13: 9781603580625
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

The Trimates another brilliant Sy Montgomery work

This is a tender, touching, love story of epic proportions. The love and feminine worship of the Trimates by the author, Sy Montgomery is apparent and the loves both human and primate of each woman is so masterfully told by Montgomery. We can't help but feel a kinship to the three wonderful women who are celebrated in this Leakey led sisterhood of Montgomery's biographical tale of primatologists Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Berute Galdikas. Not unlike her other works, Montgomery has allowed us to follow her...NO! This time, walk along side of her throughout her journey to tell the stories of these three women scientists who spent their lives in the service of Louis Leakey until his death in 1972, and the primates they each chose to bravely live among and almost change into their respective Animagus form. Montgomery has taken three biographies and woven them poetically together like the intertwining lives they each lead, without gossip, but of obvious sincere heroine worship.

A heart-touching experience.

An astonishing writer named Sy Montgomery thoughtfull wrote Walking With The Great Apes. Montgomery's captivating novel portrays three women who are fasinated about how primates live and care for one another. In a dire world of poaching and murder, these three scientists attempt to protect and preserve the world and nature of humanity's closest cousins. All together Walking With The Great Apes is a thought-provoking book and a must read for anyone interested in the Great Apes.

Excellent

A very well written book and a great introduction to those who want to know more about the lives and studies of these 3 extremely remarkable woman Jane Goodall, Birutas Galdikas and last but not least for me THE woman of the 20th century Dian Fossey.

Wow

Sy Montgoemry writes extremely well, and as a consequence, her book is compulsively readable. Not only that, but the subject matter is pure fascination, as she sheds light on each of these great apes, their extraordinary environments, and the daring women scientists who study them - their unique approach to science, their trials and tribulations. A great book.