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A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert M. Sapolsky
jensaperstein's review against another edition
4.0
An elegy, hidden in what is otherwise a light-hearted memoir:
"I write these words years later and I still have not found a Prayer for the Dead for the baboons. As a child, when I believed in the orthodoxy of my people, I learned the Kaddish. Once I said it in stunned, mechanical obeisance to my tradition at the open grave of my father, but it glorifies the actions and caprices of a god who does not exist for me, so that prayer does not come for these baboons. I have been told that in primate centers in Japan, Shinto prayers are offered to honor the monkeys that have been killed, and that the prayers are hybrids of the prayer for a dead animal offered by the successful hunter and the prayer for a dead enemy offered by the successful soldier. But even though I stalk these animals with my blowgun and I quicken at a darting, I swear that I have never been their hunter and they have never been my enemy. So that prayer does not come for these baboons. In a world already filled with so many words of lamentation, no words have come to me. And instead, these baboons only remain as ashes in my head. With the ashes of my father’s dementia and my science that moved too slowly to help him. With the ashes of my ancestors in the death camps. With the ashes of Lisa’s tears when I have been a monster to her. With the ashes of the rats dead in my lab. With the ashes of my depressions and my bad back that aches more each year. With the ashes of the hungry Masai children who watch me now as I type, wondering if they will be fed here today."
"I write these words years later and I still have not found a Prayer for the Dead for the baboons. As a child, when I believed in the orthodoxy of my people, I learned the Kaddish. Once I said it in stunned, mechanical obeisance to my tradition at the open grave of my father, but it glorifies the actions and caprices of a god who does not exist for me, so that prayer does not come for these baboons. I have been told that in primate centers in Japan, Shinto prayers are offered to honor the monkeys that have been killed, and that the prayers are hybrids of the prayer for a dead animal offered by the successful hunter and the prayer for a dead enemy offered by the successful soldier. But even though I stalk these animals with my blowgun and I quicken at a darting, I swear that I have never been their hunter and they have never been my enemy. So that prayer does not come for these baboons. In a world already filled with so many words of lamentation, no words have come to me. And instead, these baboons only remain as ashes in my head. With the ashes of my father’s dementia and my science that moved too slowly to help him. With the ashes of my ancestors in the death camps. With the ashes of Lisa’s tears when I have been a monster to her. With the ashes of the rats dead in my lab. With the ashes of my depressions and my bad back that aches more each year. With the ashes of the hungry Masai children who watch me now as I type, wondering if they will be fed here today."
forestbiiird's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
A must-read. One of the best books ever.
dmm227's review against another edition
5.0
This book was recommended by a friend of mine. Neither of us have a background in science, so don't be fooled into thinking you need one to enjoy this book. All you need is a great sense of humor, a love of culture-exchange and a fascination with animal (including human!) behavior. It's honestly the FUNNIEST book I have read in a very long time. It actually made me laugh out loud at several parts and gave me an intense desire to share parts with whoever would listen.
kiramke's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Well I picked a book with memoir in the title, so I guess I can't be upset it was so much of a memoir, or complain that there wasn't enough about the baboons. It was, however, very funny and human and full of interesting stories.
thebearnest's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: War, Rape, and Racism
captainoz's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't sure what to think about this book when I first started, but I was riveted!
andrewgraphics's review against another edition
4.0
Entertaining warts-and-all look into the life of a primate researcher/neurologist and his 21 years studying baboons up close and personal.
saltkroka's review against another edition
5.0
"an infinity of love to expend on a troop of baboons"