Our Inner Ape

A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are

By: Frans de Waal

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

We have long attributed man's violent, aggressive, competitive nature to his animal ancestry. But what if we are just as given to cooperation, empathy, and morality by virtue of our genes? What if our behavior actually makes us apes? What kind of apes are we?

From a scientist and writer E.O. Wilson has called "the world authority on primate social behavior" comes a fascinating look at the most provocative aspects of human nature: power, sex, violence, kindness, and morality, through our two closest cousins in the ape family. For nearly 20 years, Frans de Waal has worked with both the famously aggressive chimpanzee and the lesser-known, egalitarian, erotic, matriarchal bonobo, two species whose DNA is nearly identical to that of humans.

De Waal shows the range of human behavior through his study of chimpanzees and bonobos, drawing from their personalities, relationships, power struggles, and hijinx important insights about our human behavior. The result is an engrossing and surprising narrative that reveals what their behavior can teach us about our own nature.

©2005 Frans de Waal (P)2005 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"De Waal's most hopeful message is that peaceful behavior can be learned....[An] important and illuminating book." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Readers might be surprised at how much these apes and their stories resonate with their own lives, and may well be left with an urge to spend a few hours watching primates themselves at the local zoo." (Publishers Weekly)

Fascinating, but flawed

Frans de Waal is an undisputed expert on chimpanzee behavior, and it it clear that chimpanzee and bonobo behavior can tell us a lot about ourselves. This book provides a fascinating overview of ape behavior and what it might tell us about ourselves, but I take issues with some of the specific conclusions he draws. He frequently lapses into gender essentialism, pointing out that chimp behavior supports some "traditional" assumption he's made about gender differences while almost entirely ignoring bonobo behavior or human studies that suggest the exact opposite is true. Perhaps if this book had been written a decade or two earlier I could forgive these oversights, but with what we knew in 2005, all the gender and sex studies that were widely available at that point, it just seems willful bias. It's a shame because these lapses mar an otherwise interesting and insightful book on ape behavior, both human and chimp. A good read, but I enjoyed Chimpanzee Politics more, and I suggest you read Set At Dawn first to arm yourself a bit better with the important research de Waal is ignoring here.

We Can Learn A Lot From Our Primate Cousins!

De Waal gives us a different perspective on human culture and our current condition by exploring the ways we resemble and differ from our closest relatives, the apes. He refutes previous studies that focus solely on our resemblance to warlike Chimps and points out how we can draw from our sexy and humorous Bonobo relatives. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to de Waal's insights and putting them in conversation with my own to widen my view of our human condition!

I loved this book

A special treat was hearing it read from the author himself. I listened to it on and off for a couple of weeks. The concept of religion poisons everything is instinctive for me but this book puts facts to the feelings I have felt all my life. Thank you for making me realize I am not alone. And thank you for having the guts to write this enlightening and informative book. I admit I hid the title from most acquaintances (but did recommend it to my friends and family). I live (and work) in the what's considered the bible belt and sometimes feel like an outsider or a freak for my beliefs or should I say unbeliefs. This work has given me courage to live a more truthful, honest life.

Top Banana Award

I'm an avid audiobook listener with a penchant for unabridged science recordings. Along with EO Wilson's Consilience and J Diamond's GGS, this ranks as one of my favorites. Our Inner Ape is a profoundingly engaging work. It is full of ideas and insight about human nature drawn from years of studying bonobo and chimpanzee societies. By comparing and contrasing humans with other apes, De Waal offers a fresh new perspective on the evolution of violence, altruism, moral sentiment, and compassion in modern societies. He is a careful observer of ape social behavior and knows how to make his subject extremely relevant. I highly recommend Our Inner Ape!

Insightful

This book establishes a strong and systematic argument against the tendency of philosophers to oversimplify human nature. I think every aspiring philosopher, lawyer, and social scientist should read this book.

Primates more human than human

Narration: clar and studied. Appropriate for content.

Content: profoundly insightful studies of two quite different primate species, each enacting contrasting yin and yang human attributes. Anthropomorphic? No. Studies and their interpretations convincingly persuade us that humanness is manifested along a continuum, with all primates most likely enacting to various degrees different human proclivities.

Not Bad At All - For Non-Fiction!

I read mostly non-fiction books. However, I have recently realized that in audio books, I really prefer a STORY. Driving down the highway, lost in a good story feels good and makes the time fly. When reading a book, as opposed to listening, I'm eager to learn about the world around, and don't require a plot and characters to hold my interest. So as I started listening, at first I regretted the snap decision to purchase Our Inner Ape. However, I preservered. And I'm glad I did.

This was a very enjoyable book, and I came away feeling like I understand our inner ape-ness a little better. It held my interest, especially the second half, and gave me a lot to think about while pondering human relations and global politics.

I didn't give it the full 5 stars because among the books I've listened to, there are better (all fiction), but it's a solid 4, especially if you're interested in our primate cousins and how we stack up against them.

real entertainment

provocative insights into ourselves through observation of our nearest relatives. burned into my mind is the information that at the current rate of habitat loss for chimpanzees and bonobos -- their habitat will be entirely gone by 2040. This might not have been so deeply engraved had I not come to understand these beings as only marginally different from ourselves. We are much closer than I had ever imagined. I found the author credible -- only occaisionally far out on the limb when drawing parallels with contemporary human behaviours. -- generally a reasonably sober and well balanced researcher and conjecturer.

fascinating book

Overturns so many of the common ape myths. It requires you to rethink your preconceptions about human "nature." Very thought provoking book. Don't think that this is simply aimed at the animal lover, it is an intreging look at human behaviour through the lens of our closest living relative.

Fabulous

This is an insightful book filled with "aha!" moments. It takes complicated social structures and breaks them down into sensible biological building blocks. Very easy to listen to, well read