Product Description
From "one of the world's greatest experts on primate behavior" (Desmond Morris) comes a look at the most provocative aspects of human nature-power, sex, violence, kindness, and morality-through our closest cousins. For nearly twenty years, Frans De Waal has studied both the famously aggressive chimpanzee and the egalitarian, matriarchal bonobo, two species whose DNA is nearly identical to ours. The result is an engrossing narrative that reveals what their behavior can teach us about ourselves.

Amazon.com Review
Power, sex, violence and kindness: these four broad-spectrum categories encompass much of human behavior, so it's only fitting that they're also the primary subject material for Frans de Waal's (The Ape and The Sushi Master) book Our Inner Ape. The few (but deeply detailed) chapters are a mesmerizing read that spans biology, child psychology, postmodern theorists and fundamental morality, using tales of stern chimps, and sexy bonobos to examine humans' place between them. In the process, he examines why we need to know our place in the world, how our body language communicates feelings, and where the roots of empathy lie in mammalian life.

De Waal's respect for both his readers and his research subjects come shining through in the simple clarity he uses when describing both the endless sex of bonobo apes and the heartrending violence occasionally present in chimp hierarchal structure. By illustrating his points with a mixture of straight-from-research experiences and jokes at the expense of modern politicians, he keeps his ideas compelling for anyone with a basic understanding of evolutionary science without drifting towards the academic drone that could be expected of by a researcher of his experience.

You won't find specific conclusions concerning human nature, but instead a gentle, almost rambling look at two primate species with vastly different social networks and how, perhaps, humanity can learn from each to our benefit. A few of de Waal's lovely duotone photos (My Family Album: 30 Years of Primate Photography grace the end of the book, featuring close-up shots of the folks he's been writing about--chimps like Yeroen, Nikkie and Mama, and bonobo Kuif and adopted daughter Roosje are downright thrilling to see after reading such interesting stories about their lives. Jill Lightner

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 36 reviews)

Rather uneven

I found this book to be uneven. At the beginning there was an interesting thesis that conventional wisdom (I think he was implying it's conventional wisdom, but I'm no expert) that humans are savage because we're closely related a to a savage species: chimanzees, is wrong. Instead, we're more closely related to an empathetic species, bonobos, so we're not predestined to be savage.

At the end was another interesting thesis, that humans benefit from inheriting characteristics of both chimps and bonobos.

The in-between though, wasn't so interesting. It was basically a review of chimp and bonobo behavior, and comparisons of that behavior to humans. Much of it seemed self-evident. But then, that could be said about much of sociology and that's where the bulk of this book seemed to be targeted.
September 27, 2008

If we all Knew

I found this work very enlightening. I think all students should read this work so they might understand why we have what are sometimes contradictory natures. It s such strong support for our evolutionary relationship to the Great Apes. I was both touched by some of the stories of kindness, compassion, and social cleverness and disturbed by the stories of violence, cruelty and political deceit. I was amazed by the number of characteristics we share primarily with Chimpanzees and Bonobos. The book gave me hope that with acknowledging and learning about our evolutionary heritage, we can begin to foster the cooperative character to mold a future with less xenophobia and more word-wide human cohesiveness. My conclusion is that this is the only way we will survive as a species.
April 08, 2008

Good, but not profound

Our inner ape has lots of observations of chimp and bonobo behavior and it is interesting to hear how these observations apply to human nature. The focus was more about apes and experiments that have been done, the author's experiences, the nature of these apes. Really anyone who has lived around apes could have written this book--and has. I've heard a lot of the same information in other books. I was hoping for more profound. Perhaps about how much of an animal we really are, direct comparisons of our nature to that of apes and other animals. The author doesn't seem to have any special knowledge of human nature which leave is coming up short. Interesting overall tho.
February 20, 2008

Another solid effort

I really enjoy De Waal's books. They are all well written with a very entertaining and easy to read style. He knows his subjects thoroughly and has the unique ability to convey that knowledge in such a way that is accessible to everyone. He doesn't talk down to his audience, but is able to put the information in a context that is easy to understand. Many times those who reach the top of their respective fields end up only being able to speak in a language that only other academics can understand.

I have been interested in evolutionary biology for some time now and have read quite a bit on the topic, but I continually find myself coming back to De Waal's works. He has this immutable optimism in his books that I find refreshing. He doesn't ignore the baser aspects of human and primate nature, but he focuses on the positive aspects of nature and how the two sides of nature play off each other. Both sides of our nature have been equally important for our survival and our evolution, and so neither one is necessarily "bad" or "good". They are just what we are and the more we understand what function these qualities play in our lives the better off we will be.

For me, De Waal's optimism is why I enjoy his books so much. His insights and knowledge are very valuable, but his optimism is very important in a field that seems to be populated with many books focusing on the negative. Many books and experts would have us believe that we are nothing but base instincts looking out for only number one and any good we achieve is based on purely selfish motives. I myself lean towards cynicism and have a pronounced nihilistic streak in myself. I sometimes can't help but to look at us humans and think that we are doomed to destroy ourselves. De Waal thinks this is not the case at all, and his writing helps bring me from the verge of full blown nihilism back to some form of pragmatism.

I really enjoy De Waal's books they are well written, entertaining, insightful and educational. I think anyone will find this book among their favorites.
November 19, 2007

Fascinating Similarities

Our Inner Ape compares the social behavior of apes to that of humans. It focuses mainly on bonobos and chimpanzees although various monkeys and other apes make brief appearances throughout. This book provides a large number of ape stories, many of which are drawn from Frans de Waal's own experiences as a primatologist, to give an overview of power, sex, violence and kindness in primate communities.

I enjoyed the stories given in this book; I did not realize that apes were either as violent or as compassionate as de Waal portrays them. Many of the parallels that de Waal draws between ape behavior and human behavior were intriguing to me (such as the basic roles of empathy and reciprocity in stabilizing social communities). I found this book to be an instructive read on ape-human similarities; de Waal's presentation of the human as the "bi-polar ape" provides much food for thought. I would recommend this book to others.
September 19, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved (Princeton Science Library)
by Frans de Waal
by Stephen Macedo, Josiah Ober

Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape
by Frans B. M. de Waal, Frans Lanting

Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes
by Frans de Waal

Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals
by Frans B. M. de Waal

Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong
by Marc Hauser