| View Larger Image | In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land | Paperbackby Bill Weber (Author), Amy Vedder (Author)
| List Price: | $16.00 | | Price: | $12.48 | | You Save: | $3.52 (22%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Simon & Schuster | | Page Count: | 384 Pages | | Publication Date: | December 03, 2002 | | Sales Rank: | 170,890th |
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
When Bill Weber and Amy Vedder arrived in Rwanda to study mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey, the gorilla population was teetering toward extinction. Poaching was rampant, but it was loss of habitat that most endangered the gorillas. Weber and Vedder realized that the gorillas were doomed unless something was done to save their forest home. Over Fossey's objections, they helped found the Mountain Gorilla Project, which would inform Rwandans about the gorillas and the importance of conservation, while at the same time establishing an ecotourism project -- one of the first anywhere in a rainforest -- to bring desperately needed revenue to Rwanda. In the Kingdom of Gorillas introduces readers to entire families of gorillas, from powerful silverback patriarchs to helpless newborn infants. Weber and Vedder take us with them as they slog through the rain-soaked mountain forests, observing the gorillas at rest and at play. Today the population of mountain gorillas is the highest it has been since the 1960s, and there is new hope for the species' fragile future even as the people of Rwanda strive to overcome ethnic and political differences. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 13 reviews)
|
They've proved that man is the most dangerous animal by Catrina Cattaneo (Netherlands)  3 Stars
June 20, 2009
I read this book while in Rwanda for gorilla tracking, and, as such, was really hopeful that it would give me greater insight into the history of Rwanda and the gorilla conservation movement.
While there is much within the book that is interesting, I found myself so turned off by their continued sniping and disparagement of Dian Fossey's character (even in the pages immediately following her death), that I had to question their perspectives and motives overall. They struck me as "Salieris"... so clearly jealous of her, her fame (which they have obviously never achieved) that their petty remembrances (she drank too much, she didn't give us wood) tainted the whole book. They were hired by her, clearly had a personality clash and then never got over it. Or perhaps they felt these tabloid "inside scoops" on Dian Fossey would help to sell more books?
Either way, they have lost. They didn't seem like good scientists or good people to me.
| |
Highly, highly recommended!!! by Bibliophile777 (Cincinnati, OH)  5 Stars
February 25, 2009
I had this book for many years before actually picking it up to read. I bought it while working at a bookstore and even though I have a wildlife biology background, I do not have a particular interest in gorillas so it took me awhile to get around to reading it. That being said, this was one of the most thorough, interesting, honest, and engaging books that I have ever read on any species or wildlife related issue! Hats off to Bill and Amy because they are two of the most honest authors that I have ever read. They told the whole story about their lives and experiences with the gorillas, even when the facts did not neccessarily portray them in a good light! That makes this read extremely refreshing and their telling of accounts undoubtably truthful and honest!! This should be required reading for any student of international wildlife management/conservation but will be an engaging read for anyone interested in gorillas, wildlife, conservation or the events that took place in and around Rwanda in the 90's. Highly recommended!! Wish there were more books like this on wildlife related issues out there!!
| |
Required Reading for anyone looking for conservation methods that work by WT (Berkeley CA) 5 Stars
August 17, 2007
This is a great book. Not only does it tell an incredible story. But it also illustrates one of the realities of saving wildlife and habitat. People don't kill wildlife or destroy forests out of spite. They are driven to it for economic reasons; namely, they have no other way to feed their familes. So, in order to change their behaviours, they have to be offered alternatives. The work of Bill Weber and Amy Vetter offered alternatives to Rwandans. Their living standards rose (excluding the effects of genocide and civil war, of course) and poaching and habitat destruction were reduced. A great case study.
But, much more than that, it is also an enjoyable, well written account of the lives and dreams of a great pair of people.
| |
If You're Going To The Gorillas, Read This First by Gae A. Weber (Jacksonville, FL United States)  4 Stars
March 10, 2007
Let me start by saying that the only criticism I have of this book is that it doesn't talk about the gorillas themselves, their lives and behavior, all that much. If you want a natural history of gorillas, look elsewhere.
Having said that--this is an excellent book and I highly recommend it, especially if you're going to Rwanda. The book follows the development of the Mountain Gorilla Project from the last years of Dian Fossey's life through the Rwandan genocide and beyond. It is written by the couple who took over the Project after Fossey's murder, and tells their story in fascinating detail. It is a record of the ongoing struggle to maintain a national park in a poor country, of the commitment and hard work of a few people--Europeans, Americans, Rwandans--in difficult and even deadly circumstances, and, most importantly, of the interactions of poverty, politics, personality, corruption, ignorance, education, inspiration, fear, courage, joy and tragedy in the real world of conservation biology.
While this is about one country, one park (mostly) and one species, it will give the reader a much clearer understanding of the diffculties faced by field biologists, park rangers, conservationists and governments the world over who are trying to preserve wild places.
The book is written in a lively, conversational style and makes every effort to be even-handed with some difficult personalities (Fossey's not least of these). Even though the book devotes only a chapter to the horror of the genocide, it presents the events in both a larger context and very personal, affecting detail. In fact, one of the great strengths of the book is its graceful incorporation of the big picture and the snapshot to tell a whole story.
If you're going to Rwanda (or if you've been there)--BUY THIS BOOK!
| |
An honest look at Gorilla history and research by Carol A. Padgett (Georgia, USA) 5 Stars
January 09, 2007
Mountain Gorilla conservation and protection is a tenuous, difficult and sad story of the plight of these wonderful, intelligent beings. The truth of Dian Fossey's last years is also painful to digest. This book is forthright and eye-opening.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Gorillas in the Mist
by Dian Fossey Dr. (Author)
One of the most important books ever written about our connection to the natural world, GORILLAS IN THE MIST is the riveting account of Dian Fossey's thirteen years in a remote African rain forest with the greatest of the great apes. Fossey's extraordinary efforts to ensure the future of the rain forest and its remaining mountain gorillas are captured in her own words and in candid photographs of this fascinating endangered species. As only she could, Fossey combined her personal adventure...
| 
| The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda, Revised Edition
by Thor Hanson (Author)
Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Dr. Thor Hanson, scientist and writer, brought the nascent gorilla tourist program in Bwindi National Park, located within Africa's Impenetrable Forest, to life. With grace and good humor Hanson navigates the local customs, mores and bureaucracy governing everything from love to superstition to build infrastructure, hire and train staff, fend off millions of ants among many other creatures while studying and acclimating the mountain...
| 
| The Year of the Gorilla
by George B. Schaller (Author)
"A sensitive and articulate observer, [Schaller] is at his best when he is describing the forest itself . . . . This is an exciting book. Although Schaller feels that this is 'not an adventure book,' few readers will be able to agree."--Irven DeVore, Science
| 
| Mountain Gorilla (IMAX)
Starring: Rebecca Jenkins
Directed By: Adrian Warren
Also With: Neil Rettig (Cinematographer), Barbara Kerr (Editor), André Picard (Producer), Christopher Parsons (Producer), Sally Dundas (Producer), Steve Lucas (Writer)
Named Outstanding Film Documentary by the Genesis Awards (the major award for works about animal issues) and filmed in the lush mountain cloud forests of Rwanda, Africa, Mountain Gorilla provides an amazing encounter with the highly social species that is the largest of all primates. Eat, nap, travel, eat, interact, eat: that's a typical routine for adult gorillas. But for rambunctious three-year-olds, the routine is more like play, play, play, play as they tumble, swing, wrestle and twirl....
| 
| Mountain Gorillas: Biology, Conservation, and Coexistence
by Gene Eckhart (Author), Annette Lanjouw (Author)
Tucked into one of the most beautiful and conflicted regions of the world are the last of the mountain gorillas. These apes have survived centuries of human encroachment into their habitat and range and decades of intense conflict and violence. The remaining 720 mountain gorillas exist in a fragile habitat, nestled in an area torn by human interests and needs for land, water, and minerals. With captivating photography and the most recent scientific research, Mountain Gorillas takes you...
|
|
|
