I borrowed Jane Goodall's Through a window: My thirty years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe on a whim when in fact, I was looking for a book by Anthony Bourdain that I could not find. I devoured the Sue Grafton I had borrowed with Goodall's book and quite reluctantly started leafing through it. I read the first few pages about a bunch of chimpanzees, all named, and felt the irritating pressure I often feel when I push myself to read a book in which I have little interest. I typically prod on for a while, until it becomes too much of an effort, eye the other tempting books waiting on my bookshelf and give up, angry at the wasted time. In this case however, happily, this story did not repeat itself. Not only was the book a surprising joy to read, but it also gave me plenty of food for thought.

The first time I encountered the great apes was on National Geographic, where I often saw two women, in two different parts of Africa, living and working among their (and our) cousins. Goodall's good natured face I remember, peering through the foliage, observing chimps. Dian Fossey puzzled me, because the mountain gorillas she befriended were far far bigger and more intimidating than the chimpanzees of Gombe. Fossey's tragic murder, as the murder of her favorite gorilla Digit, continued to linger in my mind for long after we stopped subscribing to National Geographic. And so, while the image of a frizzy haired, and for some reason a pig-tailed, Fossey stayed on in my head, Goodall's gentle face and her work with chimpanzees became a hazy blur.

30 years can be a long time. I haven't even lived that long yet. Even 3 years in one place seems like eternity to me now. But that is how long it takes to make any sense of another species' way of life. 30 years is but a glimpse through a window. And that snapshot not only offers us amazing insights about chimpanzees, which I can't imagine more than a handful would be really interested in, but into our own lives. We learn with shock and horror that chimpanzees can be murderers and cannibalistic, but also that they are mothers, sisters, aunts, and protectors, assuming many meaningful roles and responsibilities.

Being a new mom myself when I first read this book, I learnt much more from this book than any new mommy's self help books. Chimpanzee mothers can be capable and not so capable, and in each case shape their offspring's lives in very many ways (as can nature). Being a social, supportive, stern, playful mommy can make your baby chimpanzee the alpha male. Being asocial and indifferent, can make your baby reticent, reclusive and inept in many ways. At best, it can successfully halt the propagation of his/her (and the mother's own) genes. At worst, it can contribute to the infant's premature death.
Reading this book jolted me out of partly post partum induced and partly self-induced lethargy and gave me a sense of direction. I wanted to be a Fifi, not a Gilka (both chimp mommies).

Of course, after a while I got lost in the ocean of chimp names: Flint, Flo, Fifi, Freud, Frodo, Figan, Melissa, Goblin, Gremlin, Getty, Groucho, Gigi and Satan, though I know each of these chimpanzees had a unique life and a unique character. I learnt about chimp wars, jealousy, tantrums, family dramas, love triangles and quadrangles.

It may well be the most entertaining, most thought provoking and most educational soap I have ever read. So what if it featured an exclusive (almost) star cast of chimps? ( )

My first question was: How come I've never read any of Goodall's books before??? And my second was: Where can I get more???

What a fascinating account of Goodall's work in Gombe. I really had no idea just how complex chimpanzee society is, nor the level of intelligence these creatures retain. It's one thing to know primates are smart, and quite another thing to actually read about what they do and how they function on a daily basis. The picture Goodall paints is one of a harsh reality in the wild, as the chimps struggle to survive amongst themselves and against outside invaders.

At one point, Goodall witnessed a schism in her study group - half the chimps broke away from the other half, and began methodically killing off the chimps from the half they left behind. It's heartbreaking to read, but truly sends home the message that these primates are indeed animals, not humans, but at the same time have that level of unharnessed intelligence and passion that allows them to carry out both acts of extreme violence and extreme compassion.

Perhaps what I found most fascinating out of the whole book was the discussion on the visibly different parenting styles of mother chimps, and how their parenting styles contributed to the development of their daughter offspring... and how their daughters' own parenting style became reflective of their own. Absolutely incredible.

The final chapter of this book is one I wish I didn't have to read, but I suppose it was a necessity. I would like to see this book re-released with an updated final chapter, however, because I suspect a lot of the information is dated by about 15 years. It discusses chimps as research subjects & pets (ie. chimps who are chained to a wall in the basement for 50 years because their "owners" couldn't handle them), and the disgusting, inhumane conditions in which they have to live in many facilities. I found it depressing because while they are animals (and Goodall definitely stresses this, repeating that all told, chimpanzees are animals and not humans), they are intelligent enough to understand what's going on. Locking a chimp in a tiny metal cage is not like locking a rat in its cage. That chimp will look at you and know what you've done...

After reading this book, I admit that I'm highly compelled to read more of her work, especially the scientific studies that give more detailed analysis of behavioral patterns. If you're interested in animal behavior at all, this is an excellent place to learn not only about the chimpanzees Goodall studied, but also the local species that shared the same living space. ( )

This is one of my favorite non-fiction books! I read this in a psychology course in college and was shocked by the insight you can get into human behavior by learning from animals. It reads like a family saga and really made me tear up. You will never look at Chimpanzees at the zoo the same again. ( )

Goodall documents 30 years of her ground-breaking work with a community of chimpanzees in Gombe. It's almost like a novel of a sometimes dysfunctional family with brutal clashes and heartwarming moments. It's a great observation of animal behavior with reflections on human behavior. ( )