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| Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind | 
| Authors: Sue Savage-rumbaugh, Roger Lewin
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $4.34
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 400278
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 299
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 047115959X
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.88440451
EAN: 9780471159599
ASIN: 047115959X
Publication Date: September 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The remarkable story of a "talking" chimp, a leading scientist, and the profound insights they have uncovered about our species He has been featured in cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic, and has been the subject of a "NOVA" documentary. He is directly responsible for discoveries that have forced the scientific community to recast its thinking about the nature of the mind and the origins of language. He is Kanzi, an extraordinary bonobo chimpanzee who has overturned the idea that symbolic language is unique to our species. This is the moving story of how Kanzi learned to converse with humans and the profound lessons he has taught us about our animal cousins, and ourselves. ". . . The underlying thesis is informative and well argued . . . Savage-Rumbaugh's results are impressive." ? The Washington Post "This popular, absorbing, and controversial account is recommended." ? Library Journal
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| Customer Reviews:
 Interesting and Partly Convincing July 26, 2006
This book makes plausible claims that some bonobos have learned to handle language in a way that is approximately as sophisticated as that of a two year old human. But their anecdotal evidence is somewhat hard to evaluate, and they didn't quite convince me that they were careful enough to rule out the possibility that their biases caused them to overestimate the sophistication of Kanzi's understanding.
The book is a bit long-winded about research that Savage-Rumbaugh did before working with Kanzi, and I was a bit disappointed that the book didn't provide more of the anecdote about Kanzi that made the book worth reading. But those anecdotes convinced me that much more is going on than some authors such as Pinker had led me to believe. I still hope for better evidence that will help clarify how much bonobos can understand. But that will be hard, and I don't know how it should be done.
 Thought provoking and charming July 22, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Animal intelligence is a huge interest of mine. I have read many books about the intelligence of primates, ocean mammals, and birds. This was one of my favorites. Although the author talks about her background and inspiration for a bit longer than I wanted to read at the beginning of the book, she really does a good job in describing her experiences with common and bonobo chimpanzees. The book is a pleasent read and describes both anectodal and scientific based experiences. The anecdotal bits really give you an insight into interactions with chimps and make you feel as if you know the individuals.
This book should create earthquakes January 2, 2005
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
As heartbreaking as it is eye-opening, this is an account of trying to conceptually reinsert humans into nature as much as it is the story of remarkable apes. Savage-Rumbaugh convincingly presents not only the bonobo Kanzi, but also his sister Panbanisha and the common chimpanzees Sherman and Austin, as persons in every sense but the arbitrary one of species. Tragically, the author provides a sense of the rich life our cousins lead beneath our noses at the precise moment any opportunity to know these people called apes in their own milieus is being exterminated. Read the book and pass it on.
Important but Defensive January 10, 2000
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is an important, if somewhat defensive book. I would have been much more interested to read more about Kanzi's day to day behavior and to see some actual scientific data instead of the story of the investigator's scientific publishing woes. Nevertheless, this book should be read widely and it's message that we humans are not as unique as we like to think needs careful consideration by all scientists and the general population.
Outstanding glimpse into the mind of our closest relative. July 15, 1996
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This wonderful book by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Roger Lewin forces the reader to reevaluate what it means to be human. Kanzi is a remarkable ape that has revolutionized our understanding of how our closest relatives think, how our common ancestors may have evolved, and why we may not be as different as once supposed. Roger and Sue's collaboration is very readable and conveys the excitement of Sue's scientific research and Kanzi's remarkable talents
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