| | Gorillas in the Mist |  | Author: Dian Fossey
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Category: Book
List Price: $10.95
Buy Used: $4.95
You Save: $6.00 (55%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 5998980
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 326
ISBN: 0685068021
EAN: 9780685068021
ASIN: 0685068021
Publication Date: January 1983
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Houghton, c1983, 326pp, photos, trade paperback. Very good
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| Customer Reviews:
 Utterly Fascinating October 31, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I picked this up on a whim. I had a gift card to a local book store and remembered finding the movie adaptation quite entertaining.
The result was a character study that blew me away. The subject matter of the mountain gorillas Fossey studied was only part of it. The person that came out in book was the true catch for me. Dian Fossey was as human as anyone else. A truly driven and flawed person who impacted science across the world.
Dian Fossey's life and personality March 25, 2004
0 out of 17 found this review helpful
In reality, Ms. Fossey is regarded by many as a sociopath who did more to kill gorillas than to help them. She would kidnap tribesmen's children as a means of "revenge" against those who messed with her gorillas. In embarking upon such immature acts, she triggered more hostilities with locals than ever. She was not a well-trained scientist, and would touch gorillas in the wild when it is well known that one is not supposed to. Well intentioned though she was, there is a lot about her that goes unmentioned.
dian fossey's murder finally solved after 15 years July 12, 2003
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
dian fossey's murderer was arrested in june 2001 and he as a government official called Protrais Zigiranyirazo allegedly involved in the poaching bussiness as well and sources say he did it because Dian new too much about his illigal activities and she was about to exposed him , he would have been disgraced. her murder was never a mystery because most people in rwanda knew he was the chief culprit just that he was never arrested because he was a senior politician. he hired a hitman to kill her but the hitman was later arrested by the police and found dead in his prison cell probably killed to silence him from exposing Protrais who had sent him. Potrais fled rwanda in 1993 and settled in belgium and was wanted by the international court in connection with his role in the 1994 genocide which occured in rwanda. it is from here that the present rwandan government started to investigate his background that they discovered his criminal shady past.he is due to stand trial this year 2003 and finally we may say justice has been done.i got to learn more about Dian Fossey and have become a personal admirer of her care after watching her movie and clearly i myself as an african admire her for her affection with natural conservation
of wild life and the need for man kind to respect its dignity in a time where the riches of this world have led us to be so ignorant about caring for nature.
 Chronology askew,but leaves reader mystified January 31, 2003
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Dian Fossey,author of Gorillas in the Mist uses this book to talk about her experiences researching gorillas in the wild. Starting in the year 1963 and ending in the year 1983, Fossey gives us an intimate look into her life and interactions with the mountain gorillas.
The book begins by telling the story of her first experience in Africa. The reader walks away from the first chapter of the book keenly aware that this is not an average woman writing of her weekend stay with gorillas in a zoo. Here is a headstrong woman willing to go to any lengths to travel to Africa to see the majestic gorillas, a physically capable woman handling the challenging terrain of the mountains undeterred even after breaking her ankle along the treacherous path to see the gorillas.
After her first African encounter Fossey cannot wait to come back and research the gorillas for an extended period of time. She leaves the United States in 1966 and travels to the Congo to study. However,this turns into an abbreviated stay because of the wars going on in that country. She moves camp to Rwanda,where she establishes a permanent home at the Karisoke Research Centre. Her study of gorillas starts here, and she quickly finds that living in the Parc National des Volcans will be physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging for her.
I was certainly ready to start reading about experiences with gorillas by the time that Fossey had gotten settled. The research at this point moves very quickly. Groups of gorillas are numbered and individuals are named. At times it became difficult to keep up with all hte names and numbers given to the gorillas; Fossey, however, does a wonderful job of keeping the reader informed of which group and which individual she is talking about.
Involved in the book is information about Fossey's life with other researchers. I was eager to read about how she overcame the language barrier between herself and the Rwandese. It was also interesting to read about thier initial trials and errors with food and locals that were recruited to help track the gorillas.
This book informs about the poaching problemin Africa. She lets the reader know that she is doing everything she can to thwart the poachers efforts at capturing the gorillas; that without support this species will be literally hunted to death. Sometimes her behavior was rash. She wrote about how she retaliated against poachers and their families. In one instance she stole a herd from a local Rwandan until she obtained information about the poachers she was looking for. Some of her tactics in stopping poaching were less than diplomatic,to put it diplomatically, she could have handled many situations differently. Clearly, however her aggression toward poachers came out of her love for gorillas.
I enjoyed reading about the entire life cycle of an individual gorilla from birth until they were sexually mature. I felt more connected with the gorillas because of this and it made me want to turn the page to find out what would happen to my favorite gorillas next. It was also fascinating to read about gorilla interactions. In many wats they are similar to humans in that the infants need a significant amount of love and support and as they grow older they fall into the typical male and female roles. The males would try to imitate their fathers whom they would eventually succeed; and the females would become very interested in infants born into the group, often playing with and grooming the new additions.
After reading several pages I was hooked and found every detail fascinating. My only criticism is that sometimes the order of events is skewed. Fossey would tell an entire story about a gorilla, then go on to talk about a time before this story unfolded. It seemed sometimes that she was putting the proverbial "cart before the horse." This made the story line at times hard to follow. Despite this stylistic shortcoming Gorrilas in the Mist is a moving story about Dian Fossey and her life with the African mountain gorillas. She was passionate about her work and her passion vividly comes through in every page.
Gorillas July 18, 2002
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
Ms. Dian Fossey was a truly remarkable woman. Her strenght of character, her beliefs, and her morals were far beyond her time. She would have been much more respected in today's society. The world is a little worse off due to her murder!!
This book is a must read for anyone interested in Gorillas, the plight of wildlife, or the state of our environmental health.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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