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Book The Song of the Ape

    Book Details:
  • Author : Andrew R. Halloran
  • Publisher : Macmillan
  • Release : 2012-02-28
  • ISBN : 0312563116
  • Pages : 289 pages

Download or read book The Song of the Ape written by Andrew R. Halloran and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-02-28 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An absorbing investigation of chimpanzee language and communication by a young primatologist While working as a zookeeper with a group of semi-wild chimpanzees living on an island, primatologist Andrew Halloran witnessed an event that would cause him to become fascinated with how chimpanzees communicate complex information and ideas to one another. The group he was working with was in the middle of a yearlong power battle in which the older chimpanzees were being ousted in favor of a younger group. One day Andrew carelessly forgot to secure his rowboat at the mainland and looked up to see it floating over to the chimp island. In an orchestrated fashion, five ousted members of the chimp group quietly came from different parts of the island and boarded the boat. Without confusion, they sat in two perfect rows of two, with Higgy, the deposed alpha male, at the back, propelling and steering the boat to shore. The incident occurred without screams or disorder and appeared to have been preplanned and communicated. Since this event, Andrew has extensively studied primate communication and, in particular, how this group of chimpanzees naturally communicated. What he found is that chimpanzees use a set of vocalizations every bit as complex as human language. The Song of the Ape traces the individual histories of each of the five chimpanzees on the boat, some of whom came to the zoo after being wild-caught chimps raised as pets, circus performers, and lab chimps, and examines how these histories led to the common lexicon of the group. Interspersed with these histories, the book details the long history of scientists attempting (and failing) to train apes to use human grammar and language, using the well-known and controversial examples of Koko the gorilla, Kanzi the bonobo, and Nim Chimsky the chimpanzee, all of whom supposedly were able to communicate with their human caretakers using sign language. Ultimately, the book shows that while laboratories try in vain to teach human grammar to a chimpanzee, there is a living lexicon being passed down through the generations of each chimpanzee group in the wild. Halloran demonstrates what that lexicon looks like with twenty-five phrases he recorded, isolated, and interpreted while working with the chimps, and concludes that what is occurring in nature is far more fascinating and miraculous than anything that can be created in a laboratory. The Song of the Ape is a lively, engaging, and personal account, with many moments of humor as well as the occasional heartbreak, and it will appeal to anyone who wants to listen in as our closest relatives converse.

Book Songs of the Gorilla Nation

Download or read book Songs of the Gorilla Nation written by Dawn Prince-Hughes and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2004 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a book about autism. Specifically, it is about my autism, which is both like and unlike other people's autism. But just as much, it is a story about how I emerged from the darkness of it into the beauty of it." In this elegant and thought-provoking memoir, Dawn Prince-Hughes traces her personal growth from undiagnosed autism to the moment when, as a young woman, she entered the Seattle Zoo and immediately became fascinated with the gorillas. Having suffered from a lifelong inability to relate to people in a meaningful way, Dawn was surprised to find herself irresistibly drawn to these great primates. By observing them and, later, working with them, she was finally able to emerge from her solitude and connect to living beings in a way she had never previously experienced. Songs of the Gorilla Nation is more than a story of autism, it is a paean to all that is important in life. Dawn Prince-Hughes's evocative story will undoubtedly have a lasting impact, forcing us, like the author herself, to rediscover and assess our own understanding of human emotion.

Book The Future of Another Timeline

Download or read book The Future of Another Timeline written by Annalee Newitz and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A revolution is happening in speculative fiction, and Annalee Newitz is leading the vanguard."--Wil Wheaton From Annalee Newitz, founding editor of io9, comes a story of time travel, murder, and the lengths we'll go to protect the ones we love. 1992: After a confrontation at a riot grrl concert, seventeen-year-old Beth finds herself in a car with her friend's abusive boyfriend dead in the backseat, agreeing to help her friends hide the body. This murder sets Beth and her friends on a path of escalating violence and vengeance as they realize many other young women in the world need protecting too. 2022: Determined to use time travel to create a safer future, Tess has dedicated her life to visiting key moments in history and fighting for change. But rewriting the timeline isn’t as simple as editing one person or event. And just when Tess believes she's found a way to make an edit that actually sticks, she encounters a group of dangerous travelers bent on stopping her at any cost. Tess and Beth’s lives intertwine as war breaks out across the timeline--a war that threatens to destroy time travel and leave only a small group of elites with the power to shape the past, present, and future. Against the vast and intricate forces of history and humanity, is it possible for a single person’s actions to echo throughout the timeline? Praise for The Future of Another Timeline: "An intelligent, gut-wrenching glimpse of how tiny actions, both courageous and venal, can have large consequences. Smart and profound on every level.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) "You close the book reeling with questions about your own life and your part in changing the future."—Amy Acker, actress (Angel and Person of Interest) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Book Harnessed

    Book Details:
  • Author : Mark Changizi
  • Publisher : BenBella Books, Inc.
  • Release : 2011-08-02
  • ISBN : 1935618830
  • Pages : 216 pages

Download or read book Harnessed written by Mark Changizi and published by BenBella Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-08-02 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The scientific consensus is that our ability to understand human speech has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. After all, there are whole portions of the brain devoted to human speech. We learn to understand speech before we can even walk, and can seamlessly absorb enormous amounts of information simply by hearing it. Surely we evolved this capability over thousands of generations. Or did we? Portions of the human brain are also devoted to reading. Children learn to read at a very young age and can seamlessly absorb information even more quickly through reading than through hearing. We know that we didn't evolve to read because reading is only a few thousand years old. In Harnessed, cognitive scientist Mark Changizi demonstrates that human speech has been very specifically “designed" to harness the sounds of nature, sounds we've evolved over millions of years to readily understand. Long before humans evolved, mammals have learned to interpret the sounds of nature to understand both threats and opportunities. Our speech—regardless of language—is very clearly based on the sounds of nature. Even more fascinating, Changizi shows that music itself is based on natural sounds. Music—seemingly one of the most human of inventions—is literally built on sounds and patterns of sound that have existed since the beginning of time. From Library Journal: "Many scientists believe that the human brain's capacity for language is innate, that the brain is actually "hard-wired" for this higher-level functionality. But theoretical neurobiologist Changizi (director of human cognition, 2AI Labs; The Vision Revolution) brilliantly challenges this view, claiming that language (and music) are neither innate nor instinctual to the brain but evolved culturally to take advantage of what the most ancient aspect of our brain does best: process the sounds of nature ... it will certainly intrigue evolutionary biologists, linguists, and cultural anthropologists and is strongly recommended for libraries that have Changizi's previous book." From Forbes: “In his latest book, Harnessed, neuroscientist Mark Changizi manages to accomplish the extraordinary: he says something compellingly new about evolution.… Instead of tackling evolution from the usual position and become mired in the usual arguments, he focuses on one aspect of the larger story so central to who we are, it may very well overshadow all others except the origin of life itself: communication."

Book Ape in a Cape

    Book Details:
  • Author : Fritz Eichenberg
  • Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Release : 1952
  • ISBN : 9780156078306
  • Pages : 44 pages

Download or read book Ape in a Cape written by Fritz Eichenberg and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1952 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An assortment of animals introduce the letters of the alphabet.

Book Voices from the Ape House

Download or read book Voices from the Ape House written by Beth Armstrong and published by Trillium. This book was released on 2020 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A memoir from an influential Columbus Zoo gorilla keeper and conservationist"--

Book The Murderer s Ape

Download or read book The Murderer s Ape written by Jakob Wegelius and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2017-01-24 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This may be the most charming book I’ve read all year." --The New York Times "I don’t know when I last read a book with such pure and unalloyed pleasure." –Philip Pullman, internationally bestselling author of the His Dark Materials series Winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder award, this is a captivating story about dark truths and heinous crimes as well as unexpected friendships, with detailed black-and-white illustrations throughout. Perfect for fans of Brian Selznick and mystery and detective stories. Sally Jones is not only a loyal friend, she’s an extraordinary individual. In overalls or in a maharaja’s turban, this unique gorilla moves among humans without speaking but understanding everything. She and the Chief are devoted comrades who operate a cargo boat. A job they are offered pays big bucks, but the deal ends badly, and the Chief is falsely convicted of murder. For Sally Jones this is the start of a harrowing quest for survival and to clear the Chief's name. Powerful forces are working against her, and they will do anything to protect their secrets.

Book Monkey and Me

    Book Details:
  • Author : Emily Gravett
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2014-02-11
  • ISBN : 1442499729
  • Pages : 32 pages

Download or read book Monkey and Me written by Emily Gravett and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Monkey and me, Monkey and me, Monkey and me, We went to see... A little girl and her toy monkey love imitating different animals, everything from jumping like kangaroos to waddling like penguins! Open this book and play along with them. Can you guess what animal they are now?

Book The Ape that Understood the Universe

Download or read book The Ape that Understood the Universe written by Steve Stewart-Williams and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-21 with total page 671 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ape that Understood the Universe is the story of the strangest animal in the world: the human animal. It opens with a question: How would an alien scientist view our species? What would it make of our sex differences, our sexual behavior, our altruistic tendencies, and our culture? The book tackles these issues by drawing on two major schools of thought: evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory. The guiding assumption is that humans are animals, and that like all animals, we evolved to pass on our genes. At some point, however, we also evolved the capacity for culture - and from that moment, culture began evolving in its own right. This transformed us from a mere ape into an ape capable of reshaping the planet, travelling to other worlds, and understanding the vast universe of which we're but a tiny, fleeting fragment. Featuring a new foreword by Michael Shermer.

Book The Rape of the APE    American Puritan Ethic

Download or read book The Rape of the APE American Puritan Ethic written by Allan Sherman and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-12-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sex Revolution is over - and we won! Sure, there are a few isolated pockets of propriety still to be mopped up, but most of the wholesome, clean-living people have taken to the hills. Tomorrow belongs to us, the Dirty-Minded Americans, and there are more of us than even we dared to dream. This book is an official battle-by-battle history of the American Sex Revolution. It documents the names, dates and scandalous events. And, it dispels some myths. For example, it proves once and for all that the younger generation could not have started the Revolution. The first shot was fired November 10, 1945-long before they were born. The Sex Revolution was started by the Americans who went through puberty before World War II. (But at the time, we had to call it the S_x Revolution; that's how uptight things were then.) One chapter, entitled, "Short Chapter, Long Footnote" consists of just the single word "F*ck" followed by an asterisk. The "Long Footnote" goes on for 20 more pages as he excruciatingly scrutinizes (no pun intended) the four-letter word, providing its possible origins, and our different ways of saying this forbidden word (like saying "screwed" or "I'm seeing him") without actually saying it. Sherman confesses that the word held such power over him personally, that he devoted nearly three full pages of this book to just typing the word again and again and again, until after about the 487th time of typing it, he found he wasn't nearly so traumatized by it anymore. "The Rape of the APE: the Official History of the Sex Revolution" is written by comedian (and self-proclaimed sex symbol) Allan Sherman, most famous for his hit single "Hello, Muddah! Hello, Fadduh! - A Letter from Camp Granada" -- a summer camp anthem which is still being sung 50+ years later.

Book Can You See a Chimpanzee

Download or read book Can You See a Chimpanzee written by Tish Rabe and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2019-12-10 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cat learns about primates—from marmoset monkeys to silverback gorillas—in this latest addition to the Cat in the Hat's Learning Library series! Traveling in his open-air Chimpmobile, the Cat takes Nick and Sally to Africa, Asia, and Madagascar, where they meet a barrel full of "monkeys," including mandrills, marmosets, gorillas, gibbons, gallagos, tarsiers, tamarin, pottos, bonobos—you name it! Along the way they learn the basic characteristics of primates (among them hands that can grasp and forward-facing eyes); how to tell the difference between an ape and a monkey (most monkeys have tails; apes don't); and most amazingly—that people are primates, too! Fans of the hit PBS Kids show The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! (which is based on the Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) will go bananas over this latest addition to the series!

Book Language   Species

Download or read book Language Species written by Derek Bickerton and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-12-01 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic work on the origins and evolution of language from the pioneering linguist and author of Adam’s Tongue. Language and Species presents the most detailed and well-documented scenario to date of the origins of language. Drawing on "living linguistic fossils" such as "ape talk," the "two-word" stage of small children, and pidgin languages—as well as important discoveries in paleoanthropology—Bickerton shows how a primitive "protolanguage" could have offered Homo erectus a novel ecological niche. He goes on to demonstrate how this protolanguage could have developed into the languages we speak today. "You are drawn into [Bickerton's] appreciation of the dominant role language plays not only in what we say, but in what we think and, therefore, what we are."—Robert Wright, New York Times Book Review "The evolution of language is a fascinating topic, and Bickerton's Language and Species is the best introduction we have."—John C. Marshall, Nature

Book Spunky Little Monkey

Download or read book Spunky Little Monkey written by Michael Sampson and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2017-01-03 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling duo Bill Martin Jr and Dr. Michael Sampson comes a hilarious, high-energy romp, featuring colorful, bold illustrations by up-and-coming artist Brian Won. Sleepy little monkey won't get out of bed. Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said:"Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Gooseberry Pies --Monkey needs some exercise!"Sleepy little monkeys everywhere will clap, stomp, shake, and cheer -- while chanting this rhythmic, energetic dance song based on a popular playground game. And as they move their heads, hands, hips, and feet -- everyone will be bursting with clapping energy -- and ready to start a new day!With humor, high energy, and Bill Martin Jr's trademark rhythm and rhyme, young readers will learn to name parts of the body. And the book makes a perfect exercise warm-up to start off a busy day of school!

Book Great Apes

    Book Details:
  • Author : Will Self
  • Publisher : Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
  • Release : 2012-10-16
  • ISBN : 0802193366
  • Pages : 420 pages

Download or read book Great Apes written by Will Self and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some people lost their sense of proportion, others their sense of scale, but Simon Dykes, a middle-aged, successful London painter, has lost his sense of perspective in a most disturbing fashion. After a night of routine, pedestrian debauchery, traipsing from toilet to toilet, and imbibing a host of narcotics on the way, Simon wakes up cuddled in his girlfriend’s loving arms. Much to his dismay, however, his girlfriend has turned into a chimpanzee. To add insult to injury, the psychiatric crash team sent to deal with him as he flips his lid is also comprised of chimps. Indeed, the entire city is overrun by clever primates, who, when they are not jostling for position, grooming themselves, or mating some of the females, can be found driving Volvos, hanging out on street corners, and running the world. Nonetheless convinced that he is still a human, Simon is confined to the emergency psychiatric ward of Charing Cross Hospital, where he becomes the patient of Dr. Zack Busner, clinical psychologist, medical doctor, anti-psychiatrist, and former television personality—an expert at the height of his reign as alpha male. As Busner attempts to convince him that “everyone who is fully sentient in this world are chimpanzees,” Simon struggles with the horrifying delusion that he is really a human trapped in a chimp’s body. Written with the same brilliant satiric wit that has distinguised Self’s earlier fiction, Great Apes is a hilarious, often disturbing, and absolutely original take on man’s place in the evolutionary chain. In a strange and twisted tale that recalls Jonathan Swift and Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Will Self’s comic genius is impossible to ignore.

Book Through a Window

    Book Details:
  • Author : Jane Goodall
  • Publisher : HMH
  • Release : 2010-04-07
  • ISBN : 0547488386
  • Pages : 361 pages

Download or read book Through a Window written by Jane Goodall and published by HMH. This book was released on 2010-04-07 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renowned British primatologist continues the “engrossing account” of her time among the chimpanzees of Gombe, Tanzania (Publishers Weekly). In her classic, In the Shadow of Man, Jane Goodall wrote of her first ten years at Gombe. In Through a Window she continues the story, painting a more complete and vivid portrait of our closest relatives. On the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Gombe is a community where the principal residents are chimpanzees. Through Goodall’s eyes we watch young Figan’s relentless rise to power and old Mike’s crushing defeat. We learn how one mother rears her children to succeed and another dooms hers to failure. We witness horrifying murders, touching moments of affection, joyous births, and wrenching deaths. As Goodall compellingly tells the story of this intimately intertwined community, we are shown human emotions stripped to their essence. In the mirror of chimpanzee life, we see ourselves reflected. “A humbling and exalting book . . . Ranks with the great scientific achievements of the twentieth century.” —The Washington Post “[An] absolutely smashing account . . . Thrilling, affectionate, intelligent—a classic.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Book Gorilla

    Book Details:
  • Author : Ian Redmond
  • Publisher : Dorling Kindersley Ltd
  • Release : 1997-08-21
  • ISBN : 1405360283
  • Pages : 66 pages

Download or read book Gorilla written by Ian Redmond and published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd. This book was released on 1997-08-21 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite their size and strength gorillas are generally docile animals that live in close-knit family groups and as our close relatives provide intriguing insights into our own behaviour. This collection of superb photographs brings their story vividly to life.The book features the world's largest captive colony of lowland gorillas as well as many other primate species. Discover the secret lives of orangutans and chimpanzees how baboons have adapted to life on the African plains and spider monkeys to the rainforests of South America. See how gorillas and chimps have mastered sign languages and how people are trying to protect our endangered primate relatives. Written by wildlife biologist Ian Redmond who has worked extensively with mountain gorillas in Rwanda Gorilla is a unique and exciting introduction to the great apes monkeys and other primitive primates.

Book Planet of the Apes

    Book Details:
  • Author : Pierre Boulle
  • Publisher : Del Rey
  • Release : 2011-04-13
  • ISBN : 0307792366
  • Pages : 203 pages

Download or read book Planet of the Apes written by Pierre Boulle and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The original novel that inspired the films! First published more than fifty years ago, Pierre Boulle’s chilling novel launched one of the greatest science fiction sagas in motion picture history. In the not-too-distant future, three astronauts land on what appears to be a planet just like Earth, with lush forests, a temperate climate, and breathable air. But while it appears to be a paradise, nothing is what it seems. They soon discover the terrifying truth: On this world humans are savage beasts, and apes rule as their civilized masters. In an ironic novel of nonstop action and breathless intrigue, one man struggles to unlock the secret of a terrifying civilization, all the while wondering: Will he become the savior of the human race, or the final witness to its damnation? In a shocking climax that rivals that of the original movie, Boulle delivers the answer in a masterpiece of adventure, satire, and suspense.