I have no idea what's up with all the recent non-fiction...but at least this one wasn't about animals. I adore Michael Lewis and everything he does, but hadn't been moved to read about baseball until I saw his recent NYT piece on basketball stats. Totally engrossing and so, so interesting. (+)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Good Good Pig, Sy Montgomery
Wow. Pigs are smart. Like REALLY smart. And it just makes me really mad that bacon tastes so good. Apparently, they make good pets too. Sy Montgomery has studied some pretty amazing things in her life, and she brings the same enthusiasm and humanity to the story of her 750 pound pet, Christopher Hogwood. But, I know that I'm an animal weirdo, and others might be more interested in some of her other books before diving into this. (0)
Nim Chimpsky, Elizabeth Hess
It took me awhile to be able to write about this one. Nim Chimpsky (named by a witty academic determined to prove Noam wrong) was a chimp used in a Columbia University research experiment set out to prove that language is not exclusively human. As part of this, they raised the chimps as human - in homes, wearing clothes, sleeping in beds, etc. What happened to Nim and other chimps like him after the experiments stopped is enough to make even non-animal rights-ers pensive about animal research. The book isn't a Michael Moore-ish expose so to speak, but a more or less evenhanded study of the sexually and politically charged academia of the 70's and the lives affected.
I was particularly unsettled reading this - most likely because I've spent so much of my life wanting to interact with chimps (Project X had left a particularly deep impression I suppose...). And even though I never pursued the aspiration, this book unraveled my intentions around the whole thing...Had I ever planned to give up everything to unobstructively observe in the wild? No, I think the whole fantasy usually involved me bringing home a chimp, pretending its my kid and teaching it sign language between adorable outfit changes and Oprah. And even if I had realized the wrongness of this path, would I have turned my back on it after devoting my life to the school and research that it required? For once, it's a huge relief that I was never motivated enough to follow my dreams.
The gamut of people Hess found to interview and the piecing of the story is impressive but I certainly won't be reading her other book about animal shelters as I want to be able to at least sleep a little bit at night. (+)
I was particularly unsettled reading this - most likely because I've spent so much of my life wanting to interact with chimps (Project X had left a particularly deep impression I suppose...). And even though I never pursued the aspiration, this book unraveled my intentions around the whole thing...Had I ever planned to give up everything to unobstructively observe in the wild? No, I think the whole fantasy usually involved me bringing home a chimp, pretending its my kid and teaching it sign language between adorable outfit changes and Oprah. And even if I had realized the wrongness of this path, would I have turned my back on it after devoting my life to the school and research that it required? For once, it's a huge relief that I was never motivated enough to follow my dreams.
The gamut of people Hess found to interview and the piecing of the story is impressive but I certainly won't be reading her other book about animal shelters as I want to be able to at least sleep a little bit at night. (+)
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