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Roger Fouts fulfilled humankind's age-old dream of talking to animals by pioneering communication with chimpanzees through sign language. His decades of groundbreaking work with these amazing animals - who share more than 98 percent of our DNA - made scientific history as their unprecedented dialogues opened a window into chimpanzee consciousness and the origins of human language and intelligence. Now, in Next of Kin, Fouts tells the dramatic story of his personal and professional odyssey from novice researcher to celebrity scientist to impassioned crusader for the rights of animals. At the heart of this captivating book is Fouts's magical thirty-year friendship with Washoe, whom we watch grow from a mischievous baby chimp fresh out of the NASA space program into the matriarch of a clan of chimpanzees who fill these pages with tales of humor and heartbreak, pathos and love. Living and conversing with these sensitive creatures has given Fouts a profound appreciation of how much we share with our closest biological relatives, and what they can teach us about ourselves. Fouts also describes the crisis of conscience he faced when he discovered that hundreds of chimpanzees were being subjected to perilous biomedical experimentation in laboratories across America. At significant risk to his own career, he became an outspoken advocate for improved conditions for animals in research labs, and devoted himself to rescuing this lost generation of chimpanzees.… (more)
User reviews
After reading this book, I felt as if I too knew Washoe. I wanted very, very much to meet this incredible person - and after reading this book, you will not doubt that Washoe or her family of displaced chimps are "personals" with distinct personalities - but before I could get there, Washoe passed away. When I logged onto the website to find out what Washoe and her cohorts were up to, and found out that she'd passed away, I was heartbroken - but I was also awed and inspired by the number of people who had read this book and also felt like they knew Washoe, who also felt as though 'knowing' Washoe through these pages enriched their lives. If you have ever loved a 'person' who was not human - a pet or a wild animal you were lucky enough to observe - you will revel in the hope and love that are the foundation of this story.
Note: if you read the book and enjoy it, do check out Roger Fouts' page for the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute in Washington State and/or Friends of Washoe on the net.
Roger Fouts was a psychology student in the late 1960s when he got a job helping with a chimpanzee, Washoe, to study whether or not chimps could learn human language by way of ASL (American Sign Language). Despite that he really wanted/planned to work with kids, this began decades of
He was still fighting for changes in 1997 when the book was published, but on checking today, things have gotten better – not for all chimps, but for many (most?). There were a few sections in the book where he was talking about research and studies that got just a bit dry, but for the most part, I loved reading about the chimps and the studies and was (to no surprise) horrified at what he saw in the medical research labs. Whether in my psychology or anthropology classes 30ish years ago, I had heard of both Fouts and Washoe, as well as many of the other scientists and studies Fouts mentions in this book. I went through a bunch of emotions reading this book – happiness, sadness, anger... I love that he ended up being an activist, and wanted(s) to see change. I can’t believe it took me so long to finally read this book!