Chimpanzee Politics
Book description
The first edition of Frans de Waal's Chimpanzee Politics was acclaimed not only by primatologists for its scientific achievement but also by politicians, business leaders, and social psychologists for its remarkable insights into the most basic human needs and behaviors. Twenty-five years later, this book is considered a classic. Featuring…
Why read it?
3 authors picked Chimpanzee Politics as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This is a highly readable and fun book published back in 1982 by one of the leading primatologists of our era. A close student of ape behavior, Frans de Waal shows how smart apes are and what we can learn about ourselves by studying their behavior. He demonstrates that, contrary to common belief, it is not by physical strength alone that an alpha ape hangs onto its power at the top of the social pyramid. More important than their muscles is their ability to form coalitions with others.
If your mental image of an alpha ape is a brawny male,…
From Rick's list on why voters often behave irrationally.
Ever wonder why so many people are just so unpleasant? It’s because we are apes. As such, mendacity, deception, trickery, and a thirst for power are simply part of what we are. That’s how we got to be so (allegedly) smart. Frans de Waal has written many excellent books since this, his first – an observation and interpretation of the behavior of chimpanzees in the Arnhem Zoo in the Netherlands. However, as a young man, far from home, and taking my first steps in the often poisonous world of career and responsibility, the scales well and truly fell…
From Mark's list on humans and other animals.
This book started it all for me. I didn’t know about the social rivalry among animals, but when I read this, the world made sense. This long-term study of zoo chimps shows how hard our closest relatives work to raise their status in the troop. The reasons why they do it are explained in any textbook on Evolutionary Biology, but this book reads more like a soap opera. I also liked DeWaal’s next book, Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are. It compares chimps to bonobos, a recently discovered ape with different lifestyle choices.…
From Loretta's list on the animal mind.
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