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    A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
    A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
    A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
    Audiobook14 hours

    A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons

    Written by Robert M. Sapolsky

    Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    "I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming-of-age in remote Africa.

    An exhilarating account of Sapolsky's twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate's Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti-for man and beast alike. Over two decades, Sapolsky survives culinary atrocities, gunpoint encounters, and a surreal kidnapping, while witnessing the encroachment of the tourist mentality on the farthest vestiges of unspoiled Africa. As he conducts unprecedented physiological research on wild primates, he becomes evermore enamored of his subjects-unique and compelling characters in their own right-and he returns to them summer after summer, until tragedy finally prevents him.

    By turns hilarious and poignant, A Primate's Memoir is a magnum opus from one of our foremost science writers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 10, 2013
    ISBN9781452688534
    Author

    Robert M. Sapolsky

    Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including Determined, The Trouble with Testosterone, and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. His book Behave was a New York Times bestseller and named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. He and his wife live in San Francisco.

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    Reviews for A Primate's Memoir

    4.5/5

    33 ratings5 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Some of the chapters are truncated. At least 5 chapters end abruptly.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Outstanding memoir. Whimsy mixed with science and tragedy, Dr Sapolsky proves to be every bit as capable a storyteller as a scientist. Bravo, sir.
    • 5/5
      Great book. One that will have you connecting the big picture of everything for the rest of your life.
    • 5/5
      Watched all of Dr. Sapolsky's talks I could find on YouTube since I was fascinated by his discoveries on primate behavior and how it relates to humans. This book is a recollection of his experiences during the time he lived with baboons but no so much a scientific analysis on how those important lessons apply to our daily lives. For that, I recommend his other book "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers."
    • 5/5
      Fascinating stories of travels to game reserves in Africa to study baboons. Ending is marvelous and sophisticated.