Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
University of Chicago Press (1966), Paperback
Description
"A sensitive and articulate observer, [Schaller] is at his best when he is describing the forest itself . . . . This is an exciting book. Although Schaller feels that this is 'not an adventure book,' few readers will be able to agree."—Irven DeVore, Science
User reviews
LibraryThing member nandadevi
Schaller's work with gorilla's was ground breaking in the late 1950's. Although well known in zoos at the time, very little was known of their life in the wild. Schaller set out, at much the same time as Jane Goodall, to observe these primates living their private lives, unaffected by
Schaller's background was in zoology and anthropology, and his narrative starts with a certain dryness and clinical air to it. You admire his thorough preparations and absorb facts and figures, and a great deal of debunking of myth and misinformation about gorilla's. I struggled with the book here, but then as he finally arrives at the Ruwenzori you begin to wonder at his obstinate dedication to his search; days and weeks tracking but not seeing the reclusive creatures in the dense forest. And then that extraordinary moment when man and ape catch sight of each other. Schaller describes that moment, and all the ones that follow with a kind of lyricism that carries the reader effortlessly along after such a slow start.
The science is still there, but now you have the rounded picture, that research is sometimes painstakingly slow, but there are magical moments when plans come together, and when expectations are overthrown. Schaller's fortitude is almost numbing, no one has perhaps written more tellingly of the feeling of sitting motionless in the rain for hours while he continues his observations. Schaller makes me want to read Fossey, his successor in the mountains. I had avoided her for a long time, wary of the romanticism (and tragedy) that surrounded her. But 'The Year of the Gorilla' makes me want to know more about these creatures, and about what they can teach us about ourselves, and in that sense Schaller continues to succeed at what he set about to do; introduce us to ourselves. Highly recommended.
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man.Schaller's background was in zoology and anthropology, and his narrative starts with a certain dryness and clinical air to it. You admire his thorough preparations and absorb facts and figures, and a great deal of debunking of myth and misinformation about gorilla's. I struggled with the book here, but then as he finally arrives at the Ruwenzori you begin to wonder at his obstinate dedication to his search; days and weeks tracking but not seeing the reclusive creatures in the dense forest. And then that extraordinary moment when man and ape catch sight of each other. Schaller describes that moment, and all the ones that follow with a kind of lyricism that carries the reader effortlessly along after such a slow start.
The science is still there, but now you have the rounded picture, that research is sometimes painstakingly slow, but there are magical moments when plans come together, and when expectations are overthrown. Schaller's fortitude is almost numbing, no one has perhaps written more tellingly of the feeling of sitting motionless in the rain for hours while he continues his observations. Schaller makes me want to read Fossey, his successor in the mountains. I had avoided her for a long time, wary of the romanticism (and tragedy) that surrounded her. But 'The Year of the Gorilla' makes me want to know more about these creatures, and about what they can teach us about ourselves, and in that sense Schaller continues to succeed at what he set about to do; introduce us to ourselves. Highly recommended.
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Subjects
Awards
Notable Books List (1964)
Language
Physical description
7.9 inches
ISBN
0226736385 / 9780226736389
Other editions
The Year of the Gorilla by George B. Schaller (Paper Book)