NEXT OF KIN What Chimpanzees have Taught Me About Who We Are

Roger Fouts recounts the remarkable story of his career teaching chimpanzees the skill of “signing.” Discoveries and insights into chimpanzee intelligence will amaze the listener as Fouts proudly reveals their capabilities. Because Fouts began his career as a novice, his naive enthusiasm for his work was fraught with the jealousy and deceit of other researchers. Fouts’s love and respect for the chimps he calls“family” superseded all obstacles including near-bankruptcy. Compassion is intertwined with anger as he describes his longtime fight to prevent researchers from using these biological relatives as victims of cruel and inhumane medical and scientific research. Grief-filled words describe the unnecessary and cruel psychological destruction and death of some of his closest chimpanzee brothers and sisters. B.J.P. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 98]