Next Of Kin [Paperback]

For three decades, primatologist Roger Fouts has been involved in language studies of the chimpanzee, the animal most closely related to human beings. Among his subjects was the renowned Washoe, who was "endowed with a powerful need to learn and communicate," and who developed an extraordinary vocabulary in American sign language. Another chimpanzee, Fouts writes, "never made a grammatical error," which turned a whole school of linguistic theory upside down. While reporting these successes, Fouts also notes that chimpanzees are regularly abused in laboratory settings and that in the wild their number has fallen from 5,000,000 to fewer than 175,000 in the last century.

Having spent most of his career teaching sign language to chimps, Fouts divulges our hairy cousins' opinions on humans.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Can chimpanzees talk? As Fouts explains in this fascinating account, the answer to this question is no. But if the question is rephrased as, Can chimpanzees communicate using nonverbal language? the answer is a resounding yes. In the late 1960s, Washoe, a female chimpanzee, was taught American Sign Language in a groundbreaking study. Fouts was involved with Project Washoe from the beginning, and this account of the experiment and its aftermath reads like a novel. The ups (such as Washoe's inventions of novel signs or names for things) and downs (working with an unpredictable and arrogant senior scientist) of the unfolding story are intertwined with the scientific theories and concepts that underlie all the research being described. The similarities between humans and chimpanzees, particularly in their behavior (and language acquisition is the main behavior being studied), are emphasized and explained in the clear, easy-to-understand narrative. The evolutionary and genetic bases for these similarities are explored early in the text and are woven through the descriptions of Washoe's continuing acquisition of language. By comparing Washoe's behavior in captivity with both the behavior of wild chimpanzees and with autistic children, Fouts leads readers through complex scientific concepts while entertaining them with Washoe's (and his own) stories. What makes this book an exceptional popularization of scientific research is the authors' ability to charm with a fascinating story while also teaching why the story is so fascinating. Extensive notes round out a terrific book that is recommended for all libraries. Movie and foreign rights sold; special promotions to animal-rights groups planned. Nancy Bent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Though he was studying theories of communication, Fouts (Psychology/Central Washington Univ.) learned a whole lot more than that from the chimps in his American Sign Language program, and he tells their story here with great insight and affection. Thirty years ago, Fouts started teaching chimps American Sign Language (ASL), in hopes of being able to speak directly with them. He was under no illusion that he was teaching chimps the art of communication: They had been communicating in the wild for millennia, with gestures, the dialects of hand movement, facial expressions, and body language. Nonetheless, Fouts was astounded by the speed at which his charges took to ASL and their talents for wordplay and grammar. His research allowed him to put in perspective theories of animal intelligence and language acquisition, from Descartes and Darwin to Skinner and Chomsky, and to formulate his own notions of the remarkable similarity between chimp and human biology and intelligence, of grammar as a complex form of rule-following behavior, and how ASL helped him bridge the sundered audiovisual links experienced by autistics. But clearly the most important thing Fouts feels he learned is that these creatures don't belong in cages, and no matter how much compassion and respect are given the research subjects, morally and ethically, keeping them in captivity is wrong. To drive that point home, he details the barbaric conditions in which lab animals are kept, the excruciating tests they are put through, in powerfully soulful language. And though he can't be counted among the draconians, Fouts recognizes his own culpability in the diminished lives of his charges. A compelling book. Fouts (aided by wildlife writer Mills) has a way of making us all feel responsibility for the fate of these chimps and for the hellacious acts against them. Jane Goodall has written the book's introduction. (16 pages b&w photos not seen) (First printing of 50,000; first serial to Reader's Digest; film rights to Fox 2000; Book-of-the-Month Club featured selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

For 30 years Roger Fouts has pioneered communication with chimpanzees through sign language--beginning with a mischievous baby chimp named Washoe. This remarkable book describes Fout's odyssey from novice researcher to celebrity scientist to impassioned crusader for the rights of animals. Living and conversing with these sensitive creatures has given him a profound appreciation of what they can teach us about ourselves. It has also made Fouts an outspoken opponent of biomedical experimentation on chimpanzees. A voyage of scientific discovery and interspecies communication, this is a stirring tale of friendship, courage, and compassion that will change forever the way we view our biological--and spritual--next of kin.

Marion Morra is the Associate Director of the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut. She is Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Medicine and Associate Clinical Professor at the Yale School of Nursing. Marion is widely published, having written articles and authored books for both health professionals and the public, with emphasis on health, especially in the field of cancer. She serves on major national committees for the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society.Eve Potts has been writing on medical subjects for more than 30 years. Her expertise is in making difficult medical information easy to understand. She has served as a medical writer and consultant to the Department of Health and Human Services and many medically oriented companies and institutions. Her interest in history is represented by another book, Westport A Special Place, 1987The two authors who are sisters, have collaborated on five other books: three editions of the best-selling book for cancer patients Choices (Avon Books, 1980, 1987, and 1994), Triumph: Getting Back to Normal When You Have Cancer (Avon Books, 1990), and Understanding Your Immune System (1986). In 1993, the authors received the Natalie Davis Springarn Writer's Award from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivors for "their valuable contributions to the literature of survivorship and for their books, Choices and Triumph." They also were awarded the 1995 National Health Information Silver Award, which honors the nation's best consumer health information programs and materials, for Choices.

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. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.