I have read other books on the Chimp / sign language topic and thought this would be another great book with interesting stories and insights about chimp behavior. Instead this book reads like a time line, 3/4 of the book could be summed up in a paragraph. Every single person who had contact with Nim (the featured chimp at the center of the book) along the way is mentioned in this book. There is very little written about Nim himself. It just went on and on and on. I could hardly finish is. I was looking for a story, the book gave a play by play with all of the boring non-essential details. If you are looking for a great book on the topic read Next of Kin or anything by Jane Goodall.
Nim Chimpsky follows the trials and tribulations of an ASL chimp. I found the book to be entertaining: at times shocking, at others sweet. The author's purpose in writing the book is a bit unclear: Is she an animal advocate trying to proposition readers to empathize with the animals? Or is she trying to tell the story objectively?
The author continuously describes Nim as "charming" and that he "touches everyone he meets." However, the book is chockful of Nim's not-so-charming times brutally attacking both people and animals, throwing tantrums, and destroying items, while his charms seem less evident. Although the author seems to be trying to make a point that Nim is an animal, not a human, the brutality seems to overshadow the positives of Nim's personality. Probably, his positive attributes would best be supplemented by describing how Nim was taught to use signs to 'talk' to his handlers.
However, this does not seem to be the purpose of the book. It seems to be a biography, yet the author (a journalist) makes blanket statements about how competing language researchers Fouts and Terrace have flawed methodology. This is despite the fact that the methodology is rarely described and the author does not give one story of how Nim learned any signs. While it could be possible that Fouts and Terrace used failed methodologies in their language research, this claim is far too unsubstantiated (at least in the book) to be espoused by the author.
The author also seems to tow the line between animal welfare and animal rights. She condemns some of the actions taken by Nim's handlers in the book and seems far more forgiving to others. I agree with previous reviewers that she seems unduly harsh with Fouts' role in chimp research and only seems to clarify statements through burying them in the books endnotes. Fouts, of course, leans far more toward animal rights than the author who, at one point, states that Fouts was brazen in taking a chimp who was clearly the 'property' of Lemmon. Her wavering beliefs seem inputted in the book at odd times, while additional animal rights arguments are buried with the end notes.
Nim's story is fascinating in and of itself so it would be hard to write a bad book on ASL chimpanzees. The book has some strengths: notably the fallibility of the people around Nim (even if at times, their stories are far too cumbersome and tangential). The book would have been much better if the author had taken one of two approaches A) tell the story objectivity (difficult as that may be) or B) tell the story from an animal rights/welfare viewpoint, including all relevant issues animal rights theorists debate in detail. Nim's story is intriguing, but Fouts' poignant story "Next of Kin" is a far better read.
Excellent, but slightly skewed take on Project Nim
This well-written and researched book follows the long arc of the "Projet Nim" ape-language experiment in fascinating detail, from the foundations of its inception to its rather sad ending. Throughout, Ms. Hess is careful to ensure that our sympathies are always with the chimp Nim, but she never anthropomorphizes him. By the end, it's hard not to see Nim as a victim. A loved and well-treated one (sometimes), but a victim nonetheless.
That's all fine. This not a book of cold, journalistic detachment, but an engrossing story of the personalities -- both human and animal -- involved in a radical bit of research that Ms. Hess clearly posits as misconceived. Again, that's fine. A book like this can have a viewpoint and still be honest, and this one scores on both counts. However, there were definitely moments that seemed downright gossipy as it outlined the foibles of some of the humans involved. In fact, almost every major player (Bill Lemmon, Herb Terrace, Roger Fouts) come off as arrogant or inept jerks (or worse) under Hess's constant editorializing.
Even with her chapter notes at the end of the book, I found it hard to connect the dots from many of the anecdotes to any reliable source. Sometimes, I just felt there was too much free-floating opinion in the text. It doesn't invalidate the book. I guess I just wish she'd given some of the people in the story the same empathy she lavished upon the chimps.
Overall though, this was an incisive and informative read, and eye-opening throughout.
Researchers teach a chimp named Nim sign language to find out whether non-humans can learn language
I started reading Nim Chimpsky around the time Travis the 200-pound chimp attacked and severely maimed a 55-year-old Connecticut woman. Based on the injuries (reported in the book) that the much smaller Nim was able to dish out to various trainers, the fact that the chimp's owner was able to keep the creature at all is unfathomable. But I digress. The story of Nim is an interesting one filled with plenty of surprises (some down right shocking) along the way. Author Elizabeth Hess explains the purpose of Project Nim. It (p 51) "...grew out of a desire to settle an old score between Skinner and Chomsky...Chomsky believed that the ability to develop language is not learned but inherent in humans and only humans. Skinner disagreed, arguing that language skills are acquired through training and could in principle be learned not just by humans but by other animals too." Hess follows Project Nim and the life of its prized chimp (who died at age 26 in 2000) mostly chronologically, adding in details about the many researchers involved in his training, caregivers, and especially the work at The Institute for Primate Studies in Norman Oklahoma. Notably there was a rather casual attitude towards relationships amongst chimp researchers that may explain a couple of the unconventional practices and research topics discussed in the book involving intimate chimp-human contact. The fact-filled Nim Chimpsky The Chimp Who Would Be Human contains more information on chimp-related research, especially involving sign language, than the average reader would ever need know. Also good: The Best American Science Writing series, Congo by Michael Crichton, and (for kids) Koko's Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson and Ronald H. Cohn.
