The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal

Great service.The Amazon.com is the best library in the world ( even for French and German languages). The book is very controversial, but interesting. I believe not in Darwin neither in old semitic books histories, however, since the psychology has a long, long way before it becomes a science, studying the behavioral patterns of the animals is the only accessible way to understand a bit our own nature. Please be aware, that the author keeps a complete silence about the human mental world, which represents not a less tangible reality for our deeds than the real world where we struggle for physical survival. Indeed, only the human can (and often do) accept great sufferences and death for imagined reasons, the reasons whose roots are not in the rational and biological but in the irrational, imagined, inspired, sacredly revealed... Strange enough that a such an eminant classical scholar as Walter Burkert in his CREATION OF THE SACRED holds the same position, asserting that everything, even the sacred is explainable by the scientific approach. It reminds me a little a philosophy of shop-keepers : ... great and beautiful things are hard to acquire and very distant, then keep yourself close to the reality: a piece of bread, warm shelter and healthy spouse... In other words " The thruth is good but the happiness is better".Nevertheless, this work is strongly recommended for its cristal clear reasoning, lucide language and very rich observation material.

I have fond memories of this book. It was first published in 1967 and I read it pretty young; I'd have to reckon it among the more powerful influences of my youth. Controversial or not, there's something profoundly liberating about stepping back and looking at humankind as one species among others.And actually, it's still a darned good book. As Stephen Gaskin remarks somewhere in _This Season's People_, human beings are so intelligent and conscious that it's a matter of controversy whether we're the lowest of the angels or the highest of the primates. Well, the controversy hasn't dissipated since this book was written, but it's still every bit as important for us to recognize and accept the reality of our animal nature.For we _do_ have such a nature, no matter what view of evolution and/or creation we buy into. Evolutionary anthropologist Desmond Morris tends to treat us as though we have _only_ such a nature, as though our being an advanced ape is automatically at odds with our also being a fallen angel. That may or may not be true; I have my opinions on the subject, and you probably have yours.But we don't need to settle that issue in order to find this book immensely valuable. The most solid evidence we have continues to confirm that we have a close genetic kinship with the other primates and that, biologically, we are best treated as primates ourselves. Whatever else may be true of us, this much is about as close as anything in science ever comes to fully established fact.We can disagree about the precise mechanisms of evolution as much as we like; we can disagree about how much of our nature is really accounted for by this or that theory of evolution; but the one fact we can't get around on _any_ account is that as a matter of biology, we _are_ naked apes. We may be more than animals, but we are not less.That's what makes Morris's account so valuable. There just isn't a lot of question that our evolutionary history has shaped us to a very great degree, and Morris is awfully good at explaining how and why this is so. There may be details in need of modification -- after all, evolutionary theory hasn't stood still for the past thirty-five years and some of Morris's own theories were far from universal even then -- but the overall structure is sound.It's no surprise, of course, that this book was so controversial when it was first published; I'm not sure it would be all that much less controversial if it were published for the first time today. But boy, if you want to get a clear sense of what it _means_ for human beings to be primates, this is a great place to acquire it.And contrary to what your initial intuition may be, it _especially_ belongs on the reading list of folks who think human beings have a spiritual side too. Nobody ever made much spiritual advance by denying the hard facts of his or her biological nature and pretending to be a disembodied spirit.

This book is great to read. Whether you believe what's been written or not, not-so-religious people can't deny evolution. It's as simple as 1+1=2 and that's how this book has been written.You believe what I just said? Grab a copy of the book now!Don't believe me? Good, as I don't buy into everything that has been said as well. But I do think it's important that the more views you have, the better your fundamentent for judgement is. This book certainly has some very strong points and may sound familiar to you.So, just with psychology and Dr. Phil, don't believe everything that's being said, but make up your own mind. Maybe this book will be 'a changing day in your life...'.

Desmond Morris wrote this book in 1967 and it is as relevant today as it was then. We are treated to a fascinating, revealing, serious study of human ecology interlaced with humor and insight that only a first rate, dedicated zoologist could provide. Chapters cover our human peculiarities of origin, sex, anatomy, child rearing, exploration/innovation, fighting, feeding, comfort; relations to all other animals and environment; population management or rather, our serious lack of it; and amazingly, even that special peculiarity of humans- language, religion, politics and economics along with insights into the serious lack of efficacy in our endeavors.This is a true, bare to the bones, scientifically detached observation of the human animal and makes no apologies for "exposing" us in our varied and peculiar habits. An excellent eye-opening read, truly educational and enlightening!For those who are interested in biology, sociobiology, ecology, etc., will no doubt enjoy what can be seen as a large expansion on Morris' theme in the book: "Mammal in the Mirror" by the daughter and father science team of David and Ilona Barrash. It is truly off-the-charts for a study of us quirky humans.

My scrambled thoughts written in a cohesive way.

Loved it

Loved the book and it's writing. Great for feeding your intellect.The quality of the paperback received was good.

um classico com 50 anos de publicação, explica com clareza muitos pontos interessantes da nossa evolução, e explica nosso comportamento atual. sem tabus ou vergonha de detalhar processos naturais biológicos que todos temos. recomendo muito.

i read this twice as i wanted to extract everything on this book, some will catch it from the first read others like me from the second but dont know if it should have more reads than that , i mean is super easy to read and understand i think i just wanted more haha, love the subject love the approach to undesrtand what are we humans

Mit schonungsloser, fast radikaler Ehrlichkeit und Klarheit werden Euphemismen und Romantisierungen unserer Spezies aus dem Weg geräumt. Die zoologische Sicht reduziert das menschliche Verhalten präzise auf seinen Kern, um tabuisierte Fakten und verborgene Zusammenhänge aufzuzeigen und rational zu erklären. Auch heute noch eines der besten Bücher zu diesem Thema.