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3.0
Siebert has been traveling the world learning about animal personalities and how much smarter/more thoughtful/more emotional they are than we thought. The main focus of the book is on primates and their struggles after they have been used as circus performers or actors or research subjects. There is also interesting information about animal trials throughout history (from flies to rats to pigs to elephants) and how wars and poaching in Africa affect elephants there. Siebert tells the story of his travels while spending the night sitting in front of the cage of Roger, a chimp who has never been in the wild and now resides in a top-notch primate retirement facility in Florida. He and Roger stare at each other for hours and Siebert tells stories of his travels and his mindset while always returning to the present moment with Roger.
This book didn't engage me at first. I was a little confused by Siebert's laser-like focus on Roger and their relationship and more interested in the stories of Siebert's travels all over the world. The ending made the Roger focus make more sense, but I still was a little confused by Siebert. He seemed a little depressed, and occasionally suicidal (mentioning things like wishing that when he touched Roger, Roger would just kill him and end it all that way). I didn't really understand his need to get in touch with his inner chimp, no matter the cost. I was very interested in the science here though, as well as in Siebert's observations about what he has seen animals be capable of (as opposed to his internal reflections).
Themes: animal sentience, animal rights, animal personality, evolution, human/primate similarities, animal intelligence, science, road-side zoos, some philosophical discussion of the treatment of animals
This book didn't engage me at first. I was a little confused by Siebert's laser-like focus on Roger and their relationship and more interested in the stories of Siebert's travels all over the world. The ending made the Roger focus make more sense, but I still was a little confused by Siebert. He seemed a little depressed, and occasionally suicidal (mentioning things like wishing that when he touched Roger, Roger would just kill him and end it all that way). I didn't really understand his need to get in touch with his inner chimp, no matter the cost. I was very interested in the science here though, as well as in Siebert's observations about what he has seen animals be capable of (as opposed to his internal reflections).
Themes: animal sentience, animal rights, animal personality, evolution, human/primate similarities, animal intelligence, science, road-side zoos, some philosophical discussion of the treatment of animals
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