I didn’t notice the section of photographs at the back of the book until I finished it, and found it strange to see the images of animals who I felt I knew as individuals. I found myself looking at them at the portrait of Yeroen, for example, as one looks at the photographs in a biography. I really loved was the photograph of adopted baby Roosje being bottle-fed by Kuif, since that story was one of my favorite stories in this entertaining and enlightening book.

I just visited my library’s catalog and placed requests for some of Frans de Waal’s other books, including My Family Album: Thirty Years of Primate Photography, from which these photographs were taken.

Links:

• Scientists’ Nightstand: Frans de Waal — A brief profile focusing on what a scientist is currently reading
• ITConversations: Human Nature — (Frans de Waal: Comparative Primatologist)
  Audio from de Waal’s presentation at PopTech
• NPR: Getting in Touch with the Inner Ape — ” World-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal talks about his new book Our Inner Ape. From conflict resolution to altruism, violence and sex, how much do humans have in common with our nearest primate relatives?”

This is a fascinating, sometimes disturbing, look at the world of personality tests and how they are used. The author’s approach is generally historical and personal, and sometimes gossipy, showing how tests like the Rorschach inkblots, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Myers-Briggs, and other tests were developed, how they became popular, and why their accuracy and validity is open to question (to say the least.) This book is at least as interesting in terms of cultural history as it is in terms of public policy.