Almost Chimpanzee

[An] engrossing new book . . . like something out of Beckett, or maybe the Marx Brothers . . . deeply skeptical. --Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times

It has been years, decades really, since researchers worried about idealizing chimpanzees or emphasizing their similarities to ourselves. The shift is largely credited to the fieldwork and educational activism of another pioneering scientist, Jane Goodall. Indeed, as Jon Cohen points out in his gently provocative new book, Almost Chimpanzee, the conservation-minded Goodall deliberately dwelled on people-parallels. --Deborah Bloom, The Washington Post

Almost Chimpanzee is an extraordinary journey into a world of great interest but--until now--little understanding. An astute observer and engaging writer on complex issues at the intersection of science and society, Cohen summons his prodigious talents in this examination of chimpanzee research and conservation. For too long, Cohen persuasively argues, chimpanzees have been presented and widely understood as 'almost human, ' analogues worthy of attention and protection by virtue of their similarities to us. In this wide-ranging synthesis of genetics, epidemiology, anthropology, history, and the sociology of science, Cohen demonstrates how much we can learn about chimpanzees--and ourselves--by exploring their unique qualities. --Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, Partners In Health, Harvard Medical School

How human are chimpanzees? Jon Cohen, in his well-written and carefully argued report, provides an up-to-date examination of the question. The bottom line is that we are far from understanding chimp/human relationships, but Almost Chimpanzee is a fascinating look at how investigators are probing the unknowns and searching for definitive answers. --David Baltimore, Nobel Laureate and professor at the California Institute of Technology

It's often been said that we can look into a chimpanzee's eyes and see ourselves. Well . . . almost. And it's that very big almost that Jon Cohen so tenaciously explores in this extraordinary scientific odyssey. There are important matters at hand here--such as the uniqueness of speech and the origins of bipedalism--but Almost Chimpanzee is far from being a cold analysis. To get at the truth, Cohen clomps through malarial jungles, travels in an RV with a baby orangutan, even handles fresh chimp sperm. The result is world-class science writing that is also a rollicking adventure story--one that takes us to the ends of the earth and to the margins of our species. --Hampton Sides, editor-at-large at Outside magazine and bestselling author of Hellhound On His Trail

A dazzling look at a field in which no two scientists seem to agree on what makes us either human, animal, or both. Jon Cohen has a gift for bringing this issue to life: he gives our species its due without losing respect for our fellow evolutionary travelers, the apes. --Frans de Waal, author of The Age of Empathy

Precious animals are rapidly disappearing, victimized by hunters, collectors, and habitat encroachment. Among them, chimpanzees have earned a special place in humanity's imagination because we look in their eyes and see ourselves. Jon Cohen has done a magnificent, masterful job of showing us why chimps are not like humans, yet--or because of the differences--they must be saved, in the wild. Controversial? You bet. But it's high time humanity takes responsibility for both its sins: Killing species with the 'kindness' of making them us and through outright ruthless slaughter. --Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance

How are we different from chimps? That's the question that Cohen sets out to answer in his absorbing account of current chimpanzee research. Too often, Cohen argues, scientists have focused on the similarity between the two species, when it is in fact an understanding of our differences that can reveal 'what, exactly, it means to be human. --Publishers Weekly

Jon Cohen is the author of Shots in the Dark and Coming to Term. He is a correspondent at the internationally renowned Science magazine and has also written for The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Discover, Smithsonian, and Slate. He lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California.