Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind

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Wiley, Sep 28, 1996 - Nature - 336 pages
The remarkable story of a "talking" chimp, a leading scientist, and the profound insights they have uncovered about our species

He has been featured in cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic, and has been the subject of a "NOVA" documentary. He is directly responsible for discoveries that have forced the scientific community to recast its thinking about the nature of the mind and the origins of language. He is Kanzi, an extraordinary bonobo chimpanzee who has overturned the idea that symbolic language is unique to our species. This is the moving story of how Kanzi learned to converse with humans and the profound lessons he has taught us about our animal cousins, and ourselves.

". . . The underlying thesis is informative and well argued . . . Savage-Rumbaugh's results are impressive." — The Washington Post

"This popular, absorbing, and controversial account is recommended." — Library Journal

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Contents

On a Beach in Portugal
1
The Meaning of Words
33
Talking to Each Other
59
Copyright

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About the author (1996)

SUE SAVAGE-RUMBAUGH, Ph.D., is one of the world's leading ape-language researchers. She is an Associate Professor of Biology at Georgia State University and Associate Research Professor at Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University.

ROGER LEWIN is an award-winning writer and author of twelve books, including the bestselling Origins, which he coauthored with Richard Leakey.

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