Customer Reviews

Nim, A Chimpanzee Who Learned Sign Language (Animal Intelligence Series)

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I read "Nim Chimpsky" before I read this book. I was so fascinated by the story of Nim, that I needed to read more about him, so I got a copy of this book. The best thing about this version of the story, is the point of view from witch it was written. It was written by Herbert Terrace himself, the man who started and supervised the project. Naturally, that gives this version of Nim's story a different point of view that "Nim Chimpsky" could not compare to. I preferred two parts of this book over "Nim Chimpsky", it had many more pictures, and explained what Nim's personality was like much better than Mrs. Hess's book did. However, this version gave a narrower overview of the entire life of Nim, partly because it was published before Nim's story was over.

The conclusion that Mr. Terrace comes to in this book, has another side to it the Mrs. Hess points out in her book. Herbert Terrace's final answer is that Nim was just mimicking his teachers signs, and that he did not understand the language at all. What is not mentioned, is the other side to this conclusion. That conclusion shocked everybody who worked with Nim, they somewhat mutually agreed that Nim did understand what he was signing. Also, when Nim was being abused in the LEMSIP research facility, Herbert Terrace himself suggested that Nim be brought into court, and asked via sign language, if he was happy there. To me, it sounds like Mr. Terrace did not fully agree with what he wrote in the book.

If you are considering which book to read first, you should definitely start with "Nim Chimpksy". Because of the publishing dates, "Nim" does not give the story of the full life of Nim, unlike Elizabeth Hess's book. Also, Mrs. Hess gives a better rounded picture of the project, and all of the people that worked with it. Personally, I preferred Elizabeth's writing style over Hebert's. After you read "Nim Chimpsky" however,you should definitely read this book. It perfectly sums up the rest of the story, and ties up many loose ends, and the different point of view is very refreshing. I would recomend that you read this book, but I would not pay much money for it. If you can rent it from a library, or buy it used, take that path. Despite my complaints, "Nim" is still an excellent book that every fan of Nim should read. It perfectly completes the other side of Nim's story.

My husband and I recently saw the documentary, "Project Nim," and were so emotional about the fate of Nim, that I had to read a book about him for more details. This book was a page turner for me. I read it in 2 days and passed it on to my daughter-in-law, who teaches ASL to deaf children in Mexico.
The research that the author did was absolutely meticulous. Her ability to transform those facts and emotions into words,is masterful! It's a must read for anyone who has a love for animals. It totally enlightened me about the medical research world, and has propelled me to learn more about animal sanctuaries.

A good scientific approach to teaching language to a chimp. The researchers painstakingly record and measure the animal's language skills to come up with a fair assesment of how limited chimpanze's really are in using sign language to communicate.