Customer Reviews

The Intimate Ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Species

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I strongly encourage anyone who wants to know more about the social life of orangutans - both wild and captive - to pick up this book. It is simply brilliant.

I've spent the last couple of years learning about these magnificent animals, and Shawn's insights -- garnered from conversations with a veritable "who's who" of orangutan researchers and caregivers -- are entertaining and enlightening. There are a lot of "aha!" moments in the book, and I feel like I am emotionally connecting to the individual orangutans. (Surely, Princess would sit down with me too???)... But just as intriguing are Shawn's insights into the scientists and zookeepers who have contributed so much to our knowledge and to the efforts to save orangutans from extinction. Reading Shawn, I finally have a glimmer of understanding about the jealousies and the disagreements that plague the world of orangutan conservation. He also lets us see the collaborations and sharing.

As if all of this wasn't enough, we are lucky that Shawn also has a wonderful writing style. At times poetic, and other times delightfully sardonic, Shawn's literary ability makes a terrific read all the more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, his knack for telling the truth leaves us with the possibility -- no, the probability -- that orangutans are heading for extinction unless (as has become increasingly unlikely) society does a 180 and takes drastic action to save Indonesian and Malaysian rainforests. No cheery "we are all working together to save the orangutans" for this book, and I'm glad to see it. We need to face reality, and Shawn helps the reader do that.

I've added "The Intimate Ape" to two other books -- "Thinkers of the Jungle" and "Wizards of the Rainforest" -- as "must read" books for anyone interested in orangutans or, indeed, in saying goodbye to them. "When you say good-bye, you think of the sweet moments," Shawn writes. This book gives us those moments.

Disappointingly, this is not a book about orangutans, but a book about the people who study orangutans. The author, although passionate about his subject, is not a scientist or even a particularly good observer of apes on his travels. Instead, he travels the world to talk to the people who do or have in the past worked with apes, either in captivity or in the wild. The result is third person accounts of interactions with orangs or more broadly with the jungle itself. It's easy to see that the author admires these "do-ers", but does little himself, other than recount biographies and slip in little diatribes about human "savages" and the decline of the world as we know it. In addition, I felt that the author could have benefitted from more vigorous editing and a professional photographer.(I reviewed an advanced reading copy.)

The orangutan is fast disappearing, its forests eaten up by our voracious appetite for land and timber. Only tens of thousands survive in the wild, and we are discovering the amazing intelligence of this great ape just as it seems poised on the verge of extinction. This is a remarkable book that not only looks at the orangutan but at the unusual individuals who have dedicated their lives to their study and protection - people like John MacKinnon, who "became part of the forests of Borneo and Sumatra... slept in the jungle and wrote about the hum of frogs and crickets". People like Willie Smits - the man who has regrown rainforest from nothing to house the orangutans he rescued. People like Birut' Galdikas, "our Lady of the Forests", who first brought reports to the world of the real nature of the orangutan. Thompson tracks them down, gets through the barriers, gets under their skins. Reading "The Intimate Ape" I felt that I knew people better, not just in the tragic destruction of the greedy, but also in the selfless and scientific devotion - the strengths and the weeknesses - of those that care about these close cousins of ours. Shawn Thompson keeps it personal, sharing his own reflections as he travels slowly upstream in Borneo, with illegally logged timber floating down past him. He takes a good photo too, and the book has a well-chosen selection. Highly recommended, of course, for anyone interested in really knowing more abut the work of saving the orangutan and its rich forests, but also for anyone who wants a well-written and insightful read about what is happening in an unwatched corner of our world.

Shawn Thompson has a winner on his hands. This recently released book was worth all of the time and travel spent preparing for it. The fact that Thompson took a period of years to collect his information, as well as his own personal thoughts, before writing is such a strong point. This wasn't a hurriedly done visit to the orangutans' habitat, a quick meeting/interview with some key people in orangutan conservation....no, it was a compilation of visits and talks and travels, and that is what provides the intimacy. If you are interested in orangutans and their survival, this is a book to put on your list. As Thompson travelled the muddy rivers through Indonesia in his klotok, he shares his personal thoughts, even shares his family with the reader. Thompson recalls interviews and discussions with key people involved in orangutan conservation...I felt like I was riding around with Thompson and Willie Smits, personally feeling the strong presence and unpredictability of Smits. And sitting on the dock at Tanjung Puting with Birute Galdikas, trying to figure out my own feelings about her as the two conversed at different times over the years. The conversations with Thompson and his subjects are so complex and thorough, you become a part of it. The relationship of Gary Shapiro and the orangutan Princess as described by Thompson becomes easy to enter. This is an extraordinary look at the red apes and the people committed to saving them. You feel as one with the orangutan. You feel as one with Thompson and his subjects. You feel as one with Thompson and his son and the man steering the klotok with his feet. How else could you describe or define intimacy? The orangutans have a new hero in their corner.

I work at the zoo with the Apes. I am always looking for something on DVD or in book form to donate for our silent auction every year.

It is one of the most insightful books I've red in along time. Not only you learn about our wonderful cousins the orangutans, but the author's ability to transport you through his personal journey in search of the orangutan and the people who had dedicated their lives to protect, help, rescue and rehabilitate these great Apes. Every person in this planet should read The Intimate Ape at least once.

Shawn's book The Intimate Ape is incredible. It is a significant, memorable work and an entertaining, heartfelt and compelling read. I feel my review cannot live up to the book. If you want to find out more about the inner spirit or the egos of individual orang utans and the strong individuals who feel each and every orang utan is worth fighting for, this is the book for you. If you want to immerse yourself in the jungle habitats of Borneo it is the book for you. Please read it for yourself and then recommend it to others if you enjoy it like me.

The book is not a romanticised view of the orang utans. They come with warts and all, as do the humans who interact or try to interact with them. Shawn Thompson presents his intimate reflections, gathered over some years, in a vivid, lively and engaging narrative which is often moving in the extreme. Part of the charm is that he is not a full time conservationist or scientific researcher. He seems rather to be like you or me and pretends to be no more than the warm-hearted, respectful journalist/writer/observer that he is.

Shawn truly gives us an intimate look into the world of different and individual orang utans, captive and wild, and leaves us definitely wanting more. He also leaves us, without being sanctimonious or didactic, acutely aware of the dire plight of the orang utan through our human domination of this planet and our destruction of the rain forest, the orang utans' habitat. The book reveals the total magic of the orang utan and how they inspire and change the people who interact with them. You feel the orang utans and the people as the complete individuals that they are. The characteristics thoughtful, gentle, devious, scheming, mischievous, dignified, wild, aggressive, quiet, contemplative, sensitive, aware, curious, bullying, intelligent, confident, serene, kind, determined, dominant, charismatic, humbling, awe-inspiring can be applied equally to humans or orang utans in this narrative.

I found it very poignant when, towards the end of the book, Sean wrote that the orang utans gave him an idea of something good in life worth saving but that sadly the plight of the orang utans themselves has not improved. Sean made me realise that we do not just want to be left with memories of orang utans when we have only explored a fraction of their worth. The book gives a tantalising glimpse into something wonderful but which we could lose all too soon.