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Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man

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Although many people know who Jane Goodall is (sometimes confusing her with Dian Fossey), she has become a kind of myth. Films and books have portrayed her as having near-saintly status and a squeaky-clean character, which, though enormously charismatic, has been oversimplified in the media. This book shows her fascinating development from a dreamy child with an active imagination, a menagerie of pets, a talent for leadership in her self-started science club, and not much interest in school ("The Naturalist"), to the more familiar young chimpanzee researcher who fell under the spell of the intelligent apes of Gombe and who also had a series of romantic and professional adventures during a brilliant career ("The Scientist"), to the person who has inspired people all over the world to work to preserve the planet's animals and people, and to dream of a better future ("The Activist"). This book shows her funny, mischievous, thoughtful, and romantic sides, revealing a woman who struggled to make her way in a demanding field and who made enormous personal sacrifices in a great cause. The book is beautifully written, warm, lovingly detailed--a splendid portrait of a magnificent person.

The fact that not only Dr Jane Goodall, but also her family, friends and colleagues gave full cooperation to Dale Peterson in his authorship of this masterful biography, makes this heavily detailed work quite definitive (aside from, or read in addition to, those works written by Goodall herself), and a treat for those interested in her life and work. Dr Goodall's buoyant personality, enthusiasm, and dedication are rendered so clearly, especially in the descriptions of Jane's activism on behalf of chimpanzees, humans and the environment alike, that one cannot help but like her and feel impelled to action.

While remaining respectfully, appropriately, discreet (especially in describing her relationships with her first and second husbands), the personal details that are given are perfectly sufficient to understand how they shaped her life's course. Dr Goodall is, after all, very much a living, breathing person and therefore entitled to as much privacy as her celebrity will allow. Any more detail or airing of dirty laundry (if it existed) would have been tactless at worst and unnecessary at best. In all other areas - personal and professional - the details abound. However, I never considered such generosity of detail to be overwhelming or superfluous. It all served to create incredibly lucid impressions and pictures, and aided in understanding the subject all the better.

I have been reading about Jane Goodall and her work for many years and found all of the previously undisclosed information in this biography - her family history; the extent of the early financial difficulties in establishing and maintaining the Gombe Stream Research Centre; details about the kidnapping of the Gombe students in 1975, and the resulting ransom situation - all utterly fascinating. Upon finishing the last page of this excellent biography I was left feeling an even greater fondness for Dr Goodall than I had previously experienced by reading her many books and watching her television specials.

I also highly recommend Dr Goodall's "In the Shadow of Man"; "The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior" (if you can track down a copy!); and "Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe". In addition, I greatly enjoyed the two editions of Jane Goodall's autobiography in letters, edited and with chapter introductions by Dale Peterson: "Africa in my Blood" and "Beyond Innocence".

Louis Leakey put it best. Jane Goodall's work in Gombe prompted a complete revision in how humans view themselves. The subtitle could well stand as the lead for this book. In this exquisitely detailed biography, Dale Peterson depicts how Jane's personality led to a number of fresh insights about how the other animals live and how science learned new ways to study them. Coming out of a rather obscure and unpromising life, Jane Goodall rose to prominence by unusal methods. She applied a sense of caring, developed through attention to her many pets, to the study of chimpanzees. Lacking any preconceptions about what chimpanzees were "supposed" to do, she was able to learn what they actually did do. To say her approach disturbed many "establishment" researchers is putting it mildly. However, her other major attribute in support of her caring, is persistence.

There's a wonderful irony in the circumstances of Jane's becoming a foremost field primatologist. In an era when women reject being "objectified", it was Louis Leakey's roving eye and philandering habits that propelled Jane into the African bush. Having found evidence of early humans at Olduvai, he wanted some signs of evolutionary links. Chimpanzees, as Darwin had noted a century before, were the most likely indicator. Peterson points out that science was woefully lacking in data on apes. They're elusive and shy. It was Jane Goodall who demonstrated the value of "habituation" - long, enduring and subtle contact with her subjects - that allowed her to see what nobody else had before. Chimpanzees use tools, and they're effective hunters. It was the latter trait, the author notes, that helped Jane and her associates to begin formulating the structure of how chimpanzee society is formed.

Those findings led Jane Goodall to both challenge old, staid thinking about field research and chimpanzee life in particular. More, they resulted in Jane's methods and reports led her to become a major figure in science. Whatever Leakey's carnal ambitions toward Jane, he saw her worth. He propelled her through Cambridge's graduate programme almost by brute force as Peterson describes well. Yet, even that endorsement didn't make up for the work Jane had to produce to earn her degree. By that time, she was writing for National Geographic, producing journal papers and books. Oh, yes. She also got married and had a baby.

The richness of detail may deter a few readers of this book. It shouldn't. Jane Goodall, her diminutive stature and uncomplicated expression belie a powerful individual. Peterson isn't simply filling pages, he's building a picture of that individual. That image cannot be imparted with a few strokes of a broad brush. Jane Goodall, under the author's careful touch, isn't a flashy genius, but a dedicated hard worker who built up her own methods one bit at a time. The edifice is indeed imposing as the work led her on speaking tours, teaching assignments, and negotiations for funding, all while raising her family and running a research programme. It's not a simple life Peterson is relating and its complexity cannot be conveyed in a few words. Goodall is an imposing figure in science and the many details are but a start in doing her justice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

A thoroughly enjoyable and engaging account of the life of an amazing woman. Most of what I knew about Goodall before reading this book was based on the various myths that exist about her life -- I am glad to know that the truth is far more interesting and compelling than the myths! I highly recommend this to anyone interested in one of the most fascinating lives of the last century.

I do agree with another reviewer that Jane Goodall, The Woman who redefined Man is a wee bit longish. Okay, at 714 pages plus an index it is a long read. However, I disagree that the attention spent on her early life is the culprit. Nothing could be further from the truth. Peterson lavishes many pages to Goodall's upbringing; her strong and directing mother and her danger loving race car father, her love of competition and her love of detail are overly mundane I feel that they tell us a lot about the person that Goodall eventually becomes. What other person, woman or man in 1960 was willing to chuch everything to study monkeys?

Peterson obviously loves his subject. As a teenager I remember hearing stories about this young and attractive woman who had devoted her life to studying primate behavior. I didn't realize until much later that she had been sent by Leakey. I certainly didn't know until reading this book that Goodall had been trained as a secretary. How the fates have a way of stepping in and changing things....a truth that is delivered to any reader of this book.

Jane Goodall has contributed a huge body of information to the world by her devoted work and study. Reading Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man will impress you and awe you. A truly great read.

Jane Goodall was the first woman to live and observe primates in their natural African habitat. Mr. Peterson has written a biography that is long on her career and short on her personal life. Granted, her career WAS her life but she had two husbands and other lovers that are mentioned in passing. This may be due to the fact that the author is a friend of Ms. Goodall and collaborator/editor on three books. The messy stuff is passed over. Mr. Peterson covers well the significance of her work with chimpanzees and the controversies of her observations (which pitted a female pioneer against the male scientists of her era). Overall an interesting life, and as a first biography of Jane Goodall, the only place to read about her.

This comprehensive and compelling biography of Jane Goodall is truly inspiring. For decades Jane Goodall has valiantly and tirelessly traveled the planet imploring the world community to have reverence for the lives of humans and the animal kingdom. She is arguably the foremost advocate on behalf of primates and other endangered species. Her whole life has been dedicated to espousing universal peace and the kinship of all life. The brilliant and compassionate Jane Goodall merits a Nobel Peace Prize. Now !

Coverages of Jane Goodall and her work with chimps usually focus on her role as a scientist, her discoveries, and her contributions: now receive a better-rounded survey of her entire life in a title not for the casual reader. JANE GOODALL: THE WOMAN WHO REDEFINED MAN holds some 700 pages packed with insights bout her life, surveying her work, her ability to set radically new standards, and her private journey. Even if you're an avid Goodall fan who has read prior coverages, be prepared to be surprised at the depth here: JANE GOODALL is for any avid enthusiast who has always wanted more and is a top pick not just for public libraries, but for high school to college collections strong in science biography.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Jane Goodall has become quite famous as the woman who lived with the chimpanzees and made important contributions to the understanding of all primates, including man. And this book will give a much greater understanding of that work and its meaning. It is a well written book and the author was given complete acces to all of her writings, letters, papers and more. He also was able to contact various members of her family including her father, mother, an aunt, a nanny and more.

A full and serious biography of Jane Goodall is welcome, indeed probably overdue. Her scientific work (not without critism of course as the scientific community is very jealous of anyones success) has been ground breaking.

Perhaps even more important has been her advancement of the idea that women scientists could accomplish good science. She was born in 1934 England where these kinds of things simply were not done. She pioneered not only science but women in science, in fact women doing almost anything.

Perhaps my favorite quote comes from her seventieth birthday. Someone asked:

'What's the secret of your youth?'
'There's so much to do.'

Dale Peterson has written a great book about a great woman. The book is long, I admit, but interesting from page to page. The book clearly reflects how Jane Goodall has first ventured into Africa, made friends with the chimpanzees, and then developed an accurate sense of humanity. I had read this book after reading Jane Goodall's REASON FOR HOPE, and Dale Peterson describes her life almost like she herself describes it in her book. An example: Jane Goodall had a very happy marriage with her second husband, Derek, and was badly hurt by his long illness and death. As I stated in a review of REASON FOR HOPE, Jane Goodall is an excellent humanist and merits the Nobel Peace Prize.