Customer Reviews

Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Elizabeth Hess's "Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human" is simply put, one of the most entertaining, well-written biographies that I can recall. That its subject happens to be a precocious, temperamental, but lovable chimpanzee is quickly forgotten as I turned page after page.
"Nim Chimpsky" was born in unusual circumstances: he was plucked when he was days old to participate in a scientific study of whether chimps could acquire language. His very name was a clever rebuke to linguist Noam Chomsky, who famously declared that language was a uniquely human ability. Columbia University professor Herb Terrace put Nim in a human home, where he slept in a bed with his human "mother" Stephanie LaFarge, learned how to smoke cigarettes, and was taught American Sign Language for hours a day in a university classroom. Nim soon could not wake up without a cup of coffee and brought tissues to his human mother when she cried.
"Project Nim" started off promisingly enough, as Nim bonded quickly and easily with humans, and learned many signs. But the project soon went awry. Funding was a perpetual issue, as was finding caretakers for Nim as he got older, less pliant, and more dangerous. (Adult chimps are very powerful and easily overpower humans.) Then there was the issue that although Nim's ability to communicate with humans was unquestioned, Terrace was unconvinced that Nim actually had the skills to learn language. He noticed that Nim never was able to form sentences the "human" way. Terrace finally concluded that Nim was an accomplished mimic. At the ripe old age of 5, Nim was sent back to his "roots" in an Oklahoma chimp farm, and then sold to a biomedical laboratory before Terrace, some animal activists, as well as Nim's former caretakers protested. Nim spent his last years in a retirement farm of sorts for primates, and died unexpectedly at the age of 26.
Hess clearly has some disdain for the haphazard and unorganized way "Project Nim" was run, as well as the researchers who seemed to care more about academic one-upmanship that the well-being of Nim. Yet her book has none of the stridency and self-righteousness that would accompany an "animal rights" polemic. The book is remarkably well-written, with its characters (both human and chimp) practically leaping off the page. Hess has compassion for Nim's fate, but she doesn't demonize most of the humans in Nim's life, not even Herb Terrace. The one exception is William Lemmon, who ran the Oklahoma "chimp farm" where Nim was born and controlled his animals with a cattle prod. In 1982 he heartlessly sold his chimps to biomedical laboratories, Nim included. Some things have to be read to be believed. For instance, Lemmon apparently placed several chimps in homes and the chimps developed sexual relationships with their owners! Nim also requested joints and smoked up with his caretakers. Hess recounts all of this with a matter-of-factness and refusal to sentimentalize or preach that is refreshing.
As Nim grew older he became more difficult. He bit his handlers and destroyed property, but most people who encountered Nim had fond memories. He was charming and funny, and undeniably intelligent, language or no language skills. In other words, he's an enormously likable biographical subject, and Hess has produced a biography that does this coffee-loving chimp justice.
p.s. Almost as fascinating as the book itself are Hess's copious endnotes, which flesh out of the book with further details.

This book is a wonderful biography of Nim, a signing chimp, but it also serves as a study of the sometimes blurred boundaries between what it means to be an "animal" and what it means to be human. Elizabeth Hess has done an extraordinary job of unraveling Nim's story and presenting it in a lucid and compelling manner. She makes the story, the science, and the learnings from Nim's life accessible to the reader.

To keep this short and sweet, I received this book in the mail yesterday morning and finished all 300+ pages by last night. I could not put it down. It really touched my soul. I always considered myself an animal lover, but after reading this tragic story there is no doubt in my mind that animals really do have personalities, emotions and souls. Shame on people who treat them as if they were worthless and disposable. Although I found myself crying during various chapters in the book, I am so glad I read it because it really opened my eyes. It makes me want to get involved in animal rights! What a great tribute to such a wonderful soul that was Nim Chimpsky.

It appears that Ms. Hess failed to check with the all participants of Project Nim for accuracy. The information about Delafield is both inaccurate and the time frame of those in the house is terribly incorrect. The initial move involved 4 people, Laura, Walter, Amy, and Andrea (who is never mentioned). The author states: "Terrace hired Amy Schachter and Walter Benesch (this reviewer), a couple who had occasionally worked with Nim over the past year and a half. Terrace invited them to move into Delafield, where they would share a bedroom (120)." This is not only false but liable. I was (a volunteer - not hired) moved into the room over the kitchen and Amy moved into a room on the 3rd floor. They were not a couple and did not meet each other until shortly before the move to Delafield. She also has the incorrect age for me. I worked as a youth service worker for the City full time and did not have his degree in social work as stated. I became involved in the project through his graduate work in anthropology, when Ralph Holloway referred him to Terrace. When I left the project it was to obtain a degree in social work.

Walter is described as "had hard work to keep ahead of the chimp." That is not so. Hess says that "Benesch would dutifully replace it (locks) with a new and more complex system." He never replaced a single lock. Likewise he never experienced the throwing of feces and other extreme behavior described while Nim was a Delafield with the one exception of the tantrum described below.

On page 124, she has Bob Johnson living in Delafield at the same time as Benesch. Again this is false information. Bob did not move in until Walter had left for more graduate work at Boston University. It appears the author did not read Dr. Terrace's book about the Sunday mornings where Walter (not Bob as he was not in Delafield at this time) would create pancake receipts together. When Walter left the project, Nim would not eat the plain pancakes others fixed since they lacked the spices and combination of flours and fruit Nim and I would put into the batter. We actually wrote (but never published) a pancake cookbook for children with the receipts Nim made, with his rating of each.

The story about Nim being dragged "into a small upstairs kitchen on the human side of the house. Benesch stayed with Nim as Tynan, outside locked the door (page 156-7)" is pure fictionalization of what actually happen. Tynan was not in the house at the time. Nim escaped into the upstairs common room that Laura and Amy would use. Yes, Walter was locked in while Nim had his tantrum. Likewise, he could not have "Called Tynan for help" since Tynan was not in the house at the time. It was Laura that called Walter for help. The rest of what is described on the following pages is again filled with half truths and a lot of misinformation.

Based upon reading the episode in which I was involved with Nim and how inaccurate it is, I have to raise serious doubts about the remainder of the book. Although I was very happy to find out about what happen to Nim after Delafield, the inaccuracies are so great it puts the remainder of the book in serious question.

One of the real tragedies of Nim Chimpsky is that he and the other chimps profiled in the book have more intelligence, honesty, and "humanity" than the so-called scientists entrusted with their care. What an indictment--not only of medical testing and laboratories who are now the whipping boys of animal activists--but of the "social" scientists who believed that their experiments were any less traumatic or inhumane for the chimps than the biologists with their Hepatitis C vaccines! Out of all of the psychologists, students, and volunteers in Project Nim, only a hand full displayed the loyalty, perservance, compassion, and integrity of Nim and his fellow chimps. This book calls into question all of our preconceived notions of what species is the most advanced and enlightened. My money is on the chimps.

This is a must read for anyone interested in the complexities of species to species interaction. Elizabeth Hess looks deeply into the life of a chimp who was brought into the home of a Columbia professor to learn if human-like language skills could be acquired by the chimp if raised as a person. This is a fascinating story and a thought provoking one.

This book was a disappointment. I was hoping for a lot more about who Nim was and what he was like. Instead, the book was mostly about the politics of his life and the people around him. Many references were made to how much everybody loved him, but the few vignettes about his "doings" were such that he seemed rather an awful, destructive animal. I imagine there was much that was loveable about him; that's why I bought the book. But he was presented almost exclusively as an out-of-control, manipulative, extremely strong and destructive beast. I'm sure he was much, much more than that, and I was disappointed not to get to read about his other attributes.

I've read three animal language books recently -- this book, Next of Kin by Roger Fouts, and Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg. This was easily the weakest of the bunch. The subject matter was just as interesting, but the quality of the writing is below average, in my opinion. I vastly preferred the Fouts book to this one.

A thought-provoking, moving account of Columbia professor Herbert Terrace's attempt to teach a chimpanzee, Nim Chimpsky, American Sign Language. Among other things, this compellingly written account illustrates humanity's casual cruelty toward animals, even when the animal is as human-like as the chimpanzee. Lovingly raised as a human child for purposes of the research, Nim was cast aside once the experiment was deemed a failure. Even the most intelligent of Nim's human handlers had failed to think through the ethical implications of raising an intelligent, wild creature as a human being, or thought much about Nim's intense emotional life and connections to human beings. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone with an interest in primates, human linguistics, animal rights, or, especially, our responsibilities toward the "dumb" animals that share the planet with us.

This was an interesting and informative read but I agree with the reviewer who wanted more about Nim and less about his handlers. This was very gossipy, as much about the very fallible human beings who worked with Nim - their rivalries, their romances, their sex lives, as it was about Nim and his chimpanzee companions. That, in its way was fascinating, albeit somewhat depressing as human ambition & passions seemed so often to trump thoughtful consideration of the chimpanzees' feelings and well being. Although I enjoyed the book and learned a great deal from it I preferred NEXT OF KIN by Roger Fouts and I recommend it to all readers interested in the subject.