Customer Reviews

This Simian World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm surprised, albeit pleasantly, to see this book back in print. Day's musings on "human nature" focus on how our simian ancestry may have shaped our behavior patterns and outlook on life. This may have been a radical concept when first written in the 1920's, but it will be somewhat old hat for a modern student of evolutionary theory. Still, it is entertainingly written, especially in its imaginings of what, say, a civilization of intelligent cats or ants or birds might be like.

The first half of the book speculates on humanity's future if it had descended from cats, elephants, or cows. The second, and better, half is some of the saddest and best writing on the human condition produced in the 20th century. I never tire of reading this book and often give copies to friends. It is a joy to see it back in print.

It is better written and funnier than all of the top selling 'humor' books on the bestseller lists.

I thought I wrote a review of this book years ago. This Simian World (1920, 1936) by Clarence Day now has some new reprints or collections in which it can be purchased. There was a song and movie called Born Free that is a perfect match for the beginning of chapter 6, so I will quote a few lines.

Let us take the great cats.
They are free from this talent for slave-hood.
Stately beasts like the lion have more independence of mind
than the ants,--and a self-respect,
we may note, unknown to primates.

I first read this book as a teenager in the 1930s. I have never forgotten the paragraph that appears on page 91 of the book. It reads "It is possible that our race may be an accident in a meaningless universe living it's brief life uncared for on this dark, cooling star." That and the rest of this paragraph I regard as one of the most profound assessments of the human condition. In spite of the passage of 70 or more years I have never forgotten it and never will.