Customer Reviews

The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

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

 

 

Hannah Holmes is a writer with so much wit and zip that you forget you're reading about biology. TWDA is basically a field guide to the human animal. We are amazing, highly domesticated animals, of course, with huge brains and the unique ability to both regret the past and project the future--but so much ELSE of what we are results from a ferocious life wish, i.e., biological survival. This book is packed with astonishing revelations about why and how we mate, how we perceive the world around us(many male/female differences there), the meaning of our long life spans, the implications of physical quirks such as extra-long index fingers, and countless other facts the author has gleaned from observation, study, and voluminous reading. There's a jewel on every page, and the author herself is a jewel, too, like the brainiest, funniest, friendliest teacher you had back in high school.

Surrounded by our electrified homes and cities, our space programs and wars, music and art, it's pretty easy to forget we are animals, no more unique than any other on the planet.

Science writer Holmes ("Suburban Safari," "The Secret Life of Dust") sets out to remedy this, structuring her entertaining and edifying book around a field-guide fact sheet for the human animal: physical description, perception, range, diet, reproduction, predators, etc.

She opens each chapter with a close examination of the species sample -- herself. Measuring herself and her genetic legacy against the range for her species, she segues into gender and cultural differences and then embarks on comparisons with other creatures.

She looks at the advantages our various physical peculiarities confer, and the price we pay. Running, for instance. We may not be the fastest animal, but few creatures can match our stamina. Researchers have come up with 26 anatomical features that make us "the running ape," including a neck untethered from the shoulders and muscles that prevent the head from bouncing, as well as our "zillions" of sweat glands and springy tendons. We pay for this exceptional ability with back pain and wonky knees.

While the biological examination gives us much to admire, the social aspects of the human animal are particularly entertaining, from altruism (usually for selfish motives) to aggression to the benefits of cheating on a mate.

Studies of birds, prairie dogs and fruit flies have shown the fruit of promiscuity to be more robust. And, "A fascinating study of birds' brain sizes and cheating rates concluded that those species with the cheaten'ist females are also the species with the brainiest females, presumably because those females who can outwit males raise the most fit broods."

Reproduction, as always, provides tons of fun. From the sticky issue of monogamy to the factors in choosing a mate and the reasons for anytime receptivity, Holmes enthusiastically explores the chemistry, evolutionary advantages and theories surrounding an activity that few other creatures regard as fun (dolphins and bonobos excepted).

And then there are the factoids. Political ideology, for instance, is largely hard-wired into our genetics. Most people will tell three lies in 10 minutes while killing time in a waiting room. And people have an easier time reading emotions on the left side of the face.

Many of the many studies Holmes cites (she even includes dubious studies -- and usually cites the problems) will be familiar to those who savor popular science books as a regular part of the reading diet. Some will be new. But it hardly matters. Holmes' approach is so novel, thorough and entertaining, anyone who's at all interested in the human animal -- where it came from and where it's going (yikes!) -- will find the book fascinating.

Length:: 5:52 Mins

Hi, this is Joanne, a bioengineering instructor at the University of Illinois. I read science books and review them. See more at my youtube site http://www.youtube.com/user/joannelovesscience

Hannah Holmes, the great science writer, tells us all about the human as a species. Fun, fact-filled and fascinating! Don't forget to count how many times I say "um". It was this video or the one with bad lighting, what a choice....

Sorry, that I have to write something negative, but I believe it will help out others. I have purchased the book after reading all the great reviews. What a disappointment! Too much of "me, me, me" and not enough of interesting facts that can grab and sustain your attention. Could not finish the book - it was too boring and less scientific that I would want it to be. I prefer books that are full of new scientific research but also fun. This book lacks in both categories. However, I think people who like "light" nonfiction might find it enjoyable.

Hannah Holmes has written a wonderful book about us human animals. Her mastery of the biology, anthropology, and evolutionary psychology of humans is mind-boggling. She connects the dots between far-flung facts with rare insight and style. The writing is entertaining and hip. Anyone interested in behavioral science can learn something new. This would make an excellent textbook in courses dealing with the biological and evolutionary bases of human behavior.

The Naked Ape has now been successfully dressed by Hannah Holmes: Two of her observations in the book got my neurons firing:

1. The propensity of humans to return to their place of origin to die (dead or alive). I gladly escaped far away from the place of my birth and have been around some, but in the unlikely event that my wife passes before me, the For Sale signs may be up before the funeral ends. Hope this is not a prognostication for the near term.

2. I've always wondered why music is universally hard-wired into our brains- i.e., all children move and dance when hearing an upbeat tune. Teenagers listen to music constantly. As Hannah observes, perhaps music originated as a preferred way to communicate with the infant, then expanded for use in mating, bonding, warfare, etc. Music as a precursor to language-extremely interesting stuff.

Very enjoyable writing style. Thanks.

Peter F. Bergeron Sr.

Suwanee, Georgia

"The Well-Dressed Ape" is a delight. I was privileged to interview Hannah Holmes on my feature, "Apes Update," this morning on my music and interview radio show on WPKN, 89.5FM. She is witty, literate, and a font of minutiae about humans and animals. The book will make you stop and ponder all the fine points of your being, and look a little deeper into your oddities and preferences. I was also pleased to see a story on Hannah on the front page of today's "Homes" section in the NY Times.

If you would like to know more about the human animal, its structure and function, capabilities, limitations, and peculiarities - this is the book for you! (Unless you are a professional zoologist, anthropologist, or other similar expert). It was only after I had read this book and looked up Hannah Holmes' blog that I realised she was also the author of "The Secret Life of Dust" - another superb non-fiction book that I had read, thoroughly enjoyed, and still remembered after many years.

"The Well-Dressed Ape" doesn't pretend to be a scientific textbook, although it is extremely well researched and documented (the "Selected References" section at the end runs to 15 pages, and could have been a lot longer if it weren't so select). Hannah Holmes is a freelance writer, who doesn't have a science degree but (much better) has actually "been there and done that". She has spent periods in the Gobi Desert, the jungles of Madagascar, the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, and has piloted the Alvin submarine around "black smokers" a mile and a half under the ocean. Most important of all, she has a lively curiosity and a properly rigorous scientific attitude to research. Consequently, she can present scientific facts in a way that makes them appealingly understandable and fascinating to everyone. Rather like David Attenborough's wildlife videos, in fact.

In "The Well-Dressed Ape" (an obvious joking reference to Desmond Morris' famous book "The Naked Ape") Ms Holmes sets out to provide an introduction to the natural history of Homo Sapiens, just as we were any other kind of animal. She does so under 11 main headings: "Quick as a Cricket" (physical description); "Crafty as a Coyote" (the brain); "Blind as a Bat" (perception); "Free as a Bird" (range); "A Dog in the Manger" (territoriality); "Hungry as a Wolf" (diet); "Loose as a Goose" (reproduction); "Busy as a Beaver" (behavior); "Chatty as a Magpie" (communication); "Tough as a Boiled Owl" (predators); "A Bull in a China Shop" (ecosystem impact). If you can read those 11 chapters and honestly say you didn't learn a lot of interesting new facts and ideas, you must be a scientific expert yourself (and therefore not in this book's target readership).

Can you list five alternative theories for why human beings are mostly furless? Do you know why we are the animal world's long distance running champions, and what evolutionary adaptations make this possible? Did you realise that an owl's eyes cannot move in their sockets, which is why it has to move its whole head? Are you aware that the female human brain is organised in a strikingly different way from the male brain? Or that, when breathing air at -32 degrees Fahrenheit, the human body spends a quarter of its entire energy budget preheating that air so it doesn't shock the lungs? Could you explain what happens to the levels of chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and testosterone in the brains of people in love, and with what effects? Or that a bird with a brain the size of an almond exhibits behaviour as intelligent, in some ways, as that of any human?

If any of these sound interesting, then you should read "The Well-Dressed Ape". You probably won't regret it.

Forgive my short review, but some of the other noters did a great job describing what's in the book. So, let me cut straight to what I liked and didn't like ...

On the plus side, Holmes is a very good author. She has a very deft style and an excellent sense of humor. She also does an incredible job wrangling together a huge amount of material - she has some really top-notch organizational skills. She also touches on most of the main ideas in evolutionary biology and psychology these days. I would highly recommend this book for someone just getting interested in these fields.

At the same time, I'm not sure I would recommend this book for anyone with any more exposure. I'm afraid the breadth the book shows is also its weakness. There are so many topics that none of them are really treated in any great depth.

I also found Holmes' style a little too cloying at times. One day, it might strike you as very cute. The next day, though, it might come off as winsome. In the same light, I also found her using herself as the model human to be charming at times and rather self-indulgent at others.

Not sure how it will all strike you though. My guess is it's really up to individual tastes.

I bought this as a gift and the person i bought it for felt that it was well worth reading and very informative to themselves and helped them understand themselves better.