Gorillas in the Mist (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: antipoacher patrols, diarrhetic dung, belch vocalizations, Uncle Bert, Dian Fossey, Parc des Volcans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1963, an occupational therapist from Kentucky, in uncertain health and spirits, traveled to central Africa in the quixotic hope of seeing a mountain gorilla in its natural habitat. Dian Fossey had read everything she could about the reclusive and much-feared animal, and she returned from her trip convinced that most of the books were wrong.

During her seven-week stay in Africa, Fossey had a chance encounter with the famed primatologists Mary and Louis Leakey, who encouraged her to follow her dream of living among the mountain gorillas and learning their ways. In 1967 she did just that, setting up a camp on the slopes of the 14,000-foot Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda and studying four gorilla families there. Although it took them some time to accept Fossey's presence among them, she was immediately impressed by their peaceful nature and by their generous, guileless behavior--so unlike the images found in popular culture.

But, Fossey discovered, despite their peaceable way of life, the gorillas had many enemies in the form of poachers who hunted them for their hands, skins, and heads--ghastly remains sold to the tourist market. Much of Fossey's thoughtful but often rightly angry memoir Gorillas in the Mist is a well-reasoned plea for the protection of the gorillas and the suppression of the poachers' black market. That argument found a wide audience when her book was published in 1983, but Fossey's work remains unfinished: she was murdered, probably by those very poachers, in 1985, and today there are fewer than 650 mountain gorillas in the wild. To read Gorillas in the Mist is a first step for anyone concerned with their preservation, and that of other wild species everywhere. --Gregory McNamee

Review

"A classic of its kind." -- Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint Edition. edition (September 30, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395489288
• ISBN-13: 978-0395489284
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,631,518 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chronology askew,but leaves reader mystified, January 30, 2003

By	"diofoz" (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gorillas in the Mist (Paperback)

Dian Fossey,author of Gorillas in the Mist uses this book to talk about her experiences researching gorillas in the wild. Starting in the year 1963 and ending in the year 1983, Fossey gives us an intimate look into her life and interactions with the mountain gorillas.
The book begins by telling the story of her first experience in Africa. The reader walks away from the first chapter of the book keenly aware that this is not an average woman writing of her weekend stay with gorillas in a zoo. Here is a headstrong woman willing to go to any lengths to travel to Africa to see the majestic gorillas, a physically capable woman handling the challenging terrain of the mountains undeterred even after breaking her ankle along the treacherous path to see the gorillas.
After her first African encounter Fossey cannot wait to come back and research the gorillas for an extended period of time. She leaves the United States in 1966 and travels to the Congo to study. However,this turns into an abbreviated stay because of the wars going on in that country. She moves camp to Rwanda,where she establishes a permanent home at the Karisoke Research Centre. Her study of gorillas starts here, and she quickly finds that living in the Parc National des Volcans will be physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging for her.
I was certainly ready to start reading about experiences with gorillas by the time that Fossey had gotten settled. The research at this point moves very quickly. Groups of gorillas are numbered and individuals are named. At times it became difficult to keep up with all hte names and numbers given to the gorillas; Fossey, however, does a wonderful job of keeping the reader informed of which group and which individual she is talking about.
Involved in the book is information about Fossey's life with other researchers. I was eager to read about how she overcame the language barrier between herself and the Rwandese. It was also interesting to read about thier initial trials and errors with food and locals that were recruited to help track the gorillas.
This book informs about the poaching problemin Africa. She lets the reader know that she is doing everything she can to thwart the poachers efforts at capturing the gorillas; that without support this species will be literally hunted to death. Sometimes her behavior was rash. She wrote about how she retaliated against poachers and their families. In one instance she stole a herd from a local Rwandan until she obtained information about the poachers she was looking for. Some of her tactics in stopping poaching were less than diplomatic,to put it diplomatically, she could have handled many situations differently. Clearly, however her aggression toward poachers came out of her love for gorillas.
I enjoyed reading about the entire life cycle of an individual gorilla from birth until they were sexually mature. I felt more connected with the gorillas because of this and it made me want to turn the page to find out what would happen to my favorite gorillas next. It was also fascinating to read about gorilla interactions. In many wats they are similar to humans in that the infants need a significant amount of love and support and as they grow older they fall into the typical male and female roles. The males would try to imitate their fathers whom they would eventually succeed; and the females would become very interested in infants born into the group, often playing with and grooming the new additions.
After reading several pages I was hooked and found every detail fascinating. My only criticism is that sometimes the order of events is skewed. Fossey would tell an entire story about a gorilla, then go on to talk about a time before this story unfolded. It seemed sometimes that she was putting the proverbial "cart before the horse." This made the story line at times hard to follow. Despite this stylistic shortcoming Gorrilas in the Mist is a moving story about Dian Fossey and her life with the African mountain gorillas. She was passionate about her work and her passion vividly comes through in every page.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars

, January 1, 2002

By	Jake (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gorillas in the Mist (Paperback)

Don't Judge a Book by the Class your Being Forced to Read it in.

Early in the year(2001-02), we were assigned to read a book in high school Biology class. Not just any book though, one that had to relate to biology. Upon hearing this, a loud groan, mine probably being the loudest, arose from the class. Of course at the time I would have never thought so, but my groan would actually be wrong.

After much thinking, in other words procrastinating, I chose GORILLAS IN THE MIST by Dian Fossey. I had heard my mom say I should read it (I guess she liked it), which, honestly, usually means very little-I prefer to read books I choose-but that helped in my choosing this time.

After another month of "thinking", and my mom reminding me every night the report was due soon, I finally went out and got it. I started reading it right away, only the cover though. After another week I cracked the cover and actually began reading. Not just the inside cover, or the table of contents, but the first chapter.

Almost immediately (as soon as she actually arrived in Africa) I was met by a beautiful, lush environment. I was surprised she could explain it so well in words, and it made me wonder how much more beautiful it is in real life. This story was both funny and sad.

I loved the way she wrote. She left out no detail. You almost feel like you are in the forest, or in the campsite. She left out no details about their behavior either. Sometimes I forgot I was reading about gorillas, and thought I was reading about humans. Their actions were extremely close to that of humans. Their curiosity was both interesting and funny. Even after she got to know them really well, and they got to know her, a simple thing like a camera could set them off into a frenzy. Except for I gorilla, I can't recall his name, who fell in love with Her (Dian Fossey) camera gear. If she didn't guard it close enough he would take it and play with it. She spent a lot of money on lenses replacing them (The pictures she took were typically really funny). One of the baby gorillas kept walking over to her while the group was sleeping, and the mother kept coming over and taking it back. She estimated the baby to be about 12 inches tall.

Although it was really funny, a lot of it was sad too. The area where the Gorillas lived was suppose to be a National Park to preserve the wild life. It seemed to be pretty much a failure. Because of overpopulation in the area, the park has been rapidly diminishing for terrace farming purposes. On top of that poachers freely moved in and out of the park. Although few poachers were after the gorillas, they were after the native Antelope, the poachers snare traps frequently caught Gorillas. The Gorillas could usually break out but the snare would stay on them, and, if the snare was tight enough, the gorillas may die. It was sad when you got to know a Gorilla really well and then something happened to it and it died. One of the saddest is near the end of the book when poachers cut digits head, hands, and feet off.

From my review so far you probably wonder why I only gave it four stars. My reasoning behind this is parts of it were dry. During the chapter she talks about the bloodlines of all of the groups and their gorillas I really lost interest. My other reason is it was hard to make a timeline for it in my head. I had a lot of trouble ordering events. The chapters are all written about a topic (Heredity, Environment, other wild life, etc.) not chronologically ordered. Other than those two reasons I thought the story was excellent. It made me wish I could do more to preserve that area. It also helped me understand how humans can effect and area if they don't respect it. Last, it makes me hope such a beautiful creature can beat extinction.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dian fossey's murder finally solved after 15 years, July 11, 2003

By	... (africa) - See all my reviews

dian fossey's murderer was arrested in june 2001 and he as a government official called Protrais Zigiranyirazo allegedly involved in the poaching bussiness as well and sources say he did it because Dian new too much about his illigal activities and she was about to exposed him , he would have been disgraced. her murder was never a mystery because most people in rwanda knew he was the chief culprit just that he was never arrested because he was a senior politician. he hired a hitman to kill her but the hitman was later arrested by the police and found dead in his prison cell probably killed to silence him from exposing Protrais who had sent him. Potrais fled rwanda in 1993 and settled in belgium and was wanted by the international court in connection with his role in the 1994 genocide which occured in rwanda. it is from here that the present rwandan government started to investigate his background that they discovered his criminal shady past.he is due to stand trial this year 2003 and finally we may say justice has been done.i got to learn more about Dian Fossey and have become a personal admirer of her care after watching her movie and clearly i myself as an african admire her for her affection with natural conservation
of wild life and the need for man kind to respect its dignity in a time where the riches of this world have led us to be so ignorant about caring for nature.