Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man

Science News,  Nov 11, 2006  

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JANE GOODALL: The Woman Who Redefined Man DALE PETERSON

In her youth, Jane Goodall impressed people mainly as an extroverted and attractive woman. She graduated from secretarial school in London and became a secretary at oxford University. Then, in 1957, at the invitation of a vacationing friend, she made her first visit to Africa, Little did her hosts know that Goodall would become the woman whose work with chimpanzees would forever change the way in which scientists view primates. In this lengthy biography, Peterson, who has collaborated with Goodall on several books, explains how Goodall became an icon. Despite Goodall's lack of science education, Louis Leakey hired her to help him study the social life and behavior of chimpanzees. What made her famous was her unique style of observation of the animals. She was the first person to witness chimps eating meat, using tools, and behaving as individuals with different temperaments. Peterson also chronicles Goodall's life as a wife and mother--she raised a son in East Africa--and her eventual transition into an animal-welfare activist. Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 740 p., b&w plates, hardcover, $35.00.

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