"Nature was almost always so beautiful and so spiritually enriching; the man-made world seemed so often horribly, horribly and spiritually impoverished. This contrast between the two worlds struck me, with increasing sadness, every time I arrived back in England from Gombe. Instead of the peace of the timeless forest and the simple, purposeful lives of its inhabitants I was plunged into the materialistic, wasteful - terribly, terribly wasteful - rat race of Western society...when I was away from Gombe and plunged into the developed world I found it harder to sense the presence of God. I had not learned, then to keep the peace of the forest within"
(Goodall, 84-85).
Reason for Hope is about these two worlds of Jane Goodall. It is the former one of nature that gives Jane Goodall, in her autobiography, "reason for hope." It is the world of Gombe, Tanzania that teaches her how to keep peace with others - human, chimpanzee, friend, stranger - wherever she finds herself. And she writes this book to tell others of her amazing journey, not just in her groundbreaking work with Louis Leakey, but also her work on behalf of the health of the planet and world peace. It is an autobiography that is highly readable, and I believe will be thoroughly enjoyed both for its content and engaging style, by sophomore/junior high school students.
Despite the fact that she was taught to "think logically and empirically, rather than intuitively or spiritually," this delightful autobiography is not necessarily logical and scientific in format, though it is somewhat chronological. That is probably what make it such a "good read." It also
means that there are gaps - some serious ones I believe. Goodall has clearly chosen the more memorable and positive periods of her life to describe (with some exceptions, such as a description of the heartrending story when some of her field students were taken hostage in Africa, and her second husband's death). For instance, Chapter 6, "A Decade of Change, " glosses over the 10 years when Goodall received her Ph.D from Cambridge, became an adjunct
professor at Stanford University, married, and became a mother - four significant events, but only the last one is given any discussion.
While not trained as a scientist, Goodall's extensive observations about and work with chimpanzees in Africa came to be respected in the scientific community. However, I found her observations about chimpanzees controlling their aggressive tendencies applied too readily to human behavior. I do not take issue with her theory, but the way she quickly applies it to humans in order to move her thesis forward does not seem scholarly. For instance, In Chapter 10, "Compassion and Love," Goodall moves from her earliest years at Gombe observing chimpanzees; to an example of discipline in a young African-American boy; to the death camps of Auschwitz; to Oskar Schindler; to Christ's Resurrection; to this final observation "It is these undeniable qualities of human love and compassion and self-sacrifice that give me hope for the future. We are indeed, often cruel and evil. Nobody can deny this. We gang up on one another, we torture each other, with words as well as deeds, we fight, we kill. But we are also capable of the most noble, generous, and heroic behavior" (Goodall, 148-149).
This is not great or even very inspirational writing. But her life and commitment to her work are inspirational and students will value that. They may even enjoy her poetic endeavors that she began as a young girl. Such examples are scattered throughout the book.
Goodall's writing style lacks sophistication and consistency, but I doubt high school students will care much about this. This is not great literature, much less careful scientific analysis, but she does not pretend it to be the latter. I would recommend Reason for Hope as a summer reading book to accompany something more sophisticated and academically challenging.
Above all, students will value Goodall's brutal honesty about her own spiritual journey. She is a seeker, a pilgrim. They will applaud her intense commitment to conservation and education. Given the enormous and revolutionary study of chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe preserve, forever altering the definition of humanity, her importance in the scientific world cannot be denied. But it is Goodall's humility as a seeker, a pilgrim in this life, that may move the students most in their discussions and environmental action as together we grasp on to ecological legacy. That too should give us reason for hope.
Review ©2002 by Anita Schell-Lambert and RSiSS
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