Goodall (Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe, 1990, etc.), with the help of religious scholar Berman, sets down the spiritual and ethical lights that serve as guides in her rather extraordinary life. A couple of questions keep popping up for Goodall: from where does she get her serenity, considering all the cruelty and violence she has seen between humans and humans, humans and animals, and humans and the environment? And is there any hope? This book is an honest and often elegant groping toward an answer to these questions; in it she relates her belief in God—a God both personal and inclusive—and a divine plan. But she isn’t about to foist that notion on her readers; indeed, she has trouble reconciling the coincident presence of evil and an all-good, all-powerful God. Rather, her hope comes from a number of other wellsprings. One is the evolution of human bioethics, which she sees as steadily, if glacially, improving. Another is the frequent display of fundamental values she witnesses in humans: “honesty, self-discipline, courage, respect for life, courtesy, compassion, and tolerance.” Since she has observed some of these traits in chimpanzees, she considers them, and by extension all animals, worthy of our respect and empathy, thus her work to protect animals. Because Goodall is so decent and intelligent a person, she can go out on a limb without concern of ridicule: she speaks of states of grace, merge states wherein she is one with the forest and its inhabitants, quiet ecstasies of timelessness and peace, out-of-body experiences that grant her an appreciation of the potential beauty inherent in the world, and the application of these intuitive capacities for good in science and everyday behavior. She sets all this in the context of her life’s progress. Goodall is a rare creature accomplishing great things. Her last hope is that readers may find here some good to take away. A PBS tie-in will air in the fall of 1999. (16 pages b&w photos) (Author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1999
ISBN: 0-466-52225-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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