
a book
Through A Window
(1990 · 2000 · 337 pages
Through aWindow is the dramatic saga of thirty years in the life of an intimately intertwined community--one that reads like a novel, but is one of the most important scientific works ever published.The community is Gombe, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, where the principal residents are chimpanzees and one extraordinary woman who is their student, protector, and historian. In her classic In the Shadow of Man, Jane Goodall wrote of her first ten years at Gombe. In Through a Window she brings the story up to the present, painting a more complete and vivid portrait of our closest relatives.We watch young Figan's relentless rise to power and old Mike's crushing defeat. We learn how one mother rears her children to succeed and another dooms hers to failure.We witness horrifying murders, touching moments of affection, joyous births, and wrenching deaths. In short, we see every emotion known to humans stripped to its essence. In the mirror of chimpanzee life, we see ourselves reflected.
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Jane Goodall
“Through a Window – the sequel to In the Shadow of Man – was written in Bournemouth, in my little attic room at the top of the house. One thing I remember vividly – I was using a laptop by this time. I had just finished the chapter on mothers and infants – all those so loved chimpanzees such as Flo, Olly, Melissa, Passion and so on. I was preparing to go and join my family who were sitting on the lawn on a beautiful summer evening. And I pressed the delete button by mistake! And I could not retrieve it. I felt like bursting into tears, or shouting and screaming. But I had spent the last few hours in a very good place. The ideas and words had come together. So I took a deep breath and started the chapter again. I spent two more hours writing really fast. Completed the whole chapter – and I think it was even better than before!”↗