Primates Spiral-Bound | 2015-08-04

Jim Ottaviani Maris Wicks (Illustrated by)

★★★☆☆+ from 1,001 to 10,000 ratings

$17.99 - Free Shipping
A fun and immersive look into the lives of the three greatest primatologists of the twentieth century: Biruté Galdikas, Dian Fossey, and Jane Goodall, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Feynman.

Jim Ottaviani returns with an action-packed account of the three greatest primatologists of the last century: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas. These three groundbreaking researchers were all students of the great Louis Leakey, and each made profound contributions to primatology--and to our own understanding of ourselves.
Tackling Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas in turn, and covering the highlights of their respective careers, Primates is an entertaining and informative look at primatology and at the lives of three of the most remarkable women scientists of the twentieth century, with charming illustrations by Maris Wicks.

Publisher: Macmillan
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 144 pages
ISBN-10: 1250062934
Item Weight: 0.6 lbs
Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.4 x 8.3 inches
Customer Reviews: 3 out of 5 stars 1,001 to 10,000 ratings
"An accessible introduction to Goodall's, Fossey's and Galdikas' lives and work." --Kirkus Reviews

"A graphic format admirably propels this lightly fictionalized group biography." --The Horn Book

"Presented as dedicated, iconoclastic, and profoundly in awe of the creatures around them, Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas are inspiring figures, and Ottaviani does a first-rate job of dangling enough tantalizing tidbits to pique readers' interest in the topic." --Booklist

"The story of how each of these women loved primates and lived among them to study their behavior is compelling, and might inspire a whole new generation of scientists to follow in their footsteps." --School Library Journal

"This is an inviting introduction that will undoubtedly lure many readers into further investigation of this groundbreaking fieldwork." --BCCB

"[Ottaviani and Wicks] succeed in conjuring the feel of extraordinary science. And they do so not by manufacturing fake emotion, but by sticking to the reality of being a scientist--the hard punishments of fieldwork, the strains on marriage, the cocktail-party diplomacy back home and, most important of all, the elation of discovery. Especially in its portrayal of this final element, Primates is the kind of book that can produce new scientists." --Carl Zimmer, The New York Times Book Review

"Ottaviani succeeds in capturing their hard work and the thrilling breakthroughs during years of research, without looking away from some of the darker details, such as Leakey's womanizing. Wicks's cartoony illustrations are a great match for the story; they never get bogged down with unnecessary details and briskly move forward the account of the women and their subjects. A riveting, jargon-free overview of one of the great stories of animal research." --Publishers Weekly

"Readers are given a first-person glimpse into Jane's passion for chimps, Dian's determination to protect the world's gorillas, and Birute's enthusiasm for orangutans. The art is simplistic, yet powerful, with interesting details about the scientists' introductions to life with and the study of primates. . . Primates is an intriguing introduction to three female scientists who changed the way the world defined 'human.'" --VOYA

Jim Ottaviani has written nonfiction, science-oriented comics since 1997, notably the number one New York Times bestseller, Feynman. He has worked as a nuclear engineer, caddy, programmer, and reference librarian. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. gt-labs.com

Maris Wicks lives with fellow primate Joe Quinones and their cat, Biggs, in Somerville, Massachusetts. She has used her opposable thumbs to draw comics for Adhouse Books, Tugboat Press, and Spongebob Comics, and written stories for Image and DC Comics. When she's not making comics, Maris works as a program educator at the New England Aquarium.