Following Fifi: My Adventures Among Wild Chimpanzees; Lessons from Our Closest Relatives

Patience, compassion, presence, and gratitude are the values championed by Crocker, a family physician, in this eloquent and appreciative memoir of his time as a student of Jane Goddall at Gombe, Tanzania, in 1973. Crocker begins his narrative with his experiences living in rugged forest conditions while following several mother-infant chimpanzee pairs, particularly matriarch Fifi and her playful son Freud. The too-short second part relates how understanding chimp behavior models helps Crocker’s work as a family doctor, providing him with an orientation toward promoting strong parent-child attachment and insight as to how difficult behaviors, such as those associated with ADHD, could have been adaptive to human ancestors. Crocker closes by chronicling his return in 2009, accompanied by his 19-year-old son, to a more commercialized Gombe. They observe Freud as an elder and visit the home village of Hamisi, who had served as Crocker’s field guide. Crocker thoughtfully muses on parenting, nostalgia, and lifelong friendship; he shows how the connection he made with primates affected him and taught him how to bring wise and loving care to his young patients. Crocker’s book is emotionally stirring without being overly sentimental, and is as much about human experience as it is about comparative ethology. Color photos. [em]Agent: Michelle Tessler, Tessler Literary. (Dec.) [/em]