Book Description
Dr. Jane Goodall's revolutionary study of chimpanzees in
Tanzania's Gombe preserve forever altered the very definition
of "humanity." Now, in a poignant and insightful
memoir, Jane Goodall explores her extraordinary life and
personal spiritual odyssey, with observations as profound as
the knowledge she has brought back from the forest.
As a toddler she was entranced by all living things, and
over the years the little girl inspired by Tarzan and The
Jungle Book became the woman who found herself working with
famed paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey; accomplished
scientific breakthroughs in Gombe; and, ultimately, became a
champion of the environment.
It has been a life blessed with faith, resolve, and
purpose, though not without its crises. Jane Goodall endured
the horrors of the London blitz and World War II, postwar
hardships, vicious rumors and "establishment"
assaults on the integrity of her work, a terrorist attack and
hostage taking in Africa, and her husband's slow, agonizing
death. But throughout, her religious convictions, although
tested, have helped her survive-and Jane Goodall's pursuit of
science has enhanced, not eroded, her belief in God.
In this book she candidly shares her life-talking of the
love and support of her mother, her son, her late husband, of
friends and strangers-as well as the Gombe chimpanzees she
introduced to the world nearly forty years ago. And she gives
us convincing reasons why we can and must open ourselves to
the saints within each of us.
At one with nature and challenged by the man-made dangers
of environmental destruction, inequality, materialism, and
genocide, Dr. Goodall offers insight into her perceptions of
these threats and celebrates the people who are working for
earth's renewal. Here, indeed, is REASON FOR HOPE.
