Firefly Guide to Fossils Book

The positives of this book are that it really picks up towards the end to an impassioned and educated plea to preserve wildlife habitats in the face of human caused turmoil. My favorite parts are when the stoic scientist gets very descriptive and emotional about the gorillas and the volcanoes. I have admired George Schaller since he appeared as a character in Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard, where his aloofness and dedication to observation of sheep appealed to me. He is indeed a hard-working scientist, and this can be seen in his obsessive dedication to observing the gorillas in the Congo, Ruanda, and Uganda. I really admire the guy.
I was put off by his descriptions of "the Africans", which smacked of intellectual condescension and arrogance. This was released in 1964, when racial tensions were high, and his lofty attitude towards his guards and helpers is clear. He seems so compassionate towards gorillas and mountain flowers, but is quite judgmental when it comes to his own intellectual and behavioral standards for his fellow human being. As he says, "But then man has never learned to treat his own kind with compassion."
I learned many interesting things about gorillas in this book, and have added the Virunga Volcanoes to my places-to-visit bucket list, but the most interesting part was getting a glimpse into the inner workings of a great researcher.