Crossing the Soul's River: A Rite of Passage for Men Book

I put this on my to-read list back when I first joined Goodreads in 2005 or 2006. I guess it says something about my reading habits that it took me more than 10 years to finally read it. Oops? Anyway, I put it on there because I find language to be deeply interesting, and Kanzi is one of the most famous of the apes that was involved in the numerous language studies. Only later did I find out that a lot of those studies had been discredited. So, I was nervous that this book was going to be bad, to say the least.

Thankfully, it was a very pleasant surprise! I really enjoyed this and found it quite interesting, despite the fact that quite some time has passed since the book's publication. Despite the title of the book, it focuses only loosely around Kanzi, which was a pleasant surprise. Instead, the book goes over the history of ape language studies, including the author's early efforts with the chimpanzees Sherman and Austin. And although Kanzi makes up a considerable part of the mid-section of the book, it also addresses issues with the application of the studies to assisting developmentally disabled children, as well as steps that the author recommends for the future of this research.

I was really impressed with the thoughtfulness of the work that is embodied in this book. It's clear that a lot of thought went into these studies and into the notion of what language actually is. I was astounded to read of some of the things that Kanzi became capable of, which are far beyond what I had expected to see. Of course, it's necessary to take the work with a grain of salt, given that the researcher is also the author, but I felt that the author took care to point out as many alternate explanations and caveats as possible.

I did have mixed feelings on the chapter about the application of the ape language studies so the children with developmental disabilities. First, given the time that this book was published, it does use correct terminology, but times have changed, and I definitely cringed every single time that the phrase 'mentally retarded children' was used. I also felt that this was by far the least detailed part of the book, which is a shame, as I would have liked to learn more. (Although, to be honest, this would likely have been the most outdated part of it, so I suppose the decision to be vague makes sense.)

Overall, I really enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I'm no expert, and I certainly can't make any statements about where studies are in the current day, but I enjoyed what I read here, and found that it gave me some serious food for thought.