Sapolsky's youthful adventures in Africa comprise a medley of stories reminiscent of the absurdity of Kafka and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The memoir provides a compelling glimpse into Africa at an striking historical instant. Pleasantly surprising, witty and poignant A Primate's Memoir is the best memoir I have ever read.

I have read in a very long time. Hilarious and touching.

Poignant, personal, infuriating, touching, and hilarious. Sapolsky, in the conversational style of a campfire storyteller, gives readers an unvarnished look at the beauty and simple majesty of baboons alongside the scandalous, sometimes funny, sometimes deadly corruption of humans. Readers will fall in love with the dysfunctional family of baboons, inevitably finding parallels in their own community of friends and family, and marvel at Sapolsky's courage and foolishness as he inserts himself in the most adventurous, dangerous political situations in unstable Africa.