Gorillas in the Mist Paperback – December 28, 2014

I loved learning about Dian Fossey, her work with the gorillas and about the gorillas themselves and their different personalities. It was also fascinating and sad to learn about so many issues countries with wild animals have to face, from poaching, habitat infringement and capture for zoos.I read this book before traveling to Rwanda to see the Gorillas written about in her book. I felt reading the book was extremely helpful. I was able to appreciate the environment in which these animals live, observe their relationships more closely and see where Dian Fossey lived for so long. I would highly recommend reading this book if anyone is interested in wildlife conservation but especially before visiting the gorillas in their natural environment. The people of Rwanda are wonderful, friendly and very helpful not to mention very poor. Their country is stunning and very clean. Visiting Rwanda was a wonderful experience.

I couldn't put this well written book down. Fossey's dedicated life in the forested mountains with her beloved gorillas is educational, mesmerizing, enchanting, and tragic. What our species is doing to the earth's flora and fauna is undeniable and unconscionable. Fossey's contribution to our knowledge and respect for these magnificent animals is priceless. That she was murdered in her own wilderness bed because of her relentless fight to protect and preserve the gorillas is haunting.

Dian Fossey was chosen by the well-known Dr. Louis Leakey to study mountain gorillas, had her picture on the cover of National Geographic and enjoyed a worldwide following of her work to study and later to protect the mountain gorillas of Congo & Rwanda. This book is her story, starting from her early days in San Francisco, to her work as an occupational therapist in Kentucky, to her seven week trip to East Africa that led to her introduction to the Leakey's and her research on the mountain gorillas. The level of interaction with all of the members of several mountain gorilla groups is nothing short of amazing. They all had names, personalities and relationships which she shares with true anthropological precision over a period of some eighteen years.After I saw the movie "Gorillas in the Mist," I had to read this book. Though so much of the movie and the book are about her, I think if we could ask her, she'd say it's all about them. The one part the movie covers that the book does not is her tragic and untimely death. She saved the lives of many mountain gorillas, if only something or someone could have saved hers.

From 1966 until her death in 1985 Dian Fossey studied the mountain gorillas of the Virunga mountains which extend along the borders of Zaire(known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Rwanda and Uganda. Gorillas in the Mist is Fossey's chronicle of her time spent with the gorillas from 1966 until it was published in 1983.She began her studies in Zaire but was expelled in 1967 and spent the rest of her time in Rwanda at their national Parc des Volcans at the Karisoke Research Centre which Fossey established. Fossey states "one of the greatest drawbacks of the Virungas is that it is shared by three countries each of which has problems far more urgent than the protection of wild animals."Gorillas in the Mist provides not just a wonderful picture and insight into the lives of the gorillas, but into the mind of this rare woman who worked with them. Dian was an uncompromising forest who fought like a tiger about what she believed in and held others who she worked with to the same high standard. She typed her field notes on a daily basis and expected the others who she worked with to do the same.Dian had a great love of animals not just her gorillas. She kept chickens for their eggs but treated them like pets with one of them roosting on the carriage of her typewriter as she typed. When her pet dog is kidnapped by poachers she rustles cattle belonging to villagers and holds them hostage until her dog is returned. When a gorilla is found dead she performs an autopsy and then buries them in the gorilla graveyard at the Karisoke research center and this is where she eventually rests. She dedicated the book to some of her favorite gorillas who had died.Dian was in a fierce and unrelenting war with poachers. She galvanized the Africans who worked with her to go on regular missions to eliminate and destroy the traps set by poachers, not just those which would harm gorillas but would harm any animal. Despite this, many of the gorillas she loved met their fate at the hands of poachers.Dian was a truly amazing fearless woman who did much to raise awareness and an understanding of the mountain gorillas. With the gift of hindsight and knowledge of the eventual fate of Dian and the three countries which border the Virungas, the book provides a sad and eerie journey.

I really enjoyed the whole book learn alot

Heartwarming, engaging, painful - all if it is Dian Fossey's story. She is a true hero of wildlife conservation. Her life wasn't easy, and obviously saving the gorillas has not be an easy, glamorous role. I am grateful to her for the legacy - that has certainly saved gorillas from being long extinct.

This book was one of the best ones I read in along time. Dian Fossey was the best.

A bit long winded and you will either like or dislike Dian Fossey before the end of it. Perhaps some of her ways were a bit outrageous but she did believe in what she was trying to do for the mountain gorilla and their surviving now probably owes a lot to the years she spent in her studies and getting others interested in their preservation.

I really enjoyed reading how to identify each gorilla and how each group has its own hierarchy. Dian wrote her work in a black and white approach. She explains how difficult it was to protect the gorillas against poachers and government officials. The only drawback of the book, is how Uncle Bert kept on changing to Uncle Ben. Otherwise an enjoyable read.

Dian Fosseys own events of her 13 years on the slopes of the Virunga volcanic mountain range in Africa. She tells of the different groups of gorillas and the characters of some of the individuals. There is a good account of her fieldwork which she pioneered in, and also her personel daily struggle against poachers, bad weather, high altitudes, and much more. Its a good read if your at all interested in gorillas or even adventure. Gorillas in the Mist: A Remarkable Story of Thirteen Years Spent Living with the Greatest of the Great ApesGorillas in the Mist: A Remarkable Story of Thirteen Years Spent Living with the Greatest of the Great Apes

The work remains a classic for anyone studying primatology or who simply wants to read a very chatty account of the first study ever, of gorilla life. She tends to anthropomorphize the apes a bit, but it was clear she loved them deeply and was the first to give her entire attention to over almost two decades. One should start with this book, as the primer, and then read Farley Mowat's biographery "The Woman in the Midst" to learn of the difficult circumstances in which this intense and complicated woman worked, and of the enemies she made, one of which finally murdered her.

great product, price and service - thank you kindly