The Book of Hope

Jane Goodall’s guide for an endangered planet, brings hope today

One of my Christmas presents last year from a thoughtful sister was The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall. I read the book shortly after and noted the request a couple of pages in, can I read it after you? The sharing of books has always been a good idea and I’ll return it shortly. I don’t believe this brief summary will interrupt future enjoyment.

I picked Hope this week for obvious reasons. I was interested to see whether such a wise advocate of change, might provide solace given the unprovoked stupidity, saturating through every news outlet, whatever your persuasion. It’s clear Putin has different views, but it’s no excuse for war in Europe in 2022.

Who is Jane Goodall?

On the cover David Attenborough describes her as, A woman who turned the world of zoology upside down.

Her story starts in 1960 in Gombe, Tanzania, part of the equatorial rainforest that used to stretch across Africa. 30 years later, it has become little more than a small oasis of forest surrounded by bare hills. She went there to study chimpanzees at the request of Dr Louis Leakey, a famous paleoanthropologist.

He also helped organise funding for Dian Fossey to study gorillas and Birute Galdikas to study…