I find the bonobo, apes and humanism most interesting so I was attracted to read The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates, by primatologist Frans de Waal. I highlighted lots of interesting passages (probably 50), and I am keeping the book to re-read them eventually. A book about altruism seemed like a natural topic to review for KNP.
Most of these passages are surprising anecdotes about apes. De Waal is quite knowledgeable, and doesn't disappoint on that front. On the other hand, the book's course is not so clear, bringing to a conclusion surprisingly focused on strong atheism (antireligiosity).
This being my first book from de Waal, I enjoyed the quantity of anecdotes which I assume he gathered from his prior observations and books, but there are also irritants. A few of these anecdotes are repeated, and there is more focus than I would have liked on "neo-atheists" and the art of a single painter (Hieronymus Bosch, treated like a demigod). He spends the first tens of pages presenting scientific history, showing off his contributions, but the trust he builds in his judgment takes a hit in subsection Prozac in the Water (chapter Ten Commandments too Many), when he also attacks utilitarianism in a childish way. If de Waal lost a debate to Peter Singer, knocking down a straw man a decade later, in the same book where he decries the orgueil of "the typical scientist", seems like a misunderstanding of "revenge is a dish best served cold". It may reinforce his credible decrial of academics having "petty jealousies", but weakens his otherwise reliable and mostly interesting book.
I rate it 7 out of 10, but I wish I could publish a version annotating the strong (and rare weak) parts. Such a version would be much shorter, but could otherwise easily get 9/10, brilliantly showing how relative Homo sapiens's exceptionality is, and showing that cooperation stands a chance.