Rating: 
Summary: Compelling stories, somewhat less compelling arguments
Review: "Next of Kin" is really several stories interwoven into one book. It is first and foremost the story of a chimp, Washoe, but also of the journey on which she takes Roger Fouts. The story of Washoe and the other chimps in her extended family are the most engaging aspects of the book, but Fouts' career and personal development alongside them is interesting as well. Intellectually, Fouts is at his strongest when he describes his language development research and the scientific debates that raged around it. The ethical links between ape intelligence and ape rights were also well developed. His stances on animal rights for other species were not as well motivated and in some sense undermine the justifications he put forth for an end to the use of great apes in research. While at times oversentimental, Fouts does strike a chord emotionally as well as intellectually. Our "next of kin" are lucky to have him on their side.
Rating: 
Summary: An perfect story of humor, pain and science
Review: As a student of Dr. Foutes at CWU, we were assigned to read this book as part of his class. Before I started reading it, I thought it would be another boring psych book. This book has an incredible story of teahing chimps to communicate and makes you think very deeply about what, if anything makes us so much more special than other animals. It has awesome ideas about the development of human language and thought processes and insights on how bad most research centers treat their animals. There is no way any one can read this book and not be moved by it. It is truly an incredible book.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: I have just finished reading Roger Fout's Next of Kin book and was very impressed. I am a linguist and am planning to talk about Animal Communication in a Psycholinguistics course I will be teaching this Fall. I had always just accepted the conclusion found in most introductory Linguistics textbooks that what chimps can do is really not very much, doesn't resemble human language, and that people like Dr. Fouts have expanded the notion of what 'language' is to somewhat unacceptable lengths. I accepted that Terrace's work with Nim Chimpsky (which you read about in the book) showed that just those researchers who were highly emotionally involved with their animals were the ones who ridiculously thought that chimpanzees could really produce creative signs. After reading this book I am convinced that chimpanzees are highly intelligent and have been able to learn to use sign language in a way that I would consider langauge. I am also convinced, though not a great animal lover, that treating chimpanzees as research subjects is just inhumane. So I would agree with everyone else that this is an extraordinary book. I highly recommend it, especially to linguists who really have little idea of what Washoe and Loulis are able to communicate in sign language.
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Summary: Fascinating!
Review: I love this book! Roger Fouts brings the chimpanzee's in his life in to clear focus for us! This is a superb mix of entertainment and education. Dr. Fouts enlightens us about the plight of chimpanzees without leaving us to despair of their fates. Once you read this book you will understand why it is so imperative that we finally start treating these incredible individuals like the kindred creatures that they are. Roger Fouts has led a fascinating life and we are lucky to have this opportunity to share in it! Thanks Roger! Jean Swingle Greek, co author of Sacred Cows and Golden Geese and Specious Science
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Summary: Not to Be Missed!
Review: I read this book in a day, though I didn't plan to--as soon as I began reading, I found myself unable to put it down. This is the story of both Dr. Fouts' study of chimpanzee language abilities, and his struggle to find a home for the chimps where they will be treated with the respect they deserve. Engagingly written and humanely told, his story is a direct challange to the cruel legacy of Descartes, one that will change your view of our primate relatives forever. Frequently funny, oftentimes heartbreaking, this book will leave no reader unmoved and unchanged.
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Summary: a fasicnating story to all of us
Review: If you like a modest, exuberant, funny, generous and emotional true story as i do, then i would strongly recommend you to read Next of Kin which is fasicnating by telling the thougtful mind and intelligence of Chimpanzees, and deeply affecting by their human like behaviors to communicate and live in their society. When humans think they are the only primate who can have the great intelligence of language and logical behavior, Washoe, a smart chimpanzee in an ASL project, against this scientific establishment. Her learning pattern and behavior is like a human child's. People criticized that Washoe can sign is because of reinforcement but not her own thought. However, atfer staying with Washoe for a long time, Roger figures out that she does think. She signs dogs when she sees a real dog. She knows to sign use key to unlock the door that shows she realizes key can open door. Being a foster daughter of human , washoe does think herself as human. When she realizes the truth by sending to Dr. Lemmon 's island which there are many chimps. She was grief but learns to accept and show love to other chimpanzees even though she 's out of contact with other same primate for a long time. She uses and teaches ASL to communicate with other chimps. All of her behaviors tell us that chimps are so much like us. Many scientists use them to do many painful and inhuman experiments. however, they have never thought about they are hurting our relative ancestor. We should start care them and stop using any product by animal experiments.
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Summary: Chimp Champs
Review: In doing research for a journalism assignment, I was recommended Fouts' "Next of Kin." I read the book as I prepared for a trip to the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care, a sanctuary of hope in southern Florida for chimpanzees rescued from labs and similar monstrosities, funded by Jane Goodall and other good people. It was a superb introduction to what I was about to witness, and I ended up using a lengthy quote from the book as an epigram to my article about the sanctuary. Fouts has given an incredible and heart wrenching insight into a world we too often choose to ignore - the world side by side to our own "civilized" one, the world of the animal kingdom. It is, perhaps, our view of it as a separate world from our own that first gets us into trouble. The human being is an arrogant being. We like to think that we are the superior beast - the thinking, feeling, building, progressive being that rules the earth - but so often the human being is not so superior at all, but only... a beast. Fouts takes that arrogance down several notches. He reveals the remarkable intelligence of the chimpanzee mind. He reveals the astounding emotional depth of the chimpanzee heart. He unveils the tragic suffering of the chimpanzee life when we forget these emotional and intellectual capacities. In a time when scientific strides in all fields - space exploration, medical, or other - can easily be made without the torment of our animal brethren, this book bears witness to our human cruelty and argues effectively for an abandonment of such treatment forever. We are not, after all, a superior creature on this planet. We are only one among many, sharing a global environment to which all of our varied species have a right to live in, enjoying our freedom to live our lives without the threat of enslavement by others - human or animal.
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Summary: This Book Will Change You
Review: No matter your philosophy on the feelings and intellect of animals, this book will change it. I believe that animals have emotions and cognitive skills, but this book really enhanced and helped direct my own personal creed.
The book tells story of a young grad student who falls into a cross-fostering experiment with a young chimpanzee named Washoe. Two professors are raising her as a human child and teaching her sign language. Fouts ends up as Washoe's lifelong caretaker and friend, traveling with her as she is moved from university to university, trying to protect her against a system that views her as an unfeeling piece of property. Along the way other chimpanzees join him and Washoe, until he has a small family of chimps, all capable of sign language, to care for.
The book is remarkable for many reasons. The narrative is interesting, clearly explained, and easy to read, even when Fouts discusses the physiology of language and evolution. The story is fascinating, the antics of the chimps are hilarious and eye-opening, and Fouts' journey to find Washoe and her family a good home (from Reno to Oklahoma to Washington) is determined and inspiring. The subject matter is phenomenal. Reading about Washoe's son, Loulis, learning sign language from her (the first animal to be taught a human language by another animal), the interactions between the chimps and humans (Lucy, who brews tea and serves it to Fouts every morning) and the brief legal history of the chimpanzees as research subjects, is incredible.
Read this book with an open mind. It will change you.
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Summary: The closest you'll ever come to knowing another species
Review: Roger Fouts has written an extraordinary book that combines insight with scientific fact as he relates his experiences with a special chimpanzee who changed the direction of his life. As a graduate student in experimental psychology at the University of Nevada, Fouts is given an assistantship to "teach a chimpanzee to talk" using modified American Sign Language, and thus begins his introduction to impishly clever Washoe. Washoe is in almost every sense a "person", with specific character traits, likes and dislikes, habits and methods. When she is in danger of being dumped into a medical facility at the end of the study, Fouts fights to protect her against the woefully inadequate laws and accepted scientific procedures. His battle not only for Washoe but for all captive chimpanzees becomes the focus of his career. Because Washoe and her companions have the ability to express themselves, this is at times a heartbreaking tale as Fouts and the reader discover how closely related chimps and humans truly are. Through his passionate storytelling and his breadth of knowledge, Fouts gives readers an intimate glimpse into these fascinating non-human lives. I cannot express adequately how moving and instructive this account is. It will affect you on a deeply emotional level - I can't imagine how anyone can emerge from this story unchanged. I highly recommend this book for all readers, from teenagers to adults, from casual to serious readers.
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Summary: Astounding
Review: This book weaves together behavioral research, child psychology, linguistics, oncology, evolution, animal rights and a simple story of two friends who each learn incredible things from the other. The story was so intriguing no matter what topic was being covered that I read all 400 pages in 3 1/2 days. At the risk of sounding melodramatic I literally laughed out loud at points, and broke down in tears at others. Next of Kin demonstrates what man can do at his best as well as his worst.
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