What do you think?
Rate this book
Animal Kitabu
1968, hardcover edition, Random House, NY. 293 pages. Excellent B&W illustrations / photos throughout. Written by a conservationist, the author describes commercial safaris, poachers, and menaced species in Africa. Concentrates on the great cats and apes. Written by a man who feels for and understands Africa's wildlife. Very nicely written. Anyone who loves animals will appreciate this title.
- GenresAfricaAnimalsNonfiction
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
22 people want to read
About the author
Jean-Pierre Hallet
9 books5 followersJean-Pierre Hallet was a man more intimately connected to Africa than perhaps any other westerner. His feats were legendary-what one expects of fiction and adventure movies. About his mission to save the vanishing Bambuti pygmy tribe in the Ituri Forest in Northeast Zaire, the newspapers and magazines of three decades reported it in various ways. He Saves Little People; A Giant Comes To The Rescue; He's The Biggest Of The Little People of Zaire; Humanitarian Sows Seeds of Hope and Pygmies Have A Friend in Hallet.
A friend, indeed. In 1955 he lost his right hand, in an explosion, while dynamiting Lake Tanganyika for fish to feed a Pygmy tribe. In 1957 he was successful in obtaining, from the colonial government, official acceptance of his "Declaration of Emancipation" for the endangered pygmies. He lived with the Bambuti pygmies for eighteen months and learned six aboriginal languages and seventeen dialects.His extensive knowledge of the pygmy language resulted in a dictionary of more than 18,000 terms, which remains unpublished. He founded The Pygmy Fund in 1974, the only organization devoted to the preservation of the lives and culture of surviving forest dwelling Efe pygmies.
Born in 1927 in Louvain, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Hallet was the son of Andre Hallet, the famed Belgian post-impressionist painter, who lived in the Congo. Jean-Pierre played with pygmy children, north of Lake Kivu, in the northeastern part of the former Belgian Congo. At six, he left his playmates to go to school in Europe. He was already the height of an average adult pygmy in the forest. He returned in 1948 with a Sorbonne education. He was now an agronomist and a sociologist. Jean-Pierre was twenty-one. He was six feet five inches tall and 225 pounds. His incredible life was about to unfold and his reputation as "father to the pygmies" and the "Abe Lincoln of the Congo" was just beginning.
Jean-Pierre Hallet would become a heroic figure. He would become an authority on African culture and a blood brother to many tribes. He was an internationally renowned africanist, ethnologist, naturalist, author, lecturer, explorer, cinematographer, artist, African art authority and collector as well as a death-defying adventurer. He delivered more than 500 African babies, pygmy and non-pygmy. It would be difficult to find another man with such a resume.
He would author three books, the Kitabu trilogy. (Kitabu is roughly translated in Swahili as book.) Congo Kitabu, the first of the trilogy was autobiographical. It would be translated into twenty-one languages including Chinese and Russian. His own words say it best. "I grew up among the pygmies, learning everything that is their world,....making my first bow and arrow.....identifying birds and animals."
A friend, indeed. In 1955 he lost his right hand, in an explosion, while dynamiting Lake Tanganyika for fish to feed a Pygmy tribe. In 1957 he was successful in obtaining, from the colonial government, official acceptance of his "Declaration of Emancipation" for the endangered pygmies. He lived with the Bambuti pygmies for eighteen months and learned six aboriginal languages and seventeen dialects.His extensive knowledge of the pygmy language resulted in a dictionary of more than 18,000 terms, which remains unpublished. He founded The Pygmy Fund in 1974, the only organization devoted to the preservation of the lives and culture of surviving forest dwelling Efe pygmies.
Born in 1927 in Louvain, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Hallet was the son of Andre Hallet, the famed Belgian post-impressionist painter, who lived in the Congo. Jean-Pierre played with pygmy children, north of Lake Kivu, in the northeastern part of the former Belgian Congo. At six, he left his playmates to go to school in Europe. He was already the height of an average adult pygmy in the forest. He returned in 1948 with a Sorbonne education. He was now an agronomist and a sociologist. Jean-Pierre was twenty-one. He was six feet five inches tall and 225 pounds. His incredible life was about to unfold and his reputation as "father to the pygmies" and the "Abe Lincoln of the Congo" was just beginning.
Jean-Pierre Hallet would become a heroic figure. He would become an authority on African culture and a blood brother to many tribes. He was an internationally renowned africanist, ethnologist, naturalist, author, lecturer, explorer, cinematographer, artist, African art authority and collector as well as a death-defying adventurer. He delivered more than 500 African babies, pygmy and non-pygmy. It would be difficult to find another man with such a resume.
He would author three books, the Kitabu trilogy. (Kitabu is roughly translated in Swahili as book.) Congo Kitabu, the first of the trilogy was autobiographical. It would be translated into twenty-one languages including Chinese and Russian. His own words say it best. "I grew up among the pygmies, learning everything that is their world,....making my first bow and arrow.....identifying birds and animals."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 5, 2017
Lapsuuteni suurten lukuelämysten joukkoon kuului belgialaissyntyisen Jean-Pierre Halletin "Kitabu" (Werner Söderström, 1969). Kun törmäsin siihen antikvariaatissa, en voinut olla ostamatta sitä myös omaan hyllyyni. Mutta miltäpä kirja mahtaisi tuntua 25 vuoden tauon jälkeen?
Hallet kertoo "Kitabussa" afrikkalaisista villieläimistä. Vaihtelevan pituisissa luvuissa hän kertoo muun muassa leijonista, leopardeista (jotka hän on valmis nimeämään mantereen vaarallisimmiksi eläimiksi), norsuista, ihmisapinoista ja monista muista otuksista. Hallet ei keskity vain elintapoihin ja muuhun sellaiseen, vaan tuo tekstiin lisäväriä kertomalla niin afrikkalaisten heimojen kansantarinoista kuin historiallisia ja omaelämäkerrallisia anekdootteja kohtaamisista eläinten kanssa.
Monesti nuo kohtaamiset ovat melko värikkäitä ja osin karmiviakin. Lapsena mieleen syöpyivät muun muassa Ramreen suistokrokotiilit, jotka tulivat tulitaistelusta hulluiksi ja hyökkäsivät japanilaisten sotilaiden kimppuun, naisten rintoja irtileikkaavat leopardimiehet, jotka yrittivät jäljitellä kissapedon tappomenetelmiä, ja sveitsiläisessä eläintarhassa elänyt häiriintynyt norsu, jonka häkin peittäneistä oljista löytyi eräänä aamuna hoitajan käsi ja varvas.
Niinpä niin. Taisin olla aika mielenkiintoinen lapsi kun tämänkaltaiset jutut kiinnostivat.
Mutta ovatpa Halletin elämänvaiheetkin olleet kiinnostavia! Hän on taistellut vain keihäs aseenaan 180-kiloista leijonaa vastaan, uinut vertavuotavana krokotiileja pakoon, yrittänyt kouluttaa sarvikuonosta itselleen ratsua, päässyt alkuasukasheimojen veriveljeksi ja niin edespäin. Eräänlainen tosielämän Tarzan, siis!
"Kitabu" ei kuitenkaan keskity vain tämänkaltaisiin tarinoihin, vaan siinä kuvaillaan myös eläinten käyttäytymistä ja tapoja, sekä kannetaan aidosti huolta afrikkalaisten villieläinten mahdollisuuksista selvitä maailmassa, jossa niitä tapetaan surutta salametsästäjien ja metsästysmuistoja havittelevien turistien toimesta ja jossa niiden elinolosuhteet heikkenevät heikkenemistään. Lukija ei voi olla miettimättä, että jos tilanne oli näin huono jo 1960-luvulla, niin mikä se mahtaa olla nykypäivänä?
Hallet kertoo "Kitabussa" afrikkalaisista villieläimistä. Vaihtelevan pituisissa luvuissa hän kertoo muun muassa leijonista, leopardeista (jotka hän on valmis nimeämään mantereen vaarallisimmiksi eläimiksi), norsuista, ihmisapinoista ja monista muista otuksista. Hallet ei keskity vain elintapoihin ja muuhun sellaiseen, vaan tuo tekstiin lisäväriä kertomalla niin afrikkalaisten heimojen kansantarinoista kuin historiallisia ja omaelämäkerrallisia anekdootteja kohtaamisista eläinten kanssa.
Monesti nuo kohtaamiset ovat melko värikkäitä ja osin karmiviakin. Lapsena mieleen syöpyivät muun muassa Ramreen suistokrokotiilit, jotka tulivat tulitaistelusta hulluiksi ja hyökkäsivät japanilaisten sotilaiden kimppuun, naisten rintoja irtileikkaavat leopardimiehet, jotka yrittivät jäljitellä kissapedon tappomenetelmiä, ja sveitsiläisessä eläintarhassa elänyt häiriintynyt norsu, jonka häkin peittäneistä oljista löytyi eräänä aamuna hoitajan käsi ja varvas.
Niinpä niin. Taisin olla aika mielenkiintoinen lapsi kun tämänkaltaiset jutut kiinnostivat.
Mutta ovatpa Halletin elämänvaiheetkin olleet kiinnostavia! Hän on taistellut vain keihäs aseenaan 180-kiloista leijonaa vastaan, uinut vertavuotavana krokotiileja pakoon, yrittänyt kouluttaa sarvikuonosta itselleen ratsua, päässyt alkuasukasheimojen veriveljeksi ja niin edespäin. Eräänlainen tosielämän Tarzan, siis!
"Kitabu" ei kuitenkaan keskity vain tämänkaltaisiin tarinoihin, vaan siinä kuvaillaan myös eläinten käyttäytymistä ja tapoja, sekä kannetaan aidosti huolta afrikkalaisten villieläinten mahdollisuuksista selvitä maailmassa, jossa niitä tapetaan surutta salametsästäjien ja metsästysmuistoja havittelevien turistien toimesta ja jossa niiden elinolosuhteet heikkenevät heikkenemistään. Lukija ei voi olla miettimättä, että jos tilanne oli näin huono jo 1960-luvulla, niin mikä se mahtaa olla nykypäivänä?
Want to read
December 30, 2020Very informative and entertaining book
August 4, 2015
At times written in a slightly dry style, but filled with fascinating details. I was particularly fond of the fact Hallet didn't only speak of the natural, biological, and environmental facts regarding the animals showcased in his book, but would also include local folklore stories explaining animal behaviour and curiosities.
The fact Hallet wrote this in the 60's is a little painfully apparent from all his incredibly sexist remarks regarding Western ladies. Not to mention, the back cover (at least of the Finnish language edition I personally read) claims him to "be capable of describing animals as though he would be describing human beings, yet without making the error of antropomorphizing them," but I dare claim this isn't quite so. Though he constantly speaks of animals and their habits in a respectful manner, while mincing no words in pointing out the hypocrisy of human thinking, he does give these animals an awful lot of human-like qualities. In particular, he seems to anthropomorphize female/male behaviours in terms of what is the expected form of conduct of men and women in our society. Especially when it's about mating and its aftermath. For example, in his mind, the female animals always look somewhat demure after mating's taken place. Yeah, that doesn't sound like this stupid cultural human expectation of a woman, that fort of chastity, being embarrassed after sex. Not at all.
Luckily, these things had a rather small part to play in the book overall. Mostly, it was just interesting animal behaviour/structure details, and loads of cool folklore explaining these things in the mindsets of African locals. For that, the book is worth a read.
The fact Hallet wrote this in the 60's is a little painfully apparent from all his incredibly sexist remarks regarding Western ladies. Not to mention, the back cover (at least of the Finnish language edition I personally read) claims him to "be capable of describing animals as though he would be describing human beings, yet without making the error of antropomorphizing them," but I dare claim this isn't quite so. Though he constantly speaks of animals and their habits in a respectful manner, while mincing no words in pointing out the hypocrisy of human thinking, he does give these animals an awful lot of human-like qualities. In particular, he seems to anthropomorphize female/male behaviours in terms of what is the expected form of conduct of men and women in our society. Especially when it's about mating and its aftermath. For example, in his mind, the female animals always look somewhat demure after mating's taken place. Yeah, that doesn't sound like this stupid cultural human expectation of a woman, that fort of chastity, being embarrassed after sex. Not at all.
Luckily, these things had a rather small part to play in the book overall. Mostly, it was just interesting animal behaviour/structure details, and loads of cool folklore explaining these things in the mindsets of African locals. For that, the book is worth a read.
January 24, 2011
Informative and entertaining. You'll never look at a giraffe the same way again!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews