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Coming of Age With Elephants: A Memoir
The educational and inspirational biography of Joyce Poole describes the life of a courageous woman who struggled with loneliness, sexism, and the threat of bandit-poachers to make her contribution to the conservation of the endangered African elephant.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 10, 2014
This was an exceedingly interesting book on a number of levels. The first is that it's an absolutely outstanding book about elephants. In fact, it's the book I was looking for when I ended up reading Katy Payne's Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants. That book left me feeling like the humans were too much the focus, and not enough was on the elephants. This book corrected that imbalance. Joyce Poole writes passionately about the elephants in a way that doesn't put herself in between us and them. We do learn quite a bit about Poole's personal life (more on that later) but primarily, this is a fascinating book about elephants. Poole steps back and lets the awe and wonder of these animals shine through, and it makes for a fascinating and compelling book.
She treats the reader to insights into the scientific world, describing how the elephants are named, and the cool card system she and Moss developed to help identify elephants based on their ear marks. While I could have used more information on how she estimates the age of an elephants, I got enough of that from Iain Douglas-Hamilton's book, so I will forgive her for that. The daily life and passing seasons and years of a field researchers life in Africa breathe from the book, and the elephants come to life with a satisfying solidity.
Poole's life is bound up with the elephants of Aboseli National Park in Kenya. She grew up partly in Africa, and she returned there as soon as she could and began studying the elephants with Cynthia Moss. As a behavioral ecologist, she studied the social and reproductive lives of these animals, and ended up making some very startling discoveries about musth in African elephants (the male hormone cycle) and about elephant communications. She acknowledges and highlights the collaborations she engaged in with other scientists, including Katy Payne, Cynthia Moss, and the illustrious Iain Douglas-Hamilton.
The human side of the story is just as fascinating as the elephant side, though played quieter and in a lower key. Poole fights through the death of her father, depression, sexual assaults, intimidation, discrimination, doomed relationships, a miscarriage, and paranoia during her time in Africa. Poole facing her issues, and how those issues and their solutions interwove with her life among the elephants, was fascinating to read. Along the way, she transitions from pure researcher, to conservationist, to someone actually in a position of the power of life or death over the elephants, trying to find a balance for humans and elephants to live together. At times, she finds herself signing orders for "problem" elephants to be "culled." Her struggles with these issues are honestly presented and extremely interesting to read.
The book is called "Coming of Age With Elephants," I believe, because along the way she fights most of her demons and at the end of the book seems to have achieved serenity and happiness at the age of 37. At the end of the book she is living with her daughter in a house she built with the help of Richard Leakey whose property hers abuts.
And that's where the book got tricky for me. The first line of the book has her flying over Africa with Richard Leakey. I'm always skeptical of name-dropping, particularly when that name is Leakey. However, Leakey is woven all throughout this story. He seems to be there for some of her most important emotional moments (finding peace, helping her heal from a miscarriage, building her house). He shows up repeatedly throughout the book (always as "Richard") described in glowing terms, and the reader begins to get a hunch that there may be more going on between them than friendship and mentoring. When she decides to have a child by herself, she lists all the options available to her, including sperm donors, a one-night stand, or having the child of a friend or lover she could never acknowledge as the father of her child. She states that she choose the right path for her, and then moves on without enlightening us further.
On the one hand, this is entirely her right. What she chooses to do with her body is her business, and no one else's. It doesn't get more private and personal than that. On the other hand, the suspicion inevitably left in the reader's mind is that her daughter is also Leakey's daughter. I would argue that some of this suspicion Poole must have planted on purpose. If she'd wanted to, she could have edited down some of the many (many) scenes with and references to Leakey in this book. If she'd chosen AI or a sperm donor of another stripe, I feel she would have told us. Instead this comes off as a subtle way to announce who the father of her child is.
And if that is the case, then things get a little more complex for me.
Poole and Leakey are two of the people who control some of the largest populations of African elephants left. Leakey is often in a supervisory role over Poole, and they frequently publish papers together. They both sit on the board of the Amboseli Elephant Trust. And I'm not sure at what point it becomes necessary to disclose linkages such as the one I'm suspecting (and, according to Outside Magazine, apparently I'm not the only one).
Honestly, it kind of shook me. I probably set scientists like these up on a pedestal, which is entirely inappropriate. They are humans, like all the other humans on the planet. So I'm going to have to sort out what, if anything, this kind of information means to me.
Anyway, I'm probably thinking about it way too much. Really, that's not the heart of the book at all. The elephants are, and they were magnificent. Poole is an engaging writer, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the behavior, ecology, or conservation of Africa's largest social mammal.
She treats the reader to insights into the scientific world, describing how the elephants are named, and the cool card system she and Moss developed to help identify elephants based on their ear marks. While I could have used more information on how she estimates the age of an elephants, I got enough of that from Iain Douglas-Hamilton's book, so I will forgive her for that. The daily life and passing seasons and years of a field researchers life in Africa breathe from the book, and the elephants come to life with a satisfying solidity.
Poole's life is bound up with the elephants of Aboseli National Park in Kenya. She grew up partly in Africa, and she returned there as soon as she could and began studying the elephants with Cynthia Moss. As a behavioral ecologist, she studied the social and reproductive lives of these animals, and ended up making some very startling discoveries about musth in African elephants (the male hormone cycle) and about elephant communications. She acknowledges and highlights the collaborations she engaged in with other scientists, including Katy Payne, Cynthia Moss, and the illustrious Iain Douglas-Hamilton.
The human side of the story is just as fascinating as the elephant side, though played quieter and in a lower key. Poole fights through the death of her father, depression, sexual assaults, intimidation, discrimination, doomed relationships, a miscarriage, and paranoia during her time in Africa. Poole facing her issues, and how those issues and their solutions interwove with her life among the elephants, was fascinating to read. Along the way, she transitions from pure researcher, to conservationist, to someone actually in a position of the power of life or death over the elephants, trying to find a balance for humans and elephants to live together. At times, she finds herself signing orders for "problem" elephants to be "culled." Her struggles with these issues are honestly presented and extremely interesting to read.
The book is called "Coming of Age With Elephants," I believe, because along the way she fights most of her demons and at the end of the book seems to have achieved serenity and happiness at the age of 37. At the end of the book she is living with her daughter in a house she built with the help of Richard Leakey whose property hers abuts.
And that's where the book got tricky for me. The first line of the book has her flying over Africa with Richard Leakey. I'm always skeptical of name-dropping, particularly when that name is Leakey. However, Leakey is woven all throughout this story. He seems to be there for some of her most important emotional moments (finding peace, helping her heal from a miscarriage, building her house). He shows up repeatedly throughout the book (always as "Richard") described in glowing terms, and the reader begins to get a hunch that there may be more going on between them than friendship and mentoring. When she decides to have a child by herself, she lists all the options available to her, including sperm donors, a one-night stand, or having the child of a friend or lover she could never acknowledge as the father of her child. She states that she choose the right path for her, and then moves on without enlightening us further.
On the one hand, this is entirely her right. What she chooses to do with her body is her business, and no one else's. It doesn't get more private and personal than that. On the other hand, the suspicion inevitably left in the reader's mind is that her daughter is also Leakey's daughter. I would argue that some of this suspicion Poole must have planted on purpose. If she'd wanted to, she could have edited down some of the many (many) scenes with and references to Leakey in this book. If she'd chosen AI or a sperm donor of another stripe, I feel she would have told us. Instead this comes off as a subtle way to announce who the father of her child is.
And if that is the case, then things get a little more complex for me.
Poole and Leakey are two of the people who control some of the largest populations of African elephants left. Leakey is often in a supervisory role over Poole, and they frequently publish papers together. They both sit on the board of the Amboseli Elephant Trust. And I'm not sure at what point it becomes necessary to disclose linkages such as the one I'm suspecting (and, according to Outside Magazine, apparently I'm not the only one).
Honestly, it kind of shook me. I probably set scientists like these up on a pedestal, which is entirely inappropriate. They are humans, like all the other humans on the planet. So I'm going to have to sort out what, if anything, this kind of information means to me.
Anyway, I'm probably thinking about it way too much. Really, that's not the heart of the book at all. The elephants are, and they were magnificent. Poole is an engaging writer, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the behavior, ecology, or conservation of Africa's largest social mammal.
July 16, 2022
Sorry I've been out of circulation, traveling and in the hospital.
Joyce Poole is one of a small group of researchers who studied elephants in Kenya in the late 1970s and the 1980s. She pioneered studies of elephant sounds, determining that elephants make low-frequency sounds that people cannot hear. She also determined that male Afrcian elephants go through musth, a testosterone-filled period that had been assumed to occur only in Asian elephants.
Her connections with the elephants were personal. She could recognize hundreds of elephants. That made it all the more difficult that she encountered many killings by poachers. Despite many difficulties with international officials who believed their was an acceptable level of killing for ivory, she worked to get a ban on ivory sales.
The first part of the book, which concerns her direct research with elephants, is easier to read than the part of poaching, though the latter is just as important. This is a landmark book.
Joyce Poole is one of a small group of researchers who studied elephants in Kenya in the late 1970s and the 1980s. She pioneered studies of elephant sounds, determining that elephants make low-frequency sounds that people cannot hear. She also determined that male Afrcian elephants go through musth, a testosterone-filled period that had been assumed to occur only in Asian elephants.
Her connections with the elephants were personal. She could recognize hundreds of elephants. That made it all the more difficult that she encountered many killings by poachers. Despite many difficulties with international officials who believed their was an acceptable level of killing for ivory, she worked to get a ban on ivory sales.
The first part of the book, which concerns her direct research with elephants, is easier to read than the part of poaching, though the latter is just as important. This is a landmark book.
March 28, 2008
Interesting tale of her life living in Africa studying Elephants. If you're an animal lover (particularly Elephants) like myself, you'll really enjoy this book. Also teaches you a little about the culture/politics in Kenya.
July 26, 2022
This is an older memoir (25+ years old) by a scientist in Africa studying elephants, but even for a novice was an extremely enjoyable read about life among elephants. It's incredible to read about the bonding with these animal giants by those who've spent many years living with them. Pincott in her book, Elephant Dawn, followed in Poole's footsteps years later, in a different country, creating some incredible bonds and stories with these totally wild creatures.
And so the inspiration continues, so very important for the next generations.
And so the inspiration continues, so very important for the next generations.
February 20, 2024
I could do without reading about elephants in musth. Also did not enjoy the exoticization of Africa (and its reference to it as Africa, like it was a country) but this was written in the 90s, so I will let it slide.
I will not let the “more African than the Africans” comment, since Poole is a white woman who grew up mainly in the US (despite her 5 years in Kenya she likes to cling to). Don't even try me with that comment.
I will not let the “more African than the Africans” comment, since Poole is a white woman who grew up mainly in the US (despite her 5 years in Kenya she likes to cling to). Don't even try me with that comment.
August 8, 2019
For anyone who loves elephants this is a definite must-read. It mixes science with a rich personal story of the author and how she became one of the world's leading experts on wild elephant behavior. I took endless notes and found it deeply inspiring that one woman could do so much. LOVE this!
September 24, 2021
The real strength of this book was how accessible it was to me as a reader who is interested in elephant research in Africa but I do not have a science background. This book combines both elements of Dr. Poole's work and her personal experience. Both were interesting.
April 30, 2022
I was enthralled with the author's experiences with elephants as part of her research and her bonding with them. She gave me a look into a world I can only imagine.
March 15, 2013
I think this book is not well written. Too many irrelevant details, such as using the intricate elephant-naming code throughout the narrative, and too much gloss over potentially interesting things, such as her childhood in Africa. In my opinion people didn't learn how to write exciting and absorbing non-fiction until the 2000s, and this book helps prove the point. It's a shame because the author's story seems like it could actually be quite interesting.
July 2, 2019
Thank you Joyce Poole for sharing your fascinating memoir of studying and living with African elephants. Your discoveries and insights into the behavioural patterns and communication of this wonderful species obviously changed the world, but have enhanced my understanding and appreciation of them as well. I will follow your organization’s continuing efforts at www.elephantvoices.org
November 18, 2009
Elephants are my favourite animals and I was enthralled with this book right from the beginning. What a fabulous life experience! I've had read this book many a time and I enjoy it more each time I read it.
June 26, 2016
Could have been the inspiration for Jodi Picoult's novel Leaving Time, but this is nonfiction. Wonderful observations of elephants, poignant narrative of personal experiences and the atrocities committed on these intelligent giants.
November 9, 2012
The author's love for this giant creatures shines through, and keeps the reader interested in the ground-breaking research discoveries.
September 2, 2016
Superb book, made me fall in love with those magnificent elephants and Africa. One of the books that change you as a person, loved it
to-buy
February 8, 2018Kay Redfield Jamison calls her a Good writer in Exuberance book
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews