The Human Zoo: A Zoologist's Classic Study of the Urban Animal (Kodansha Globe) - Softcover

Morris, Desmond

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568361041 ISBN 13: 9781568361048

Publisher: Kodansha Globe, 1996

Synopsis

How does city life change the way we act? What accounts for the increasing prevalence of violence and anxiety in our world? In this new edition of his controversial 1969 bestseller, THE HUMAN ZOO, renowned zoologist Desmond Morris argues that many of the social instabilities we face are largely a product of the artificial, impersonal confines of our urban surroundings. Indeed, our behavior often startlingly resembles that of captive animals, and our "developed" and "urbane" environment seems not so much a concrete jungle as it does a human zoo.
Animals do not normally exhibit stress, random violence, and erratic behavior—until they are confined. Similarly, the human propensity toward antisocial and sociopathic behavior is intensified in today’s cities. Morris argues that we are biologically still tribal and ill-equipped to thrive in the impersonal urban sprawl. As important and meaningful today as it was a quarter-century ago, THE HUMAN ZOO sounds an urgent warning and provides startling insight into our increasingly complex lives.

About this title

From the Author:

"There is really no need to escape [our cities].... But there is a need to transform the urban environment into something more appropriate for its long-suffering inhabitants."—Desmond Morris, from his new Preface

About the Author:

DESMOND MORRIS is the author of more than thirty books, including THE NAKED APE, INTIMATE BEHAVIOUR, and HUMAN ANIMAL. He lives in Oxford, England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Kodansha Globe
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1568361041
• ISBN 13: 9781568361048
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272