Twenty years on I remember this book well. I read it in the early eighties. The word pictures the book painted of previously happy people madly desiring encyclopaedias; and happy haitian locals relaxing on the beach while northerners slaved away working has been with me ever since. I remember reading sections twice because it was such an eye opener to me. I had never heard of cargo culture before. A great read. Every shopaholic should read it! For me it was like discovering body language or seeing myself in a mirror for the first time. Never again would I be taken for a ride by a salesman. Now that I have nothing I am happy and I understand why. Highly recommended. Thanks Eugene.

If you're an animal lover you will adore this book. I am going to be a zoology major... hopefully primatology and adored this book. Dr. Patterson does a great job describing the ways Koko, a lowland gorilla, learns to adapt to speak American Sign Language. Can you imagine speaking to a sweet gorilla?
I loved this book and recommend it to anyone! Also there are some really cute, detailed pictures.(...)

Linden's report is one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. It reveals how some of the superstars of the ape language experiments of the '70s, as well as several lesser-known primate research subjects, were callously discarded after the funding (and subsequently interest) dried up. With a few happy exceptions, their lives are now miserable -- or over.

It's as bad as the chimps from the space program, who after years of careful training were sold to laboratories for medical experiments. Most of Linden's subjects -- after being reared in human company and taught to use sign language or symbol-boards -- were sold to laboratories, placed in zoos, or attempted to return to the wild (with disasterous results).

The image of a despondent gorilla in a dank concrete zoo cage, signing desperately to passers-by "get me out, get me out!" will haunt me forever.

Eugene Linden's "Parrot's Lament" is a charming collection of animal anecdotes. The author's intent is to show that the human being is not the only animal that demonstrates mental and communicative abilities. He avoids the contention which surrounds scientific debates on the issues by simply recounting stories from his own experiences and from those of zoo keepers and naturalists, people whose only interest is in the animals they care for and not in scientific laurels or criticism. The only caveat, as he himself points out, is that because "it's unscientific...no matter how persuasive the material, one cannot use the stories and examples as proof of anything (p. xvii)." For those of us who are already convinced that animals are far brighter than most people give them credit for, this is not an important issue anyway.

The book is divided into sections, including: games and humor; trade and barter; deception, mind reading and mental chess; cooperation in work, conflict and healing; tools and intelligence; escapes from captivity; empathy and heroism; and untouched nature. Some of the material is repeated under different chapters, but when it is, it's presented from a new perspective which enlarges understanding of animal behavior. My favorite stories are some of the orangutan escape episodes, and some of the tales of trust and friendship.

The book certainly gives the reader a sense of what is being lost as our natural world is being destroyed by overpopulation, encroachment and exploitation. Since destruction of habitat seems to have taken on a life of its own these days, one almost wonders if it is unstoppable irrespective of our best intentions or of the ultimate negative impact it will have on our own future. This was particularly apparent in the last chapter of the book which deals with the Ndoki rain forest of the Congo. As was pointed out in Matt Ridley's book, The Red Queen, the incremental increase in benefit to the individual who causes the destruction of the environment increases the likelihood that the destruction will occur despite the overall long term loss to society. And this is often so, even though the individual beneficiary of the immediate good will also suffer with the rest of society. The loss of viable commonly held fields to over grazing during the Middle Ages was the example cited by Ridley (p. 91), but any other major loss of shared wealth could be substituted as well. As Linden points out, perhaps the very intellect of which we are so proud will be our ultimate undoing! We certainly don't seem to have learned from the lessons of our history!

Altogether a delightfully readable book.

I have been reading popular science books for an assignment in school and already reported on two others I really enjoyed-- Ants at Work and Nabokov's Blues. This was the third book I read and it was fascinating. I have two pets at home and have always had the feeling they were smarter than, just...animals. Mr. Lindens accounts are wonderful and make we wonder how he was able to track down so many incredible and insightful tales. My science teacher recommended each of these books. It was wonderful to learn more about butterflies, and science in general (even how scientists fight among themselves) in the Nabokov's Blues book, and the fascinating world of ants in Ants at Work. Yet, Parrot's Lament was even closer to home, not only because of the question of animal intelligence and ingenuity but it rekindling the sense of this I'd always had in animals anyway. Thanks Mr. Linden for a great Thanksgiving vacation read! Each of these books is great but since I can see you've written several I think you know where I'll be going for my Christmas reading project!

I enjoyed this book of anecdotes about animals behaving in smart, original, creative, and sometimes heroic ways. It was written in a very accessible style, and I enjoyed the author's sense of humor. The book was well-divided into sections: games and humor; trade and barter; deception; mind reading and mental chess; cooperation in work, conflict and healing; tools and intelligence; escapes; empathy and heroism; and a place where humans are the novelty. I would've liked to have read more about the last section, about animals who have no fear of humans in a virtually untouched jungle in Africa. The only thing that puzzled me about the book was the rather apologetic tone regarding animal intelligence. The tone tries to pacify scientists and other people who aren't convinced that animals possess intelligence. I have never doubted that they do. I'm sure most people who have pets or work around animals feel the same way. It's too bad that we have to be apologetic about believing that the important life forms that share our planet have the capacity to think and feel. As the author points out in the last chapter, based on what we're doing to the planet, it's sometimes questionable which species is really the one without intelligence.

Eugene Linden explains that most of civilization's history has included long periods of remarkable stability, including the last few decades. However, stability is not the norm and indications show it is ending. Thanks to overpopulation, technological change and environmental degradation, profound instability is likely in this century. The clues to future instability are in plain sight. You can see them when you compare what has happened in the past to what is likely to happen in the future.

In the first half of this book, Linden makes a persuasive case for some of his basic predictions, though he is definitely a pessimist. The scenarios in the second half of the book, intended to illustrate what will happen if these predictions come true, are really speculative fiction masquerading as futurology. Still, Linden's basic premise is sound and his warnings should be taken seriously. We... recommend the book to those involved in long-range business planning and trend research.

And a monkey could not read it either. Eugene Linden makes this seemingly inane point again and again in different ways in this extraordinary book which shows how very not random world events come to be in the long run and how periods of calm will, in fact, be followed by periods of great instability. Just as the monkey may win a game of, say, poker or even 7-4-1 by sheer chance and luck, the author demonstrates very effectively that the monkey could just as easily have lost and given enough chances will in fact incur great losses as well as great victories. This is a book not just about the future but also about the very process that will take us there. This includes many external factors out of our control such as weather and disease, as well as those seeminly randam decisions made by humans, not unlike the many decisions made in a game of poker, which we are totally in control of and yet are made while still subject to the random elements. At heart we are all monkey boys, and the world is our big cage. Order comes by chance - again, just as in a card game. This book really makes you think. I highly reccommend it.

Bought the book six months ago, read it and almost forgot it. But look out -- author Eugene Linden's bold predictions are coming true. Read the book to get a real glimpse of the near future -- in plain sight. Find out what stocks to short -- Linden will point the way. A page turner all the way, and then you'll go back to highlight every prescient nugget. The Chief salutes you, Mr. Linden.

Having been acquainted with Leon Levy and a personal friend to
many of his partners since the early 1960's, I had eagerly
waited for the book's publication and read it with great
interest.

After reading the book, I have found one unsolved puzzle.
How Mr. Leon Levy, reputed to have a net worth of over US$700
million and has made donations to various interest groups of
over US$100 million, has achieved such mediocre investment
results for his investors in the Oppenheimer group of mutual
funds. Mr. Levy is the founder and chairman of the Oppenheimer
Funds.

Nonetheless, Mr. Leon Levy has provided some great insights to
the inner workings of Wall street, including some of the lesser
known specultaive techniques -- e.g., the Euro call option
market.

This is a book that every investor should read. People who are looking for a trading system or some cookie-cutter program that will make you rich will be dissapointed. Although he made hundreds of millions of dollars, I doubt Levy himself had an exacting system that he used. He knew how to manage risk and look for low-risk opportunities. He also knew how to take advtange of new investment markets - which are almost impossible for average investors. Leveraged buyouts for example.

Nonetheless, if they take the effort this is one of the most important investment books that someone can read in this moment in time. Levy's book is one that will make you think. As he recounts the past 50's years on Wall Street you'll see how the stock market changed and how the psychology around it did too. Going into the 1950's, people, remembering the 1930's, were extremely bearish about the market. Levy wouldn't hire anyone under 30 - not because he wanted youth, but because he feared that those older would be too cautious, because of their life experiences of the depression.

Contrast that bearish sentiment, with today where every down day is heralded as a bottom and a one week rally is called a new bull market, and you'll see how different the eras are. You'll also realize how different the risk to reward ratio for stock investors is.

I have come to the same conclusions that Levy has concerning our market and our economy and where the coming investment opportunities are in the world. I was already in agreement with him before I read his book. That is why I strongly recommend that people read it. This is one of the few mainstream investment books that you can find that will give you a good picture of what has happened to our markets in the past decade and where it is likely to go in the next 10 years - and where true investment opportunities lie in the world. This is all done in a crisp, engaging style, that makes for a quick read. If you want to understand what is going on read this!

Even if you have an investment/trading style where you don't think this is important you need to read this book. I personally trade mostly on charts and technical indicators. However, if you are trading a trend in the market it is helpful to have a knowledge about what is moving the market. That makes it easier to have believe that what the charts are telling you is real. You need to believe in your convictions. That is why it is important for investors and traders to keep up with the news and take the time to read books such as this one. I spend a lot of my time involved in the financial markets and usually read books as a way to get away from them. When I take the time to read a financial book it has to be a good one and this one didn't disappoint.

This book is never going to be one of the trading classics, like Jesse Livermore's Remicenses of a Stock Operator. However, 10 years from now it will be known as one of the few books that warned of what was to come.

I very much enjoyed this saga of Mr. Levy's career on Wall Street. His explanations of the products interspersed with his views based on broad experience make for interesting reading. The book is well written, and I felt in safe hands in being guided through this saga.

New products that have had an exponential growth rate such as credit derivatives allow investment with no money upfront. They are being used to create leverage for hedge funds. Hedge funds use these products to create leverage Mutual funds are investing in funded form, albeit mutual fund investors may be unaware credit derivatives are behind some of the investments. For finance professionals, I highly recommend Tavakoli's "Credit Derivatives" 2nd Edition.