Access

Books and Arts

Nature 448, 535-536 (2 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/448535a; Published online 1 August 2007

Social climbers

Asif A. Ghazanfar1

Top

Does a baboon's success in social situations depend solely on learning the rules of the game?

BOOK REVIEWEDBaboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind

by Dorothy L. Cheney, & Robert M. Seyfarth

University of Chicago Press: 2007. 358 pp. $27.50

There are few guiltier pleasures than watching reality television such as Big Brother, in which young people interact with each other in confined spaces. Viewers relish seeing each individual trying to push forward their own agenda through alliances and disagreements, sex and friendships.