Just as young Michael found the secret of the liberation of mind from body and achieved guruhood in the Tibetan lamasery on...

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THE HUMAN APES

Just as young Michael found the secret of the liberation of mind from body and achieved guruhood in the Tibetan lamasery on the Mountain of Truth (1972), so anthropology student Todd Hamlin is diverted from his observations of African gorillas by his discovery of an enlightened race of ""human apes."" Descended originally from Cro-Magnon man, the ape-like people had long ago discovered the secrets of immortality and genetic engineering and now plans to save its human brothers by teaching them to become ""disembodied minds that will be able to. . . leave the earth, and float forever free in the vastness of time and space."" Readers of The Mountain of Truth, or of Childhood's End which both books resemble to some extent, will be prepared for the vastness of this solution of the human dilemma; the real problem here is not the ethological/genetic explanations of the ""human apes"" evolution, but Todd's pedantic and self-righteous personality which makes his decision to leave his father and friends and be transformed into an ape-man of little more than clinical interest, Essentially a repeat performance, with a slick and topical superstructure, but little potential for emotional involvement.

Pub Date: March 21, 1973

ISBN: 1884158315

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1973

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