Nim Chimpsky, named in honor of noted linguist Noam Chompsky who claimed that language was specific to humans, was a baby chimpanzee in the early 1970's who was the subject of an experiment titled "Project Nim." The purpose of the experiment was to place the young chimp in a human home, teach him sign language, raise him as if he were human, and keep track of his language development to see how closely it mirrored that of an average human child. The expectations, based upon many years of similar experiments with chimps and other apes, were that nurture would triumph, or at least significantly impact, nature. The conclusions were disappointing, with Nim picking up relatively few words and communicating only very basically with his family, and the story of Nim's life after he left the custody of his human family took a depressing turn, with Nim spending a few years in pharmaceutical testing labs. It is an interesting and unusual story, and I was eager to read Ness' book to learn more.
I'm fascinated by Nim and the grand experiment that he was born to star in, but I gave up on this book after the first 75 pages or so. Hess can't seem to decide if she's writing about the experiment itself or about Nim and the general treatment of animals used for experiment, or about the flawed, albeit well-meaning, humans charged with Nim's care and "education." Each aspect is interesting but Hess does a poor job of weaving these themes into a cohesive whole. This book reads more like a gossip column than legitimate research. I'll have to find another source if I hope to learn more about Nim's life.
