Among all the books of Frans de Waal the one that stands out for me – the one I reread at the very least once per year and have recommended to almost more people than I know is “The Bonobo and the Atheist”. So, what exactly makes this (audio)book an amazing companion for a walk on a sunny day, an inexhaustible source of optimism when sitting on a couch on a rainy weekend and a fabulous confidant when travelling and relocating? I did start creating a list of its virtues, but, reaching higher 200 numbers, ultimately decided against it. Thus, I opted for bringing to your attention a couple of major delights instead of presenting a laundry list (still available upon request).

“The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates” offers a multi-dimensional journey. We will visit scientific conferences all around the globe, primate colonies in zoos as well as their natural habitat, while Bosch und Bruegel paintings will be very vividly reconstructed before your inner eye when you are least expecting it. Bonus: the last point will also offer some surprising insights into the Dutch language. The book rotates around the origins of moral, empathy and religion – in our fellow primates, suggesting that these traits appeared long before terms and labels were coined to describe them, let alone before there was a homo sapiens to speak them out. In the center of de Waals attention are two of our closest relatives – bonobos, known for their peaceful and empathetic social structure (“the hippies of the primate world”), but also chimpanzees, more known for their "red in tooth and claw" social politics.

This book is incredibly befriending and “bridgebuilding” in its essence. In the first place, this reconciliation concerns the relationship between humans and animals. Frans de Waal relentlessly brings to our attention the similarities we share especially with our fellow primates – including the tendencies that until recently were considered “uniquely” human, like the usage of tools in our work, self-awareness, ability to grasp the concept of death, sense of fairness, ability to plan our actions and, yes, morality.

Moreover, as reflected in the title, the book is a huge contribution into bridging waters between believers and atheists. Marvelously guiding us through the origins of altruism and moral values with chimps and bonobos, Frans de Waal suggests concentrating our attention on the purpose of religion as such. Answering, or even asking the question of “why” the concept of religion appeared in the first place, proves to be much more insightful than draining and exhausting debates whether there is a god out there. In my opinion, the book is a great source of hope in that it shows how the two camps could at least approach one another finding the common ground in their whys and their needs.

On a related topic, the book is an incredible eye-opener and un-black-and-whitener. Going against the tendency to juxtapose things, to categorize and separate them as well as to inspect them in an extremely isolated way, Frans de Waal chooses a more wholistic and complex approach. Oftentimes we become such an easy prey to hasty generalization or to false dichotomies. Especially when justifying our least appealing and likable behaviors we tend to shrug them off as something animalistic we inherited from our ancestors. However, as we are as closely related to chimps as well as to bonobos, we are “bipolar apes”, as Frans de Waal describes us: we are capable of both, of being incredibly empathetic and caring but also to be coldblooded and ruthless. Even if one cannot always choose the displayed behavior, I find this knowledge extremely empowering. This gives us a fabulous reason to ask ourselves even now and then: so how can I bring more of my “inner bonobo” to the surface today and help my fellow primates do the same?

The title picture is taken from the cover of “The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates”, 2014