"The Independent" Reviews "Not A Chimp".

A very positive review for NOT A CHIMP, from Peter Forbes in The Independent, this time stressing the genetics. Here's a flavour of it:

"That we are 98.4 per cent genetically identical to chimpanzees is one of the more misleading factoids of our time......In Not a Chimp, the TV science producer and director Jeremy Taylor gives case histories of the search for those crucial genes that make us human. The FOXP2 gene, for instance, discovered in a family with a history of language difficulties, is now known to be important for speech and comprehension in humans and, amazingly, for the ability of birds to sing......That 98.4 per cent similarity has fuelled a movement to accord chimpanzees human rights. However, Taylor demonstrates that if we are looking for the nearest thing to human intelligence, it seems to reside not in chimps, but in birds – especially crows. The record of human evolution will become dramatically clearer in five to ten years time. Meanwhile, for an idea of why we are more than a chimpanzee plus 1.6 per cent, start here."