The Monkey Bible

"...a fast-paced adventure that explores the edgy frontiers between primatology and philosophy through the enquiring mind of an unlikely young hero. I was impressed with the quality of the science and the passion for conservation was clear and effectively done...Mark Laxer's satirical take on what it means to be 98.6% chimpanzee brings Aldous Huxley into the genetic age."

—— Dr. Richard Wrangham, Harvard

The Monkey Bible is the story of Emmanuel, a young college-bound Christian man who suddenly has reason to suspect that his genetic make-up, and indeed the story of his creation, is not what he had thought it was. Dismayed and seemingly alienated from his church, Emmanuel journeys around the world in search of his genetic and spiritual origins, identity, and community.

The science behind the story is accurate, up-to-date, and accessible, and the reader comes to understand the biological creation story as the adventure unfolds. While The Monkey Bible can be seen as the latest chapter in the larger-than-life debate between Darwinists and creationists, the novel is respectful of both sides, and strives to provide a gentle supportive bridge across which people who disagree can communicate. Ultimately, The Monkey Bible is a timely and necessary plea to alter the stories by which we define ourselves as a way to protect the countless creatures on the great tree of life, upon which all human life depends.

The Monkey Bible is a compelling read and the potential audience extends well beyond those interested in biology, anthropology, wildlife conservation, mythology, and religion. Adults will enjoy this book and so will college students, whose fresh questions about their own origins will resonate with this novel.

Using The Monkey Bible as inspiration, songwriter Eric Maring has written a companion music CD which uses the varied notion of lines to echo the novel’s themes. The Line—at turns serious, light, joyous, exuberant, and brooding—praises our ability and need to explore our world and to ask questions, especially regarding our relationship to our planet, our religions, and ourselves.

Much of the novel is based on real world experience including virtual ecotourism (vEcotourism), and you can go on a live vEcotour by visiting http://www.vecotourism.org

"Human apes shall embrace the use of nuclear power, said UG, for it has excellent potential of reducing the potentially devastating carbon build-up in the atmosphere—but only if the nuclear power is generated off-planet. Humans must never ever generate nuclear power, fission or fusion or whatever, on earth or in earth’s orbit."  -The Monkey Bible

Connect with the Author:

Website: http://monkeybible.com/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/TheMonkeyBible

Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheMonkeyBible

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheMonkeyBible

About the Author

Mark Laxer

Long ago, Mark Laxer's quest to understand The Bigger World landed him in the inner circle of a brilliant, sensitive, charismatic meditation teacher gone mad. After writing Take Me For A Ride and weathering a $30 million lawsuit, Laxer continued the quest by studying what it means to be human from a biological, anthropological, and mythological point of view. Laxer runs a storytelling gathering and a wildlife conservation organization. In 2004, he invented virtual ecotourism.

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