Desmond Morris has died | Hacker News Reader

Desmond Morris has died

bbc.com

124 pointsmartey23 comments

RIP. He's better known for his works about people and sex, but I know him from his book "Catwatching", which is a very thoughtful observational study of cats.

My family had cats when I was young and I walked the neighbor's dog too. I fondly remember reading the translated versions of Catwatching and Dogwatching in the early 90s.

Little tidbit that isn't mentioned in the article: he was a consultant on the film Quest for Fire and developed movement patterns and gestures for the actors.

The infamous orgasm episode (NSFW): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RkhQsGCXco

Watch without signing in to youtube (https://app.ytdown.to/en27/)

A note for younger readers. This was from a time when there was maybe only one screen in the house and whole families would gather round it and watch shows together.

His anthropological views raised more questions than answers, challenging us to ponder just how far modern humankind had progressed from our days of living in caves and hovels, dressed rudimentally in animal hair. His conclusions could be arbitrary, but nevertheless provocative.

Yes. I wasn’t always convinced he was consistently right, but he was consistently interesting

I'm grateful to him for many great reads.

Morris' autobiography "Animal Days" (1979) is a very charming account of his early life and career, in case someone wishes to take this occasion to read more about that than appears in the obituary.

On of Swindon's more illustrious sons.

I grew up being told the two biggest names were Morris and Diana Dors.

I have to agree with other threads that I don't believe most of his conjectures, but they're great for stimulating thought.

“The Naked Ape” is seminal work. When I found it in the bargain bin of used bookstore I was incensed!

I'll never forget his theory about the origin of the heart symbol.

Is this the same guy who wrote Peoplewatching (Manwatching, I believe, is what it was called earlier)?

Changed my life. Even if his theories were wrong, it was eye opening

"Morris had spent his national service lecturing soldiers in fine arts"

Imagine trying to explain impressionism to some conscript squaddies.

Why would conscrtpt squaddies have any more trouble with that, than you? Or me?

People everywhere are very smart, curious and want to something other than kill.

There are exceptions, but they're exceptions

Indeed. Conscript squaddies were representative of the population, that's how conscription worked. Except for being all men, of course. It's no more silly to expect them to be interested in art, than to expect schoolchildren to be.

Hey, I was one of those -- get off my lawn!

;)

The Naked Ape

so fine!

Is this the same guy who wrote Peoplewatching?

It is

Also Bodywatching.

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