'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because Gruen is not quite prepared for the philosophical implications of her subject, it is not as deeply involving emotionally or as interesting thematically as it could be.

Hungry ears are sharp ones.

Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.

Charles Dickens was an avid seeker of names - he read directories and looked for odd names on gravestones.

People with good intentions never give up!

I had spent years thinking about one thing while I was doing another. I had, in fact, prided myself on being able to do two things at once.

Another thing he told his customers was that one of the great accounting unknowns of the modern age was how to value knowledge. It was an exciting field.