AFRICA IN MY BLOOD: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN LETTERS

From early childhood, as these chatty letters reveal, Jane Goodall divided much of her time between enjoying extensive menageries of pets (horses, dogs, hamsters, turtles) and recording that experience in writing. Her youthful exuberance inspired an endless line of suitors, including Dr. Louis Leakey, who ultimately created a post for her at East Africa's Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve. A consummate correspondent, Goodall reveals her delight in her work whether she's girlishly excited (a potential study of chimps is ''too heavenly to even think about'') or reveling in her achievements (when her favorite chimp, David, first takes a banana directly from her hand, she is quietly amazed: ''So gently. No snatching''). A

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