Instead of being elated by this unexpected good fortune, I found myself depressed for the only time in my life. The awards were made to me and to two dozen other people in the belief that we had something unusual to contribute to the world, and that five years of freedom might encourage and permit us to contribute more effectively. The director of the Fellows' Program of the MacArthur Foundation phoned to say that I had just been awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for five years, with no strings attached.
Then in 1985 came a phone call that changed my life. But although these magazine articles gave me an excuse to spend some time re-exploring my childhood range of interests, I was still spending most of my time writing about gallbladders and New Guinea birds for the few experts interested in those subjects.
A chance opportunity to write a popular magazine article in 1976 did lead to invitations to write for more magazines, about subjects far afield: volcanoes, sex, wheels, tribal peoples, and other topics. Buy The Third Chimpanzeepublished papers only about two slices of the palette: fluid transport by the gallbladder, and New Guinea birds.
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