HOMESICK FOR A WORLD UNKNOWN: The Life of George B. Schaller, by Miriam Horn In 1959, when the 26-year-old George Schaller arrived in the Belgian Congo as a graduate student in zoology, the little that was known about mountain gorillas came almost exclusively from the study of dead ones. The very idea of observing — rather than trapping or shooting — the massive, chest-beating primates was considered foolhardy. Some experts advised Schaller to wear armor; everyone thought he should carry a weapon.