Synopses & Reviews
The recognition of animal pain and stress, once controversial, is now acknowledged by legislation in many countries, but there is no formal recognition of animals' ability to feel pleasure. Pleasurable Kingdom is the first book for lay-readers to present new evidence that animals--like humans--enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival and the avoidance of pain. Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to baboons feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe proposes that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society.
For more information please visit the author's website at www.pleasurablekingdom.com
Review
"Dr. Balcombe convincingly argues that animals are individual beings with a wide range of emotions and feeling. If he is correct and I believe he is it follows that we must grapple with the ethical consequences of his important insights." Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO, The Humane Society of the United States
Review
"Pleasurable Kingdom is a love affair with our fellow beings. Balcombe tempts us to consider, more open-mindedly than ever before, the experiences of animals in more ways than traditional science has yet acknowledged, perhaps even imagined." Professor Jaak Panksepp, Author, Affective Neuroscience
Review
"I predicted, in When Elephants Weep, that in ten years better scientists would write better books about the depth of feelings in animals. Well, that time has come, and here is that book." Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Author, When Elephants Weep
Review
"This impressive book takes the reader on a journey of scientific knowledge and understanding into the inner lives of others, from mice to monkeys and fish to fowl even insects and worms that inspires respect and appreciation for all creatures great and small. Dr. Balcombe's book should be a standard text for students of biology and behaviour. All who care for animals will be informed and inspired." Michael W. Fox, Veterinarian, columnist, author
Review
"For centuries humanity has justified our extermination of fishes with the myth that they do not have feelings or intelligence. Jonathan Balcombe exposes this myth and presents fishes, with other animals, as sensitive, social, feeling, marvelous sentient beings." Captain Paul Watson, founder of Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Review
"In Pleasurable Kingdom, Balcombe draws together an extraordinary amount of information to help us to appreciate that we are not the only species that can, if all goes well, live joyful lives." Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, USA
Review
"[E]ntertaining and thought-provoking....Recommended..." Library Journal
Synopsis
The recognition of animal pain and stress, once controversial, is now acknowledged by legislation in many countries, but there is no formal recognition of animals' ability to feel pleasure. Pleasurable Kingdom is the first book for lay-readers to present new evidence that animals like humans enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival and the avoidance of pain. Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to baboons feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe proposes that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society.
Synopsis
A rousing case for animal pleasure and its ethical and evolutionary implications
Synopsis
Pleasurable Kingdom presents new evidence that animals--like humans--enjoy themselves. From birds to baboons, insects to iguanas, animals feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe shows that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society.
About the Author
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe is an animal behavior Research Scientist for the Washington, DC-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and author of
The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations.
A biologist, Jonathan studied at York University (Toronto) and Carleton University (Ottawa) before obtaining his doctorate in ethology (animal behaviour) from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville). In addition to published papers on the behavioural ecology of bats, birds, and turtles, he has written many scholarly and lay articles on animal use in education and research. A popular speaker, he has given invited presentations in the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Israel, and mainland Europe.
In his spare time, Jonathan enjoys bird- and nature-watching, biking, and watercolor painting.
Table of Contents
I. Why Animal Pleasure
1. Survival of the Happiest: The Adaptive Basis for Pleasure
2. Forbidden Pleasures: Our Reluctance to Acknowledge Animal Pleasure
3. Feeling Smart: The Intelligence of Pleasure
II. What Animal Pleasure
1. Play: Fun for Its Own Sake
2. Food: The Pleasures of Sustenance
3. Sex: Procreation and Recreation
4. Touch: Making Contact with Pleasure
5. Love: The Ripening Warmth of Intimacy
6. Other Pleasures: Esthetics, Humor and Beyond
7. From Flies to Fish: At the Margins of Pleasure
III. From Animal Pleasure
1. Feeling Good, Doing Good: Implications of a Pleasurable Kingdom