Synopses & Reviews
Werewolves and Wernher von Braun, Stonehenge and the sex lives of sea corals, aboriginal myths, and an Anglican bishop: In his new book,
Moon, Bernd Brunner weaves variegated information into an enchanting glimpse of Earths closest celestial neighbor, whose mere presence inspires us to wonder what might be “out there.”
Going beyond the discoveries of contemporary science, Brunner presents an unusual cultural assessment of our complex relationship with Earths lifeless, rocky satellite. As well as offering an engaging perspective on such age-old questions as “What would Earth be like without the moon?” Brunner surveys the moons mythical and religious significance and provokes existential soul-searching through a lunar lens, inquiring, “Forty years ago, the first man put his footprint on the moon. Will we continue to use it as the screen onto which we cast our hopes and fears?”
Drawing on materials from different cultures and epochs, Brunner walks readers down a moonlit path illuminated by more than seventy-five vintage photographs and illustrations. From scientific discussions of the moons origins and its “chronobiological” effects on the mating and feeding habits of animals to an illuminating interpretation of Bishop Francis Godwins 1638 novel The Man in the Moone, Brunners ingenious and interdisciplinary explorations recast a familiar object in an entirely original and unforgettable light and will change the way we view the nighttime sky.
Review
'“Hallelujahthis is the book Ive been waiting for. Everyone who loves dolphins, everyone interested in the science of animal behavior, everyone who cares about preserving the life of the seas must get this riveting book.
Dolphin Mysteries will deepen your awe and rouse your compassion. Its a book worthy of its subject. Ill refer to it again and again.”Sy Montgomery, author of
Journey of the Pink Dolphins and
The Good Good Pig -- Linda Rosenkrantz - Metropolitan News-Enterprise'
Review
“A fascinating journey into the complex social, emotional, and cognitive world of dolphins. Everyone who is interested in animal behavior should read this wonderful book.”Temple Grandin, Ph.D., author of
Animals in Translation -- Sy Montgomery
Review
“A multi-faceted and comprehensive study of dolphin intelligence and communication that masterfully balances hard science with deeply moving accounts of two prominent scientists personal experiences with dolphins. An essential book for anyone interested in dolphins.”Thomas I. White, Ph.D., author of
In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier -- Temple Grandin
Review
“An interesting, readable, and up-to-date account of dolphin behavior from two well-known experts whose own experiences bring something fresh to the discussion.”Mark Simmonds, Ph.D., Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, UK
-- Thomas I. White
Review
“With exquisite prose and scientific acumen,
Dolphin Mysteries unveils the magic world of dolphin communication, bridging land and water and bringing us fin to shoulder with our aquatic kin.”G.A. Bradshaw Ph.D., Director, The Kerulos Center
-- Mark Simmonds
Review
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Dolphin Mysteries is wonderfully written in a personal style that reveals the authors passion for these animals. This amazing work is accessible to everyone.\"
Newsletter of the Puget Sound chapter of the American Cetacean Society -- G.A. Bradshaw'
Review
'\". . . Of all the books Ive read . . . this one has the most to offer in terms of understanding how dolphins behave and interact (both with one another and with humans), and it describes their remarkable cognitive powers in laymans terms.\"Peter Evans,
BBC Wildlife Magazine -- Newsletter of the Puget Sound chapter of the American Cetacean Society'
Review
“A poignant presentation of the eradication of elephant societies. . . The arguments transcend the subject matter of elephants and herald a new cultural stance on human-animal relationships.”Lori Marino, Emory University
-- Laurie Guy - Colloquium
Review
“At times sad and at times heartwarming,
Elephants on the Edge successfully bridges the gap between species. Bradshaw helps us to understand not only elephants, but all animals, including ourselves.”Peter Singer, author of
Animal Liberation -- Lori Marino
Review
“Revolutionary and very exciting, this book is important both in terms of elephant biology and elephant welfare.”Cynthia Moss, Amboseli Trust for Elephants -- Peter Singer
Review
“This book opens the door into the soul of the elephant. It will really make you think about our relationship with other animals.”Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation -- Cynthia Moss
Review
“
Elephants on the Edge is very thoroughly researched and beautifully presenteda devastating, scientific chronicle of the ignorance, cruelty, and mismanagement that placed these magnificent creatures in their present dire situation. Among Bradshaws many virtues is that she exposes the cowardice of scientists who are well aware of the damage now in progress but are unwilling to support animal rights or to condemn animal holocausts. We cannot possibly understand the world we live in unless we acknowledge the role we play in its destruction. Should we continue our Nazi-like behavior toward elephants, and indeed, toward any living creatures? Those who read this book wont want to.”Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of
The Hidden Life of Dogs and of
The Old Way: A Story of the First People
-- Temple Grandin
Review
"This book. . . is fascinating. . . [and] sheds light on disturbing phenomena relevant to the future not only of elephants, but also of humans subjected to similar disruption. Read it.”Robert M. May, Professor Lord May of Oxford OM AC Kt FRS
-- Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Review
"
Elephants on the Edge is a wide-ranging, passionate, well-researched, and urgent call to action. These magnificent, intelligent, and emotional giants are quintessential poster animals for the wounded world in which we live. Read this book, share it widely, and please do something to increase our compassion footprint before its too late. Healing demands collective cross-cultural action now.”Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, coauthor with Jessica Pierce of
Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals -- Robert M. May
Review
"Bradshaw brings home to us forcefully what we should have realized long ago: that destroying the family life of highly social, intelligent animals leads inevitably to misery among individual survivors and pathological misbehaviour among the group."J. M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate in Literature, 2003 -- Marc Bekoff
Review
“In
Elephants on the Edge, G. A. Bradshaw helps us face our ethically flawed relationship with animals and nature and what is at stake for all of us.”John P. Gluck, University of New Mexico; Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University
-- J. M. Coetzee
Review
“Gay Bradshaw clearly demonstrates in this fascinating book, which is a groundbreaking and remarkable feat of scholarship, that we cannot understand the tenuous relationship between man and elephant (or any other co-inhabitants of the natural world) without a self-reflective insight into the deeper psychological and ethical substrata of our own minds.”Allan N. Schore, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine University of California at Los Angeles
-- John P. Gluck
Review
"This achingly lovely book will resonate with anyone endowed with compassion and curiosity about the workings of animal minds." Seed Magazine -- Allan N. Schore
Review
"An existentialists tract wrapped in a naturalists treatise, this unusual volume explores a mighty species from the inside out. . . . A reasoned appeal to morality thats as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking."
The Atlantic Monthly -- Seed
Review
Winner of the Gold Medal for the 2009 Book of the Year Award in Psychology category, presented by ForeWord magazine -- Atlantic Monthly
Review
“A remarkable study of elephant–human interactions."--Tim Flannery,
The New York Review of Books
-- Book of the Year Award - ForeWord Magazine
Review
“Bradshaw suggests we have completely underestimated elephants emotional capacities. . . . The evidence that human and elephant behaviors are similar is compelling. . . . This book is engrossing and will appeal to a general audience."--Paula Kuhumbu,
Conservation Biology
-- Tim Flannery - New York Review of Books
Review
"African peoples and wildlife have been bound together in a delicate network of interdependence since ancient times. The arrival of colonialism tore apart these bonds: human brother now fights against elephant brother, and mothers of both species mourn.
Elephants on the Edge is an urgent call to end this strife and for humanity to embrace once more the traditions that kept the peace with our animal kin."Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
-- Paula Kuhumbu - Conservation Biology
Review
"Bradshaw has shown that science has now provided us with the knowledge we need to chnage the way we treat other animals, especially those like elephants and cetaceans with complex societies. It is time for humanity to catch up."--Wildlife Activist -- Desmond Tutu
Review
"Astronomers, geologists, rocketeers and space jockeys all have a practical interest in the Moon, but earthbound mortals look up and project all their fears and fantasies on to its pale surface. Without it our tides would not ebb and flow, our poetry would be the poorer, our nights would be dark and we would not believe in werewolves baying in the fullness of its face. We know perfectly well that the Moon is a cold, rocky, lifeless little satellite, but wheres the romance in that? Brunner shows how it has shone silver though our dreams and destinies. It is the inspiration for myths and marvels and may be a kicking-off point for a further jump into space."Kate Saunders, The Times (London) -- Norman Lebrecht - Wall Street Journal
Review
“A mix of memoir, social commentary and exploration of anthropomorphism, Jenny Diskis book raises all the right questions”—Becky Krystal, Washington Post Becky Krystal
Review
"What I Don't Know About Animals will make any pet owner, zoogoer or meat-eater wonder whether we really know anything about the other species we interact with on a daily basis. A mix of memoir, social commentary and exploration of anthropomorphism, Jenny Diski's book raises all the right questions."—Becky Krystal, Washington Post
Review
"Diskis dry humor (which inspired me to write 'ha!' in my margins more than a few times) and her thorough research on a seldom-explored topic will certainly capture readers attention."—PopMatters
Review
"[A] love story and homage to the integrity and the otherness of our fellow animals . . . tender [and] engaging."—Frederic Tuten, Bomb Magazine
Review
"This book will really make you think about the complexity of issues regarding the use of animals."—Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make us Human
Review
“Diski writes with clarity and insight, weaving together an impressive range of philosophic, scientific and literary material.”—The Financial Times Frederic Tuten - Bomb Magazine
Review
“a terrific and thought-provoking read in an area of life that traditionally doesn't provoke any thought at all.”—
The Times (London)Review
“Reading [WHAT I DON'T KNOW], you may find yourself, like Alice, muttering: 'Curiouser and curiouser!” —
Irish TimesReview
“What I Don’t Know About Animals is most arresting when Diski brings her own life into the fold. There’s her relationship with said cat, a 'drama queen' named Bunty. It gets even more personal in the passage devoted to the author’s struggle with delusional parasitosis, which had her convinced she was infested with bugs. It’s one of Diski’s more dramatic examples of how animals can get inside our heads.”—Becky Krystal, Washington Post
Review
‘This curious, deep book about our profoundly ambiguous engagement with the other animals on this planet provides much food for thought’—Christopher Hirst, The Independent
Synopsis
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This enthralling book takes us into the dolphins world beneath the sea to discover details of their lives, their methods of communication, and how they interact with one another and with humans. Drawing on decades of firsthand research, the authors unveil one of the most intimate and scientifically accurate portraits of dolphins to date.\n
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Synopsis
Dolphins have fascinated humans for millennia, giving rise to an abundance of stories and myths about them, yet the actual details of their lives in the sea have remained elusive. In this enthralling book, Kathleen M. Dudzinski and Toni Frohoff take us into the dolphins aquatic world to witness firsthand how they live their lives, communicate, and interact with one another and with other species, including people.
Kathleen M. Dudzinski and Toni Frohoff are scientists who have collectively dedicated more than 40 years to studying dolphins beneath the oceans surface, frequently through a close-up underwater lens. Drawing on their own experiences and on up-to-the-minute research, the authors show that dolphins are decidedly not just members of a group but distinct individuals, able to communicate with one another and with humans. Dudzinski and Frohoff introduce a new way of looking at, and listening to, the vocabulary of dolphins in the sea, and they even provide an introductory dolphin dictionary,” listing complex social signals that dolphins use to share information among themselves and with people. Unveiling an intimate and scientifically accurate portrait of dolphins, this book will appeal to everyone who has wanted a closer glimpse into the hearts and minds of these amazing creatures.
Synopsis
Drawing on accounts from India to Africa and California to Tennessee, and on research in neuroscience, psychology, and animal behavior, G. A. Bradshaw explores the minds, emotions, and lives of elephants. Wars, starvation, mass culls, poaching, and habitat loss have reduced elephant numbers from more than ten million to a few hundred thousand, leaving orphans bereft of the elders who would normally mentor them. As a consequence, traumatized elephants have become aggressive against people, other animals, and even one another; their behavior is comparable to that of humans who have experienced genocide, other types of violence, and social collapse. By exploring the elephant mind and experience in the wild and in captivity, Bradshaw bears witness to the breakdown of ancient elephant cultures.
All is not lost. People are working to save elephants by rescuing orphaned infants and rehabilitating adult zoo and circus elephants, using the same principles psychologists apply in treating humans who have survived trauma. Bradshaw urges us to support these and other models of elephant recovery and to solve pressing social and environmental crises affecting all animals, human or not.
Synopsis
A book for those who are entranced by animals, those who cherish elegant writing, and those who delight in the meditations of an original thinker
Synopsis
What does novelist, essayist, and memoirist Jenny Diski know about animals? She wasn't really sure as she began to write this book, and she may not be sure now. But of this she is certain: our relationships with, and attitudes toward, animals are really worth thinking about. In
What I Don't Know About Animals, she shows why.
Diski sets out on her wide-ranging investigation by remembering the stuffed cuddly creatures from her childhood, the animal books she read, the cartoons she watched, the strays she found. She considers the animals who have lived and still live with her (most especially Bunty the cat), animals she has encountered close up, and those she has feared. She examines human beings, too, and how they have looked at, studied, treated, and written about the non-human creatures of our shared planet. Ranging still further, the author interviews scientists, discusses Derrida and his cat, and observes elephants in Kenya, always seeking the key to the complex relationship we in the modern West have with animals.
Subtle, intelligent, and always engaging, this book is a brilliant exploration of what it means to be human and what it means to be animal, and the uncertainty of what we can know about either.
About the Author
Kathleen M. Dudzinski , Ph.D., is director of the Dolphin
Communication Project and adjunct faculty at University of Southern
Mississippi, Alaska Pacific University, and University of Rhode Island.
Toni Frohoff , Ph.D., is Executive Director of TerraMar Research and faculty affiliate of the Trans-Species Institute of Learning.