Synopses & Reviews
Thinking bees, ice-skating buffaloes, dreaming rats, happy foxes, ecstatic elephants, despondent dolphins--in Minding Animals, Marc Bekoff takes us on an exhilarating tour of the emotional and mental world of animals, where we meet creatures who do amazing things and whose lives are filled with mysteries.
Following in the footsteps of Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen, Bekoff has spent the last 30 years studying animals of every stripe--from coyotes in Wyoming to penguins in Antarctica. He draws on this vast experience, as well as on the observations of other naturalists, to offer readers fascinating stories of animal behavior, including grooming and gossip, self-medication, feeding patterns, dreaming, dominance, and mating behavior. Many of these stories are truly incredible--chimpanzees medicating themselves with herbal remedies, elephants clearly mourning a dead group member--but this is not simply a catalog of amazing animal tales, for Bekoff also sheds light on many of the more serious issues surrounding animals. He offers a thought-provoking look at animal cognition, intelligence, and consciousness and he presents vivid examples of animal passions, highlighting the deep emotional lives of our animal kin. All this serves as background for his thoughtful conclusions about humility and animal protection and animal well-being, where he urges a new paradigm of respect, grace, compassion, and love for all animals.
Marc Bekoff has gone deep into the minds, hearts, spirits, and souls of animals, giving him profound insight into their lives, and no small insight into ours. Minding Animals is an important contribution to our understanding of animal consciousness, a major work that will be a must read for anyone who loves nature.
Review
"To find out about the rich emotional life of nonhuman species, read Minding Animals."--Natural History
"Bekoff does a wonderful job showing the reader how learning and understanding and 'minding' animals and their behavior lead to recognition of their feelings as well. Using both his vast knowledge of animals and the observations made by other naturalists, Bekoff illustrates the minds, hearts, spirits and souls of the animal kingdom."--Biology Digest
"Interweaving anecdotal stories, discussions of scientific research, and explorations into the philosophy and theology of our relationship with nature and other animals, Bekoff builds a case for the necessity of understanding animals and granting them mutual respect as 'other persons.' The conversational writing style makes for a highly accessible book."--Booklist
"With this abundant narrative of Marc Bekoff a new age of intimacy between humans and animals has begun. The companionship, the play, the healing, the guidance, the protection provided by the animals, all these will be needed in the future as never before. Everyone should read Minding Animals, an amazingly thorough, delightful, and most important book." --Thomas Berry, author of The Dream of the Earth and The Great Work
"For those of us who have immersed ourselves in the well being of life forms other than human, the fact that they communicate and have feelings is as natural and understandable as breathing. Through this lens we see clearly how their well being is intricately interconnected with our own. In Minding Animals Marc Bekoff has done a wonderful job of showing us how learning to understand and 'mind' animals and their behavior leads us to recognize their feelings as well. Through their layers, we find even more richness and joy of life as we glimpse into ever deeper parts of ourselves. This book is fun, inspiring, thought-provoking and educational! What a great mix!" --Julia Butterfly Hill, author of The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods
Synopsis
In
Minding Animals, Marc Bekoff takes us on an exhilarating tour of the emotional and mental world of animals, where we meet creatures who do amazing things and whose lives are filled with mysteries.
Following in the footsteps of Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen, Bekoff has spent the last 30 years studying animals of every stripe--from coyotes in Wyoming to penguins in Antarctica. He draws on this vast experience, as well as on the observations of other naturalists, to offer readers fascinating stories of animal behavior, including grooming and gossip, feeding patterns, dreaming, dominance, and mating behavior. He offers a thought-provoking look at animal cognition, intelligence, and consciousness and he presents vivid examples of animal passions, highlighting the deep emotional lives of our animal kin. All this serves as background for his thoughtful conclusions about humility and animal protection and animal well-being, where he urges a new paradigm of respect, grace, compassion, and love for all animals.
Minding Animals is an important contribution to our understanding of animal consciousness, a major work that will be a must read for anyone who loves nature.
"To find out about the rich emotional life of nonhuman species, read Minding Animals."---Natural History
About the Author
Marc Bekoff is Professor of Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society. A founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, he is the editor of the best-selling
The Smile of a Dolphin: Remarkable Accounts of Animal Emotions and author of
Strolling With Our Kin.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce