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270 reviews for:
The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion - Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Peter Wohlleben
3.68 AVERAGE
270 reviews for:
The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion - Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Peter Wohlleben
3.68 AVERAGE
This felt like a waste of time. It was just one dude who was simply observing how nature is and speculating whether they had higher cognitive functions but not really giving much scientific basis (there were a few but hardly anything substantial at least). He told stories about animals that were on his farm (and birds) and how he thinks they experienced the world... What bothered me the most is how he was trying to be comical about his stories. In particular, he described something upsetting an animal experienced and tried to make it a joke. I thought this book was about trying to show the humility that animals possess, yet he ended up being distateful. Again, waste of my time.
Delightful reading, full of interesting observations in both senses of the word!
This book isn't a comprehensive review of all the current science on animals, and it never claims to be. It's an educated, informed, gentle and very open-minded take on whether some of our baseline assumptions might just be wrong.
Questions lead to more questions most of the time here.
The chapters are short, small bites to digest as you wish. There are many keen, moving, funny and just generally fascinating descriptions of wild & domestic animal behaviour, with possible interpretations of it.
The author's enthusiasm and inquisitiveness is disarming and makes it a joy to read, and worth the possible odd glances from laughing out loud.
Having seen the author speak in person, I can say his gentle and curious-about-everything passion was well-translated into this book.
The only "moralizing" (far too strong a term) he makes is that absence of proof isn't proof of absence (of feelings, thoughts etc), so why not err on the side of decency & caution and treat nature a little better, and consume less. This seems such a basic level of reasonableness that I cannot understand the claim that he's "preachy". I'm not a vegetarian & he's not scolding except for some justified skepticism about the vested interests of industrial-scale animal farming having an inordinate effect on policy.
I do find the author's comments that hunting is no longer necessary to be only applicable to Europe, not say the Americas. This is my only complaint, & it may be just a function of the book's (original) intended audience.
I highly recommend reading this in a park if you can manage it, the pages come even further alive :)
Note--I read this in a paperback form, published by The Bodley Head (a division of Vintage Publishing, London) in 2017. It was special-ordered for me as a gift so I don't know if there are variances from a N. American paperback version. The cover & title is the same as the one shown here so I used it!
This book isn't a comprehensive review of all the current science on animals, and it never claims to be. It's an educated, informed, gentle and very open-minded take on whether some of our baseline assumptions might just be wrong.
Questions lead to more questions most of the time here.
The chapters are short, small bites to digest as you wish. There are many keen, moving, funny and just generally fascinating descriptions of wild & domestic animal behaviour, with possible interpretations of it.
The author's enthusiasm and inquisitiveness is disarming and makes it a joy to read, and worth the possible odd glances from laughing out loud.
Having seen the author speak in person, I can say his gentle and curious-about-everything passion was well-translated into this book.
The only "moralizing" (far too strong a term) he makes is that absence of proof isn't proof of absence (of feelings, thoughts etc), so why not err on the side of decency & caution and treat nature a little better, and consume less. This seems such a basic level of reasonableness that I cannot understand the claim that he's "preachy". I'm not a vegetarian & he's not scolding except for some justified skepticism about the vested interests of industrial-scale animal farming having an inordinate effect on policy.
I do find the author's comments that hunting is no longer necessary to be only applicable to Europe, not say the Americas. This is my only complaint, & it may be just a function of the book's (original) intended audience.
I highly recommend reading this in a park if you can manage it, the pages come even further alive :)
Note--I read this in a paperback form, published by The Bodley Head (a division of Vintage Publishing, London) in 2017. It was special-ordered for me as a gift so I don't know if there are variances from a N. American paperback version. The cover & title is the same as the one shown here so I used it!
Just as fascinating as his book about the hidden life of trees.
The keyword here is 'observations'.
This book is a collection of observations that the author has made in regards to animals. There is a lot of anthropomorphising of animals and little scientific evidence.
Nonetheless, it's still a thought-provoking and interesting read.
This book is a collection of observations that the author has made in regards to animals. There is a lot of anthropomorphising of animals and little scientific evidence.
Nonetheless, it's still a thought-provoking and interesting read.
Meu Deus. Esta obra...
Esta obra fala-nos sobre factos fascinantes sobre os animais, sobre o seu lado emocional, os seus instintos, a possibilidade da existência de uma alma no animal entre outras coisas.
Este livro é uma obra obrigatória para todos os amantes da natureza, super enriquecedor em termos de conhecimento; a escrita é igualmente super cativante e a cada capítulo o autor, Peter Wohlleben, conta-nos uma história que nos deixa surpresos. Este livro faz-nos valorizar o reino animal e pensar no quão cruel o ser humano tem sido para com o mesmo. No entanto, há também momentos em que a co-habitação entre seres humanos e animais forma vínculos inquebráveis e histórias lindissímas.
Por favor, leiam esta obra, prometo que não se vão arrepender.
"Na sua essência, os sentimentos encontram-se portanto ligados ao subconsciente, e não ao consciente. Se os animais não tivessem consciência, isso apenas quereria dizer que não seriam capazes de refletir. Pelo contrário, todas as espécies dispõem de um subconsciente, e uma vez que este intervém necessariamente de forma orientadora, isso quer dizer que todos os animais têm também obrigatoriamente sentimentos."
My rating: 5/5
Esta obra fala-nos sobre factos fascinantes sobre os animais, sobre o seu lado emocional, os seus instintos, a possibilidade da existência de uma alma no animal entre outras coisas.
Este livro é uma obra obrigatória para todos os amantes da natureza, super enriquecedor em termos de conhecimento; a escrita é igualmente super cativante e a cada capítulo o autor, Peter Wohlleben, conta-nos uma história que nos deixa surpresos. Este livro faz-nos valorizar o reino animal e pensar no quão cruel o ser humano tem sido para com o mesmo. No entanto, há também momentos em que a co-habitação entre seres humanos e animais forma vínculos inquebráveis e histórias lindissímas.
Por favor, leiam esta obra, prometo que não se vão arrepender.
"Na sua essência, os sentimentos encontram-se portanto ligados ao subconsciente, e não ao consciente. Se os animais não tivessem consciência, isso apenas quereria dizer que não seriam capazes de refletir. Pelo contrário, todas as espécies dispõem de um subconsciente, e uma vez que este intervém necessariamente de forma orientadora, isso quer dizer que todos os animais têm também obrigatoriamente sentimentos."
My rating: 5/5
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Entertaining arguments and examples of how various animals share human traits such as communication, compassion, altruism, strategic thinking, and emotions. Worth the read.
I had a good time reading this but it is at times anthropomorphizing these animals a bit which is a science nono.