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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Would’ve been a 5 star read, with so many great insights into animal behavior, cognition and emotions; the focus on social animals was practically made for me!
But the ARA-ish social commentary about humans knocked down a star, as well as some of the humor.
But the ARA-ish social commentary about humans knocked down a star, as well as some of the humor.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I loved how the author differentiates humans from animals but still acknowledges their intelligence and ability to feel and experience emotions. The phrase, “Beneath the skin, we are kin,” is sprinkled throughout the book. A beautiful non-fiction book for animal lovers.
A fantastic read about animals full of eye opening realizations of how full of ourselves we as humans are.
I love this. The author makes it extremely clear that we, as humanity, need to stop evaluating animals in terms of how similar they are to us, whether they have the exact same emotional abilities as us and whether they have the have the exact same stream of awareness as us because they are who they are - and that's more than enough! Humans are not the golden standard to which any kind of important being needs to be compared to - despite how special we think we are. Who an animal is, is just as important as who your next door neighbor is. In many ways their individual capacity and understanding is beyond anything we hope to attain. I love this and understand that using many first hand accounts of encounters with animals (retold by experts in the field) was to personalise the experience and go past 'hard science' which is often unfair to animals emotion and intelligence but I can see certain people discarding this book for that reason.
The title of this book is a little misleading - this is more of an advocacy for animals (specifically, intelligent animals) than an in-depth scientific account of animal feelings and thoughts and communication (although these topics are covered to some degree). Safina's writing was simultaneously frustrating and gorgeous - frustrating because his arguments were much more emotional than logical, and occasionally irritatingly snarky; gorgeous because he writes so beautifully, empathetically, and vividly.
Safina focuses on intelligent, social animals: specifically, elephants, wolves, apes/monkeys, dogs, and dolphins/killer whales. He spends time in the field with professionals, visiting Africa (elephants), Yellowstone (wolves) and the San Juan Islands (killer whales), meeting with those who study these animals, and his descriptions of what he experiences, witnesses, and hears about are striking and detailed. He covers a little technical ground, but that is not the focus of the book, and it's a pretty easy read. His thesis is that animals in general (particularly, though not exclusively, the aforementioned social/intelligent animals), while not exactly people and while likely lacking the same degree of language as humans, are intelligent, sentient, and comprised of individuals deserving of our respect and protection.
Again, my main frustration with this book was that it was not what I expected, and I sometimes bristled at the extreme lack of objectivity on the part of the author. I was expecting something more like Animal Wise by Virginia Morell, which was a more objective-feeling (and more scientifically-minded) book that covers some similar ground (a lot of the stuff on elephants, for example). Nevertheless, there is enough good stuff in Beyond Words to recommend it; just be prepared for a bit of preachiness.
Safina focuses on intelligent, social animals: specifically, elephants, wolves, apes/monkeys, dogs, and dolphins/killer whales. He spends time in the field with professionals, visiting Africa (elephants), Yellowstone (wolves) and the San Juan Islands (killer whales), meeting with those who study these animals, and his descriptions of what he experiences, witnesses, and hears about are striking and detailed. He covers a little technical ground, but that is not the focus of the book, and it's a pretty easy read. His thesis is that animals in general (particularly, though not exclusively, the aforementioned social/intelligent animals), while not exactly people and while likely lacking the same degree of language as humans, are intelligent, sentient, and comprised of individuals deserving of our respect and protection.
Again, my main frustration with this book was that it was not what I expected, and I sometimes bristled at the extreme lack of objectivity on the part of the author. I was expecting something more like Animal Wise by Virginia Morell, which was a more objective-feeling (and more scientifically-minded) book that covers some similar ground (a lot of the stuff on elephants, for example). Nevertheless, there is enough good stuff in Beyond Words to recommend it; just be prepared for a bit of preachiness.
This was a super cool book.
I want to say I heard the author or something about the book on a podcast a while back and sought this out. The book brings us deep into the lives and societies of various animals, giving us an idea as to how they operate, their heirarchical structure, and so on. One section is dedicated to elephants, another wolves, and so on.
For someone who has limited science knowledge, this was a really great book where I learned a lot. Elephant societies are fascinating! Wolves are weird! It's all super interesting and complicated, and this book strikes the near-perfect balance of not dumbing the information down while also not playing a pandering game with the audience. An underrated nonfiction read for me - I don't know why I'm not constantly hearing about this book.
If you like science, animals, biology, sociology, learning... check this one out.
I want to say I heard the author or something about the book on a podcast a while back and sought this out. The book brings us deep into the lives and societies of various animals, giving us an idea as to how they operate, their heirarchical structure, and so on. One section is dedicated to elephants, another wolves, and so on.
For someone who has limited science knowledge, this was a really great book where I learned a lot. Elephant societies are fascinating! Wolves are weird! It's all super interesting and complicated, and this book strikes the near-perfect balance of not dumbing the information down while also not playing a pandering game with the audience. An underrated nonfiction read for me - I don't know why I'm not constantly hearing about this book.
If you like science, animals, biology, sociology, learning... check this one out.