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318 reviews for:
Die erstaunliche Wahrheit über Tiere: Was Mythen und Irrtümer über uns verraten
Lucy Cooke
4.23 AVERAGE
318 reviews for:
Die erstaunliche Wahrheit über Tiere: Was Mythen und Irrtümer über uns verraten
Lucy Cooke
4.23 AVERAGE
I read this because Kara Brown recommended it on an episode of Keep It (love Kara, love Keep It, highly recommend if you don't already listen), and it was very enjoyable. There are a lot of facts, science, and some history in here, but Cooke writes in a way that makes it fun and interesting. This was a fun nonfiction palate cleanser.
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
The Truth About Animals had been sitting on my shelf for a long time. My expectations of it dwindled with time, but it was one of the best nonfiction books I’ve read all year and I will surely read it again.
I love nonfiction that has a surplus of information and facts to offer. I learned so many things about animals overlooked by science. Chapter by chapter we meet different creatures, my favorite chapters were that of the beaver, hyena, vulture, frog, and hippo. The hippo, in particular, was astounding. They’re related to whales? Who would have guessed? They also communicate above and below water. Underwater in a series of clicks transmitted through neck blubber and received by reverberations of the jawbone. Very similar to their aquatic counterparts.
The method of delivery was also a key factor in making this book beloved. Each animal gets one chapter, relatively long, but just enough to grasp and be engaged without unnecessary drawl. I became enthralled and time sped by at an abnormal rate as I was reading. It was nice to be spellbound.
With some nonfiction, I feel like I hear too much recorded back–and–forth from old white scientists who thought completely horrendous things that made absolutely no logical sense. Never arriving shortly at the nitty-gritty of the situation takes a toll. Not only are the chapters compact, but they also expose and debunk all of the stereotypes and anthropomorphisms those people put on animals. Making them undoubtedly seem silly.
Overall, my favorite aspect was how the author connected herself and narrated the story. I love hearing many different opinions and seeing the world through other people’s eyes but, it can be a thin line in nonfiction. Many times I feel like there is an overwhelming amount of personal input in books. When I’m reading to learn about Mars, I don’t want a comparison to giving birth. Books where the author has already told you that this is about them–plus–the–subject is great, along with the ones like these where the author chimes in for context and, briefly, humor. And boy was this funny, I can always find picking on old white men hilarious, along with…engaging yourself in your studies to accurately describe for your readers (check out the beaver chapter). More than the author narrating from her experience, she includes specialists from each animal to dictate.
If I could put one zoology book into the hands of someone who was looking for the enlightenment of new knowledge, The Truth About Animals would be a top contender. Rich with information, balanced in its writing, and so very funny, this would be engaging for anyone to read. Cook should write another book in this format.
I love nonfiction that has a surplus of information and facts to offer. I learned so many things about animals overlooked by science. Chapter by chapter we meet different creatures, my favorite chapters were that of the beaver, hyena, vulture, frog, and hippo. The hippo, in particular, was astounding. They’re related to whales? Who would have guessed? They also communicate above and below water. Underwater in a series of clicks transmitted through neck blubber and received by reverberations of the jawbone. Very similar to their aquatic counterparts.
The method of delivery was also a key factor in making this book beloved. Each animal gets one chapter, relatively long, but just enough to grasp and be engaged without unnecessary drawl. I became enthralled and time sped by at an abnormal rate as I was reading. It was nice to be spellbound.
With some nonfiction, I feel like I hear too much recorded back–and–forth from old white scientists who thought completely horrendous things that made absolutely no logical sense. Never arriving shortly at the nitty-gritty of the situation takes a toll. Not only are the chapters compact, but they also expose and debunk all of the stereotypes and anthropomorphisms those people put on animals. Making them undoubtedly seem silly.
Overall, my favorite aspect was how the author connected herself and narrated the story. I love hearing many different opinions and seeing the world through other people’s eyes but, it can be a thin line in nonfiction. Many times I feel like there is an overwhelming amount of personal input in books. When I’m reading to learn about Mars, I don’t want a comparison to giving birth. Books where the author has already told you that this is about them–plus–the–subject is great, along with the ones like these where the author chimes in for context and, briefly, humor. And boy was this funny, I can always find picking on old white men hilarious, along with…engaging yourself in your studies to accurately describe for your readers (check out the beaver chapter). More than the author narrating from her experience, she includes specialists from each animal to dictate.
If I could put one zoology book into the hands of someone who was looking for the enlightenment of new knowledge, The Truth About Animals would be a top contender. Rich with information, balanced in its writing, and so very funny, this would be engaging for anyone to read. Cook should write another book in this format.
This is a very humorous romp through a handful of misunderstood animal species: beavers, sloths, frogs, eels, bats, storks, hippos, hyenas, moose, penguins, and chimps. Really fun examples of how so-called scientists have repeatedly failed to understand animals. I really enjoyed it. I only wish the book had done more than merely nod at [b:Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?|30231743|Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?|Frans de Waal|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490975607s/30231743.jpg|46521432], which I feel is a more serious and impactful work on the nature of how deeply we misunderstand other species.
Listened to the audiobook read by the author. Very enjoyable to listen to the author as you can feel her passion for the subject. The book is full of weird, interesting facts and many misconceptions about certain animals. I enjoyed the author’s sense of humor and learning weird facts about animals and how wrong we can actually be when it comes to animals.
This was much better than The Inner Lives of Animals, which I listened to earlier this year, though I kept thinking about one of the little takeaways from that book: why is it we insist that animals learn our language for us to communicate and we don't bother learning theirs? Cooke takes this one throughout the book, exploring how humans have conceived of animal behavior and framed it through human understand and beliefs, rather than the ones of the animals themselves. It's hilarious to read about the sex lives of penguins (no monogamy) and pandas (male pandas have peeing contests to win a mate) and sloths (no one really knows), but, we judge those things based on what we as humans see as normal. And Cooke isn't afraid to look at this both historically and through contemporary lenses.
A really great read, with tons of funny stories, and a clear love for animals throughout. My favorite sections were on the sloth -- particularly the drawings and ways that they were rendered in the past -- as well as the section on frogs and hippos. I found the chimpanzee one to be the weakest, but then again, it might be what really hooks other readers. The chimp-human connection isn't a thing that fascinates me the way it does many others.
Worth noting that for readers sensitive to depictions of animal abuse in the laboratory, this might be tough to read. Early science wasn't exactly kind to animals in the quest for "knowledge."
A really great read, with tons of funny stories, and a clear love for animals throughout. My favorite sections were on the sloth -- particularly the drawings and ways that they were rendered in the past -- as well as the section on frogs and hippos. I found the chimpanzee one to be the weakest, but then again, it might be what really hooks other readers. The chimp-human connection isn't a thing that fascinates me the way it does many others.
Worth noting that for readers sensitive to depictions of animal abuse in the laboratory, this might be tough to read. Early science wasn't exactly kind to animals in the quest for "knowledge."
A fun read for those interested in learning more about animals and the history of science. Each chapter focuses on a different misunderstood species and could stand alone; however, the themes of scientific error, discovery, and anthropomorphism are woven throughout each chapter to make compelling points about how humans study animals. It’s a fun book to read in the presence of others, because it gives you a ton of fun facts and stories to share.
This is a book filled with very interesting information about a select set of animals including sloths, bats, penguins, hippos, frogs, eels, pandas, chimpanzees, hyenas and others. Lot of the information is lesser known, and makes for engrossing reading.
For instance, hippos genetic makeup shows a closer match with whales rather than any land animal. How do vultures promptly appear when animals die? And so many other interesting bits of information.
Lucy Cooke closes the book with some excellent passages about how in our thinking we have distanced ourselves so much from animals. We think of them as things which exist for our use, and have license to perform cruel experiments on. The passages in the book on the cruel experiments performed on bats to satisfy our curiosity on how they navigate and using frogs for pregnancy tests is sad to read. Pandas for their cute appearance have become a political industry where they are artificially birthed in captivity and don’t lead very satisfying lives.
While the book for the large part makes for excellent and very engrossing reading, it would have benefited from some more material on what motivates the behavior of each of these animals.
I received a free ecopy from NetGalley to provide an honest review.
For instance, hippos genetic makeup shows a closer match with whales rather than any land animal. How do vultures promptly appear when animals die? And so many other interesting bits of information.
Lucy Cooke closes the book with some excellent passages about how in our thinking we have distanced ourselves so much from animals. We think of them as things which exist for our use, and have license to perform cruel experiments on. The passages in the book on the cruel experiments performed on bats to satisfy our curiosity on how they navigate and using frogs for pregnancy tests is sad to read. Pandas for their cute appearance have become a political industry where they are artificially birthed in captivity and don’t lead very satisfying lives.
While the book for the large part makes for excellent and very engrossing reading, it would have benefited from some more material on what motivates the behavior of each of these animals.
I received a free ecopy from NetGalley to provide an honest review.
I absolutely love animals. So when I saw this available at the library, I had to read it. I always enjoy learning about them and their habits. The author wrote it in such an entertaining way and was even funny at points. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I wished it was longer!