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| The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy - and Why They Matter | 
 enlarge | Author: Marc Bekoff
Creator: Jane Goodall
Publisher: New World Library
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.79
You Save: $6.16 (41%)
New (28) Used (6) from $8.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 48832
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 1577316290
Dewey Decimal Number: 591.5
EAN: 9781577316299
ASIN: 1577316290
Publication Date: May 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
If the onus on Emotional Lives of Animals author Marc Bekoff was simply to prove that nonhuman creatures exhibit Charles Darwin's six universal emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, and surprise), then his book would be very brief. As anyone who has ever had a pet dog, cat, rabbit, or even bird can attest, animals not only possess such emotions but broadcast them clearly and often. Bekoff's goal, however, is much grander: To show that wild and domestic species have a kaleidoscopic range of feelings, from embarrassment to awe, and that we dismiss them not only at their peril but our own. And if an endorsement squib by PETA president Ingrid Newkirk and Foreword by renowned animal scientist Jane Goodall doesn't give it away, then readers quickly learn that Bekoff also has an agenda: showing that using animals for scientific experiments, amusement, food, and the like is reprehensible and unconscionable. Not that The Emotional Lives of Animals is a polemic. By turns funny, anecdotal, and deeply researched, the book is all the more persuasive because it's so compelling. As Bekoff (professor emeritus of biology at the University of Colorado) points out, "It's bad biology to argue against the existence of animal emotions. Scientific research in evolutionary biology, cognitive ethology, and social neuroscience supports the view that numerous and diverse animals have rich and deep emotional lives. Emotions have evolved as adaptations in numerous species, and they serve as a social glue to bond animals with one another." And with us, as Bekoff argues in this absorbing and important book. -- Kim Hughes
Product Description
Based on award-winning scientist Marc Bekoff’s years studying social communication in a wide range of species, this important book shows that animals have rich emotional lives. Bekoff skillfully blends extraordinary stories of animal joy, empathy, grief, embarrassment, anger, and love with the latest scientific research confirming the existence of emotions that common sense and experience have long implied. Filled with Bekoff’s light humor and touching stories, The Emotional Lives of Animals is a clarion call for reassessing both how we view animals and how we treat them.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Fine Ethical Thesis: Touching Stories. September 10, 2007
46 out of 46 found this review helpful
Do no harm is the essence of this book. It provides colorful insight into the real emotional lives of various animals. The author used a wide variety of sources, & field observations from wildlife biologists. The section on neurobiology were the most interesting for me. The fact that animals share several of our neural structures for emotion came as no surprise to this lay person. I have always felt {& have been bashed plenty for it}, that animals often represent the better half of human nature that we sometimes submerge. Dogs, Reptiles, Monkeys, Rats, Moon Bears, Whales & Elephants are all here. The latter are probably the most fascinating creatures in the book? The authors advocacy for animals was very refreshing to this animal lover. His basic thesis gives us a crucial point, "that if we are not certain about an animals emotions, we should presume that they often feel exactly what we humans do." For that compassionate view I had to up my four star impression to a hearty five.
My dogs say, "Bekoff is right." May 24, 2007
29 out of 30 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book, and I don't disagree with anything he says. However, he makes much of his case based on anecdotal evidence. He does cite scientific studies, but these are peripheral to the stories. I don't really mind this because I agreed with him before I ever started reading the book, and I enjoyed the stories. If he's looking to persuade people, which I think he should, he might have gone a little heavier on the science and a little lighter on the stories.
Regardless of whether he has proven his case about the emotions of animals, his book gives us one pivotal concept we can rely on: if we don't know for sure, the default assumption should be that animals do have emotions until proven otherwise. To paraphrase: If I assume animals feel pain and pleasure and love, and act accordingly, and then it turns out my assumption was wrong, I will have done no harm. However, if I assume that animals don't have feelings, and then it turns out I was wrong, I may have caused immeasurable damage.
Emotional intelligence in animals April 17, 2007
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Marc Bekoff's The Emotional Lives of Animals is a wonderful book. I was impressed by the scope and depth of the research underlying the book, and by the way that Bekoff makes scientific data interesting and accessible to a general readership. The writing is lively; Bekoff weaves together stories of animal emotions with scientific data supporting his ideas about animal empathy, fairness, grief, pleasure, joy, and sadness. And his thesis is hardhitting: If animals do indeed live the rich emotional lives that Bekoff describes--and we have every reason to believe they do--then we may, by force of logic, be led to reconsider our moral obligations to them. Bekoff is obviously passionate about his subjects, but never does his writing sound strident. Instead, he uses humor and grace to navigate the controversial terrain of animal welfare.
Of Course Animals Feel Things June 7, 2007
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
I love the studies that try to make chimps 'speak' our language. How egocentric of us: how about scientists trying to speak their language and being tested on that? Just because we wear clothes doesn't make us the only feeling creatures God made. Ever see an animal run from headlights? Your pet in a bad mood? Puppies cuddle? Why is this even an issue? Because traditionally, feelings belonged to women and everyone knows women, children and the elderly don't rate worth a hoot so why should feelings in animals rate? With more men like this author, all that is changing. But until 'men' in science realize analysis is only so good and that feelings coupled with intelligence and intuition is what makes the world go round, we will continue to have this ridiculous debate. Let's face it. We just recently decided babies feel pain. Why? Because anything that can't talk is considered 'below' men and non-entities. Until the silent, pawed and everything that doesn't go to Harvard is afforded respect, we will join with this author in his quest to prove animals have feelings. So many of us have known this all along -
the same people who know that children feel and remember.
Understanding Animal Emotions and Treating Animals with Compassion April 7, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book and I can't recommend it highly enough. If you want to read just one book which provides insight into the complex emotional lives of animals this is it. Dr. Bekoff draws from a wide array of sources, including personal anecdotes from animal lovers and field observations from wildlife biologists, to arguments about Darwinian evolution and continuity, to the latest discoveries in neurobiology which demonstrate that animals share many of our same neural structures for emotion. The wonderful stories about grief, joy, awe, humor and other emotions in a variety of animals, including rats, dogs, elephants, whales, macaws, chimpanzees, monkeys, and moon bears will make you smile and cry.
Dr. Bekoff, however, doesn't stop at simply making the case for animal emotions but goes beyond to argue that given our understanding of the rich emotional lives of animals that we have an ethical obligation to treat our fellow animals with compassion and respect and he discusses current abuses including factory farms, medical research, and zoos. As someone who has worked on animal welfare issues and is interested in animal behavior, it's Dr. Bekoff's advocacy for animals that I find most inspiring for he is one of those rare scientists who argue that what we know imposes an ethical obligation to act. Although many scientists now accept that animals have rich emotional lives, Dr. Bekoff has been at the forefront of the movement arguing--as a scientist--for the complex emotional lives of animals. His willingness to take on the skeptics and see his fellow animals as being the rich, emotional, complex beings that they are is an inspiration to us non-scientists who work with and care for animals. Dr. Bekoff has drawn on his research as an ethologist and biologist over the years to make the case for animal emotions and he has been at the forefront of arguing for ethical treatment of animals. I have read several of his other books and am thrilled with this new book, which is one of his best.
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