Beastly
The 40,000-Year Story of Animals and Us
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From an award-winning writer, a story-rich exploration of our shared planet, and the astonishing, moving, and troubled connections between humans and other animals
Animals have shaped our minds, our lives, our land, and our civilization. Humanity would not have gotten very far without them, and yet, over the past two centuries, the relationship has grown further apart. In Beastly, author Keggie Carew seeks to re-enchant readers with the wild world, reframing our understanding of what it is like to be an animal and what our role is as humans.
Beastly throws readers headlong into the mind-blowing, heart-thumping, glittering pageant of life, and goes in search of our most revealing encounters with the animal world throughout the centuries to show where we’ve come from and where we’re going. How did we domesticate animals and why did we choose sheep, goats, cows, pigs, horses, and chickens—but never zebras? How can whales help solve climate change? What does it mean when a young woman befriends a boar, a gorilla tells a joke, or a fish thinks? What does a wren sing? Beastly is a gorgeously written, deeply researched, and intensely felt journey into the splendor and genius of animals and the long, complicated story of our interactions with them as humans. Our relationship with animals has shaped our planet and, if reimagined, could save it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this eye-opening survey, memoirist Carew (Quicksand Tales) illuminates the varied ways humans have related to animals throughout history and contends that they're more emotionally sophisticated than people give them credit for. Decrying the cruelty humans have inflicted on animals, Carew notes that ancient Romans killed thousands of bears, lions, and other creatures in the Colosseum and that 19th-century animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck used brutal methods to capture baboons, giraffes, and zebras in Africa, and ship them to zoos around the world. Other stories cast doubt on scientists who dismiss animals' apparent displays of emotion as anthropomorphism. In 2011, for example, a humpback whale was filmed leaping out of the water 40 times over the course of an hour in joy after humans freed her from a fishing net. Carew also highlights the emotional bonds animals form with humans, describing how Polish wildlife photographer Lech Wilczek rescued a young raven who in adulthood rode around on Wilczek's shoulder and the back of his motorbike. The heartwarming anecdotes persuasively attest to the complexity of animals' interior lives, making a strong case for humans to reconsider how they treat other species. Impassioned and entertaining, this is a no-brainer for animal lovers. Photos.
