The Inner Life of Animals
Love, Grief, and Compassion—Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
-
-
4.6 • 5 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees.
“The Inner Life of Animals will rock your world. This book shows us that animals think, feel and know in much the same way as we do.”—Sy Montgomery, bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus
Through vivid stories of devoted pigs, two-timing magpies, and scheming roosters, The Inner Life of Animals weaves the latest scientific research into how animals interact with the world with Peter Wohlleben's personal experiences in forests and fields. We learn that horses feel shame, deer grieve, and goats discipline their kids. Ravens call their friends by name, rats regret bad choices, and butterflies choose the very best places for their children to grow up.
In this captivating book, Peter Wohlleben follows the hugely successful The Hidden Life of Trees with insightful stories into the emotions, feelings, and intelligence of animals around us. Animals are different from us in ways that amaze us—and they are also much closer to us than we ever would have thought.
“Wry, avuncular, careful and kind. . . Each story adds to a widening vision of intelligence, emotion and relationship.”—The Guardian
Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
German forester Peter Wohlleben has spent much of his career studying The Hidden Life of Trees, the title of his magnificent international bestseller. With this captivating follow-up, he seamlessly weaves together scientific reports and personal observations to showcase the depth of animal intelligence and emotions, leaving no doubt that deer mourn, horses embarrass, and fish love. Wohlleben’s companionable, conversational prose brings us up close to hedgehogs with night terrors, magpies with mistresses, and crows with a penchant for tobogganing. The Inner Life of Animals is an outrageously delightful read, rattling our assumptions about what separates us from the beasts.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
German forester and author Wohlleben follows The Hidden Life of Trees by turning his attention from flora to fauna, thoughtfully exploring questions about the range of emotions experienced by animals. In 41 short chapters, he considers examples of animals exhibiting humanlike feelings, including love, courage, desire, grief, regret, and playfulness, weaving a web of delightful and stirring anecdotes drawn from personal observations and scientific studies. The mating rituals of Wohlleben's family's billy goat may be attributed to instinct, but his descriptions of more complex emotions, such as the embarrassment he says the younger of their two horses shows if they reprimand her in front of an older horse or the gratitude demonstrated by crows, are more intriguing. Wohlleben's anecdotes are enjoyable and thought-provoking, and take on a certain heft when shared alongside examples he takes from published scientific research, such as Koko, a female gorilla who learned to use sign language with help from a researcher at Stanford University. Wohlleben quickly whisks readers from one example to another, but they will find the brief encounters and Wohlleben's musings enchanting and enlightening.
