The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life

“[A]n entertaining and affectionate exploration of dogs and their distinctive mode of being." —Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post


“This is a book everyone interested in animals and philosophy must read." —John Gray, author of The New Leviathans and Feline Philosophy


“Rowlands has written a profound and funny examination of what it means to be fulfilled.” —Tim Dowling, Guardian


“Wise, profound, often very funny I loved every page." —Anthony McGowan, author of How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog

If you have spent any part of your life with a dog, you may have found certain questions popping, unbidden, into your mind: Is my dog living a fulfilled life? Is my dog a good dog? Does my dog love me? Addressing these questions compels you to confront not just your dog’s life but yours as well—to think about what fulfillment, and meaning, in life really is.

In The Word of Dog, philosopher Mark Rowlands explores these questions and suggests that in dogs we can see hints—faint, shrouded, but discernible—of what a better way of living might look like. Perhaps none of us can be happy in the way a dog can, but The Word of Dog shows us we could do a lot better than we’re doing simply by listening to the unspoken wisdom our dogs reveal to us every day of their happy, uncomplicated lives.