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Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World
by Brandon Keim
What does the science of animal intelligence mean for how we understand and live with the wild creatures around us?
Honeybees deliberate democratically. Rats reflect on the past. Snakes have friends. In recent decades, our understanding of animal cognition has exploded, making it indisputably clear that the cities and landscapes around us are filled with thinking, feeling individuals besides ourselves. But the way we relate to wild animals has yet to catch up. In Meet the Neighbors, acclaimed science journalist Brandon Keim asks: what would it mean to take the minds of other animals seriously?
In this wide-ranging, wonder-filled exploration of animals' inner lives, Keim takes us into courtrooms and wildlife hospitals, under backyard decks and into deserts, to meet anew the wild creatures who populate our communities and the philosophers, rogue pest controllers, ecologists, wildlife doctors, and others who are reimagining our relationships to them. If bats trade favors and groups of swans vote to take off by honking, should we then see them as fellow persons―even members of society? When we come to understand the depths of their pleasures and pains, the richness of their family lives and their histories, what do we owe so-called pests and predators, or animals who are sick or injured? Can thinking of nonhumans as our neighbors help chart a course to a kinder, gentler planet? As Keim suggests, the answers to these questions are central to how we understand not only the rest of the living world, but ourselves.
A beguiling invitation to discover an expanded sense of community and kinship beyond our own species, Meet the Neighbors opens our eyes to the world of vibrant intelligence just outside our doors.
"Keim provides fascinating insight into ways humanity might take animal rights more seriously... . The result is a potent complement to Martha C. Nussbaum's Justice for Animals." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Keim presents all of this information with insight and compassion... . [Meet the Neighbors is] a comprehensive guide to thinking of animals not as anonymous creatures, but as individuals." ―Kirkus Reviews
"A heartfelt and unique look at the inner life of animals and how we so often fail to understand them…Sure to be an instant classic." ―Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation
"Few writers plumb the lives of our nonhuman brethren with more sensitivity and originality than Brandon Keim…You'll surely feel new empathy for your local raccoons, robins, and rats after reading this profound, big-hearted book." ―Ben Goldfarb, author of Crossings and Eager
"An indispensable companion…Keim's book opens our eyes to the wonder in our midst, from the smallest bee to the wittiest coyote. What we learn should change how the law treats animals, how society treats them, and how we treat them as neighbors." ―Alexandra Horowitz, New York Times bestselling author of Inside of a Dog and Our Dogs, Ourselves
This information about Meet the Neighbors was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Brandon Keim is an independent journalist specializing in animals, nature, and science. His work appears regularly in the New York Times, Atlantic, Nautilus, National Geographic, and elsewhere. He lives in Bangor, Maine.
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