Beyond Words What Animals Think and Feel Paperback
Beyond Words, by Carl Safina, is a well written, well researched book that explores, as the subtitle suggests, what animals might think and feel. It is a difficult book to review for a few reasons; the first, because it covers so much about animal and human behavior that it is nearly overwhelming, at least to this reader. Luckily for me, Mr. Safina makes his science eminently readable and relatable. The second reason is that it will likely cause you to silently root for the relatively quick and not necessarily painless extinction of humanity.
Mr. Safina writes primarily about three animal communities – elephants in Amboseli Park in Kenya, wolves in Yellowstone Park, and killer whales in the Pacific Northwest – and weaves in and out of those three main stories countless others that shed light both on animal behavior and communication, and on the scientists and philosophers who observe those behaviors, and the conclusions that they come to. It is rarely, if ever, pretty. It is often infuriating and heartbreaking, though there are stories of great charm and delight and hope, as well. It is a roller coaster of a book, especially if you feel even remotely sympathetic or connected to animals, domesticated or not.
To see how many of those animals suffer at the hands of scientists and philosophers (I'm looking at you, Descartes!) was the least surprising and most depressing aspect of this book. The human toll on the animal kingdom is documented in terrible detail; it's a rough life if you don't have opposable thumbs – and sometimes, as with many primates, even when you do.
In the first chapter, Mr. Safina tells a story about the elephant researcher Cynthia Moss. When asked what she had learned about humanity from years of watching elephants, Moss dismisses the question, and suggests that it is valuable to observe them simply because they are elephants. The value comes in understanding the animal itself, not in any potential parallels to humanity that might be drawn. This response to what was to have been the subject of his book appears to have radically shifted Mr. Safina's thinking, and that rather than writing about how animals might be like us, he says, his task "would be to endeavor to see who animals simply are – like us or not." (pg. 13)
Many of the stories that illustrate who those animals might simply be may come as a complete revelation to the reader. Prior to reading Beyond Words, my understanding of killer whales was limited largely to that of "big scary fish, many teeth." Now it's unlikely that I will look at one without wondering about the individual behind those many teeth. And that, I think, is the great strength of this book; it is a sane, rational, science-driven argument that provides the encouragement to move beyond the sort of thinking that places man eternally in dominion over animals, and rather, suggests the possibility of a better world for all of us, humans and animals alike.
Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. Safina, Carl.
Call # 591.56 Saf Browsing Collection – Level 3
Beyond Words What Animals Think and Feel Paperback
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