Carl Safina.
Beyond Words: what animals think and feel.
Picador. 2015
Weaving decades of field observations
with exciting new discoveries about the brain,
Carl Safina’s landmark book offers an intimate view of animal behavior,
to challenge the fixed boundary between humans and nonhuman animals.
In Beyond Words, readers travel to Amboseli National Park
in the threatened landscape of Kenya
and witness struggling elephant families work out
how to survive poaching and the pervasive drought,
then to Yellowstone National Park to observe wolves
sort out the aftermath of one pack’s personal tragedy,
and finally plunge into the astonishingly peaceful society
of killer whales living in the crystalline waters of the Pacific Northwest.
Beyond Words brings forth powerful and illuminating insight into the unique personalities of animals, through extraordinary stories of animal joy, grief, jealousy, anger, and love. The similarity between human and nonhuman consciousness, self-awareness, and empathy calls us to reevaluate how we interact with animals, as Safina thoughtfully tackles issues that affect us all, including habitat conservation, poaching, and climate change. Wise, passionate, and eye-opening at every turn, Beyond Words is ultimately a graceful examination of humanity’s place in the world.