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Beyond Words

What Animals Think and Feel
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( 4,616 ratings, 714 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In Beyond Words, Carl Safina delves into the intricate lives of animals, exploring their thoughts, emotions, and unique personalities. He blends scientific insights with deeply personal narratives to illustrate how animals such as elephants, wolves, and whales communicate and experience the world. The book challenges readers to reconsider the boundaries between humans and other species, offering a profound perspective on the intelligence and agency of animals within the natural world.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you have a keen interest in understanding the complex inner lives of animals. With an engaging approach, it explores the emotional and social interactions of creatures such as elephants, wolves, and dolphins, highlighting the rich fabric of communication that goes beyond human language. You might enjoy it if you cherish both scientific insight and heartwarming narratives about our fellow beings in the animal kingdom.

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In a world where we measure animals by human standards, prize-winning author and MacArthur Fellow Carl Safina takes us inside their minds, witnessing their profound capacity for perception, thought and emotion.

In a world where we measure animals by human standards, prize-winning author and MacArthur Fellow Carl Safina takes us inside their minds, witnessing their profound capacity for perception, thought and emotion

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

I wanted to know what they were experiencing, and why to us they feel so compelling, and so close. This time I allowed myself to ask them the question that for a scientist was forbidden fruit: Who are you?

Weaving decades of field observations with exciting new discoveries about the brain, Carl Safina's landmark book offers an intimate view of animal behaviour to challenge the fixed boundary between humans and animals.

Travelling to the threatened landscape of Kenya to witness struggling elephant families work out how to survive poaching and drought, then on to Yellowstone National Park to observe wolves sort out the aftermath of one pack's personal tragedy, the book finally plunges 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 re-evaluate how we interact with animals.

Wise, passionate, and eye-opening at every turn, Beyond Words is ultimately a graceful examination of humanity's place in the world.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Beyond Words by Carl Safina receives high praise for its insightful exploration of animal behaviour and cognition. Reviewers commend Safina's engaging writing style and compelling storytelling, which draws readers into a deeper understanding of animal lives and our connection to them. The book is noted for its combination of scientific research, personal anecdotes, and travel experiences, making it both captivating and enlightening. With vivid depictions of animals and a contagious enthusiasm, Safina invites us to reconsider our relationship with other species and humanity's role in the natural world.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781788164238

Publisher: Profile Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 April 2020

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Souvenir Press Ltd

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 34.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 340g

Pages: 480

About the Author

Carl Safina's writing about the living world has won a MacArthur "genius" prize, Pew, and Guggenheim Fellowships; book awards from Lannan, Orion, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. He has studied seabirds, worked to ban high-seas drift nets and to overhaul U.S. fishing policy. Safina is now the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and he runs the not-for-profit Safina Center. He is author of the classic book, Song for the Blue Ocean. He lives on Long Island, New York with his wife Patricia and their dogs and feathered friends.

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