Point Books In Favor Of Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good and Evil
ISBN: | 1608196151 (ISBN13: 9781608196159) |
Edition Language: | English |
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Hardcover | Pages: 224 pages Rating: 3.43 | 272 Users | 54 Reviews
Be Specific About Out Of Books Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good and Evil
Title | : | Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good and Evil |
Author | : | Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 224 pages |
Published | : | March 4th 2014 by Bloomsbury USA (first published October 15th 2013) |
Categories | : | Animals. Nonfiction. Science. Philosophy. Environment. Nature. Psychology. History |
Description Supposing Books Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good and Evil
In his previous bestsellers, Masson has showed us that animals can teach us much about our own emotions-love (dogs), contentment (cats), and grief (elephants), among others. In Beasts, he demonstrates that the violence we perceive in the “wild” is a matter of projection.Animals predators kill to survive, but animal aggression is not even remotely equivalent to the violence of mankind. Humans are the most violent animals to our own kind in existence. We lack what all other animals have: a check on the aggression that would destroy the species rather than serve it. In Beasts, Masson brings to life the richness of the animal world and strips away our misconceptions of the creatures we fear, offering a powerful and compelling look at our uniquely human propensity toward aggression.
Rating Out Of Books Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good and Evil
Ratings: 3.43 From 272 Users | 54 ReviewsDiscuss Out Of Books Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good and Evil
Reads as though it was written in the midst of a three month fever dream. At times incoherent, impossibly organized, & impossibly precocious. Militant vegan propaganda disguised as a somewhat heartwarming, somewhat bleak, somewhat fabricated, philosophy rant. Masson does himself no favors with this, and can't really seem to present himself well at all. I loved the first ten pages but after breaching them I was quickly confronted by his increasingly acrid "hot takes" about animal biology, allUgh, this book was beyond terrible. The author takes a few (often unrelated) facts and stitches them together with his own self-righteous prattle. I got sucked in to reading the book by an interesting title and cover-- and I see that this same author has a whole stack of other books published. Take my advise and avoid at all costs!
We would, in a ideal world, stop eating animals, stop experimenting on them, stop wearing them, stop exploiting them in any way and certainly, stop comparing them to us negatively. We do have an important lesson to learn from all of them predators: there is a time to cede, to back down, to bend, to give in, even to walk away. Intact. Alive.
http://bookreviewsbyme2.wordpress.com...I was excited to read this book but found that once I started reading, I truly didnt like the way the author wrote and couldnt even finish the book.The subject matter of this book is unique and interesting. The author takes a look at the behaviors of other large mammals and compares their behaviors to the behaviors of humans. The author then muses about how humans veered away from other mammals and why we assume we are superior as a species. I did enjoy
While this was not as strong of a book as the author's When Elephants Weep, it was still, as expected, a very interesting read. Also, it is a fairly easy read, not too technical for lay persons like myself.The main point of the book is that while we as a species often think of ourselves as superior to mere animals, we often engage in evil acts that, by and large, no one else in the animal kingdom engages in. In fact, we've had to invent words for many of our acts, words/acts like genocide,
Interesting ideas, but imo the book is quite poorly organised. Plenty of examples, but many of the details don't link to the points made? Couldn't really follow the flow of thoughts very well. A shame because it had insightful viewpoints.
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