When Elephants Weep : The Emotional Lives of Animals

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Summary: Unscientific emotional guff!
Review: I wss hoping to find some insights into animal behaviour that would help fill out the picture being painted by sociobiology and evolutionary biology. I was very sadly disappointed. This is just a book for people who like puppies with big soulful eyes - it is not add anything interesting to our knowledge of the world

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Summary: Captures your heart!
Review: It's incredible how many people can believe that animals are without emotions. Every story that Moussaieff recounts in his book is further proof that humans are not authentic in their possession of emotions. The intensity of the examples portrayed envelops you and you only want to read more about the fascinating feelings that animals have. Any pet owner knows that animals can feel happiness or sadness, but Moussaieff is out to prove to the skeptics that besides those two, there are scores of other emotions that dwell in the hearts of animals. I highly recommend this book to anybody, especially if you love animals or heartwarming anecdotes. I also dare anyone to read this book and still be convinced that animals do not feel things such as contentment, grief, shame, pride, anger, or jealousy.

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Summary: This book had me laughing, crying, & learning all at once.
Review: I am a college student, studying Biology, hoping to go on in Zoology. I have a huge love for animals. When Elephants Weep taught me a great deal about research on why animals have emotions and it also reinforced knowledge I already had. So many times during the book I had to stop to share one of the paragraphs with someone in the room. Not only was the author's research educational, it kept my interest with so many personal animal stories. The book also teaches alot about different scientist's views on anthropomorphism. This is a great book for animal and science lovers and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: When Elephants Weep
Review: Even if you don't really agree with all of the author's hypothesis about animals, it is still a good read. To those who DO care about animals, it won't give you that much information you didn't already know from the Discovery Channel or Nature on PBS. This book not only attacks speciesists (my word: those who discriminate against other species)but is an attack agianst the scientific meathod in general. In fact, that is the main theme of the book--scientists are elitists male stubborn snobs--the animals are just there to prove that point. Had he focused ENTIRELY on the animals and left his soapbox a little more often at home (were the attacks on Sea World REALLY necessary?), this book would have gotten a 10. Still, it is an important book in that it might help promote people to think for themselves and to be more concerned about animals as other beings, not just as "inhuman beasts"

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Summary: Finally a scientific book that is not closed-minded
Review: The author shows how many scientists (who may consider themselves very high in the intelligence scale) can be closed-minded. Animals are much more than wild or savage they are beings, and have their own type of consciousness. Masson clearly shows that. In many ways, we are wilder then them

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Summary: A book to make you think
Review: The prologue and first chapters were pretty rough going, but once you get into the heart of the book it's fast going, and it's all you can think about. The book offers some interesting and litle facts on the intelligence, behavior and sensitivity of animals, plus some anecdotes that offer fascinating insights into animals' minds. I loved it! It's "Born Free", only three times as good

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Summary: Fun, fascinating look at emotions in animals
Review: If you have ever had a pet, you already know that animals have emotions. Masson and McCarthy show us how universal emotions are, as well as which emotions do not seem to occur in other species. Approachable and humorous, this book guides you through the jungle of scientific and not-so-scientific knowledge about the animals who share our world. It's lots of fun

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Summary: Those who are not already will become animal lovers.
Review: This book presents convincing evidence of what anybody who owns a pet or has observed animal behavior is already con- vinced of. Animals feel and even think, perhaps differently from human beings, but then again, in some ways quite similarly. Anybody who, after reading this book, still doubts it, cannot be persuaded even by the most convincing arguments or logic.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Even If Only Anecdotally
Review: Despite its flaws this book is an interesting look at a largely unexplored subject. While yes, like most lay people to the field I don't have a problem with giving animals some basic emotions like excitement but am more reluctant to surrender man's supreme uniqueness in matters of the heart.

First and foremost it is important it is important to understand that this book is by no means an objective scientific look at the subject. While at times being willing to give up a point as being unproven or unprovable mostly the authors just provide evidence to support the points that they have obviously already come to. Keeping this bias in mind though much of the anecdotal evidence presented in the book is fascinating.

As strange as it sounds I think the story that I was most struck by involved a gorilla, Koko, who play house with her dolls when no one was looking. I don't know why but this playful action full of imagination and self awareness seems so human to me. (Also, I think the only Shakespeare has more people/animals dropping dead of grief than this book does.)

In the end though I don't think we will ever really be able to pierce the vail between man and beats-but after reading this book I now believe that divide to be far smaller than I once thought.

Rating:
Summary: a thoughtful book on a difficult subject
Review: In the scientific community, "anthropomorphism" (assigning human qualities to inanimate ojects or animals) is villified to an astonishing degree. Masson has bravely written a book which contains stories of animals interacting with members of their own species and also with humans, stories that definitely would indicate emotion to any sensible person. Unfortunately, emotion in animals cannot be proven, because they cannot talk (with the notable exception of Koko the signing gorilla and Alex the parrot). And because animals-as-objects are important to research and industry, this is a subject that no one wants to touch. Although at times the writing in the book is somewhat bland, I recommend it and am grateful to people like Masson, Jane Goodall, and Marc Bekoff who are not afraid to bring this issue to the forefront.