EricaO

Oh my gosh! I'm going to get to read this sooner than I'd thought because I just won my FIRST EVER FIRST READS GIVEAWAY!!! HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE! And this is a perfect first winner, too, because if it's here in time for Christmas, I can read it with my niece who is interested in animals and their thoughts and emotions!
I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Feb 2012: I have finished this book! Thank you, First Reads, for making me a winner!
And now, my thoughts:
I had so much fun reading this. I mean, first off, it's really nice to know that other people in the world do not scoff at the idea of animals being able to think. I watch my cats all the time and wonder what schemes they're scheming, what dreams they're dreaming, what weird little kitty thoughts are happening in their heads because it seems so obvious to me that there IS something going on in there, something more than just prowling for mice and finding warm spots of sunshine.
Another reviewer had mentioned she'd known most of the information contained in the book because she watches nature shows on TV. Well, I don't get any sort of television programming in my house so many of these stories were news to me! Ok, I did know about elephants and chimpanzees/bonobos/other ape friends. But many of the chapters were surprising and fun...well, except the chapter about Alex. That was not surprising or fun and it made me cry. Still.
I think one of the things that excited me most was that I was able to remember my own encounters with creatures while I was reading each chapter. While reading about ants (and I really hope the little ant symbol at the bottom of the first chapter page remains in the retail copy), I remembered that I had a friend ant named Cindy when I was little; for a few weeks one summer, I'd run out back every morning and lie on my stomach next to Cindy's ant hill and would call for her. The first ant that came out would stand and look at me and I knew she was my friend Cindy. It made sense when I was four. It doesn't, now, but I had just assumed this little black ant lived in a family similar to mine and wanted to play with me every day, would leave her breakfast table and come running to see me when I called at her front door. I loved remembering that as much as I loved reading about little colored dots on tiny, busy ants.
I also remember playing tag with a funny little fish in Greece. I was kneeling in the water, looking for perfect rocks and this fish, a minnow maybe about the size of my pinky, came darting up between my thighs. It wasn't looking for caves so don't even go there. Anyhow, I moved to get a better look and it darted away. I put my hand toward it and it swam just out of reach but it stayed, looking at me. I sat back up and it darted back in. I made to grab it and it darted out of reach. We did this for a minute, or so, back and forth, and I swear it was giggling. Then it darted off, stopped and looked at me, then swam away. I don't know what that was but I like to think we were both having fun. And that is what made me believe that archerfish shoot people in the eye because it's funny.
I do think animals think and feel. I also think they have a sense of humor, that they can be sad, that they can be upset. I've never agreed - based on nothing more than being around animals - that humans are the only ones who can do all these things that supposedly make us human. Thus, I enjoyed nearly every single story in this book because it made me hope that more and more people will begin to feel the same - that animals aren't just automatons but are thinking, feeling beings.
Yes, I said "nearly every single story" because the one that did not strike me, though I think I was most excited to read it, was the chapter on ticklish rats. For some reason, that one chapter didn't resonate with me, which is odd because I am delighted with the idea of tickling rats. I want to find some rats to tickle right now.
My copy is an uncorrected proof. I expect several of the little things, aside from typos and the like, will be corrected before the book is finalized and sent to shelf so I won't go into that.
I look very forward to sharing this with my niece; I think she'll enjoy it as much as I did. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is fascinated by animals, by psychology, by zoology, or just the overall bigger life picture. I would not recommend it to that guy who told me that cats and dogs don't truly feel affection, that they're just asking for something or working on instinct because I don't think he'd enjoy this book at all.