NONFICTION

The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion—Surprising Observations of a Hidden World

by Peter Wohlleben
Greystone. Nov. 2017. 272p. notes. index. ISBN 9781771643016. $24.95; ebk. ISBN 9781771643023. SCI
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Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees) states that animals have feelings, intelligence, and self-awareness. Although his narrative has keen observations and scientific support, his overall argument lacks coherence, depth, and rigor. Nearly half of the book separates basic information on senses from cognition, and a chapter on knowing animal minds is near the book's end, rather than laying a foundation. The author omits information that completes a picture of featured subjects and species. For example, his chapter on wildness leaves out feral creatures. Also, Wohlleben discusses parental investment without R and K selection and honeybee thermoregulation without mitochondria. Readers interested in animal intelligence will be better served by other works, including Carl Safina's Beyond Words, Mark Bekoff's Minding Animals, and James L. and Carol L. Gould's The Animal Mind.
VERDICT Those wanting fresh insight on animal thought should look elsewhere.
Reviewed by Eileen H. Kramer, Georgia Perimeter Coll. Lib., Clarkston , Sep 01, 2017
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