Praise & Press coverage

 

Praise...

 

"Animal expert Wynne, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Florida, delivers a detailed yet enjoyably written exploration of recent discoveries of modern animal behavior....It helps his arguments that Wynne is often as entertaining as he is erudite"

--Publisher's Weekly (full review)

 

"Wynne succeeds superbly in evoking the otherness of the nonhuman perspective. A refreshingly sceptical and pugnacious investigation."

--P D Smith in the Guardian (full review)

 

"[Wynne] is a lively writer with a congenial sense of humor, an obvious passion for truly understanding the minds of animals, and a sincere desire to come to terms with what all this means for the larger philosoph­ical and ethical questions about the place of man and animals in the world....His point is not to belittle animals’ mental capabilities but rather to pose deep questions about the nature of animal reasoning and intelligence"

--Stephen Budiansky in Cerebrum (full review)

 

"Assumptions mask the world, and anthropomorphism is a particularly blinding assumption. Wynne invites us to see the world for what it is... Do Animals Think? is a good primer in seeing past ourselves to view the rich tapestry of animal behavior with unclouded eyes."

--Doug Brown in Powells.com Staff pick (full review)

 

"I thought psychology professor Clive Wynne was displaying gonads of reasonable heft by provocatively naming his book Do Animals Think?. The simple act of framing it as a question -- leaving open the possibility that the answer might be no -- has surely left him open to a fatwa or at least some severe disgruntlement.

"The short version of Wynne's answer is yes, but beasts do it differently. For all the similarities, the differences are far greater but "things don't have to be like us to be important to us"....

"But Do Animals Think? isn't simply an exercise in debunking or a rant against anthropomorphisers -- it's also a plea to humans to admire other species on their own terms. Great chunks of the book are almost a hymn to the astonishing abilities possessed by many animals and the utter alienness of the sensory universes they inhabit. Wynne doesn't bother trying to rein in his enthusiasm, whether he's writing about bees or bats."

--James Jeffrey in The Weekend Australian (full review)

 

"a witty rejoinder to many of the [Animal Liberation] movement's more pious arguments"

--Daphe Merkin in The New York Times Magazine

 

"Wynne’s new book provides a timely corrective to many myths about animal minds, without detracting from the wonders of the natural world. Wynne certainly succeeds in his aim to "sweep all the debris of traditional views of animals, now mixed up with mauled science, right off the table and start again.... Engagingly written, the book contains many interesting tidbits, including accounts of primatologist Wolfgang Köhler’s service as a German spy on Tenerife during World War I and the carrier pigeon Cher Ami, which saved the lives of the 77th Division’s New York Battalion in the same war. In addition to describing the sensory worlds of different animals, he raises a number of salient points about the implications of animal cognition for animal rights."

--Nicola S. Clayton in Science

 

"Wynne has a pleasant writing style and a knack for engaging the reader"

--Frans de Waal, in Natural History

 

"Do Animals Think? is valuable because it is directed to general readers—no specialized knowledge required to enjoy it. The writing is lively, and Wynne is very helpful in debunking popular myths about what goes on in animal brains, without in any way undercutting the wonders of the natural world."

--Stan Persky, in Dooneyscafe.com

 

"... utterly fascinating look into the behavior of non-human creatures."

--Lynn Yarris, in The Mercury News.

 

"Do Animals Think? provides a useful and authoritative, if somewhat conservative, summary for the general reader of the findings and opinions of cognitive ethologists... In asking the question "Do animals think?", Clive Wynne is also supporting the cause of improving animal welfare by increasing awareness about animals as beings that are supremely and uniquely well adapted to their ways of life."

--Juliet Clutton-Brock, in the Times Literary Supplement.

 

"Wynne's expert, lucid, sharply argued (and even witty) study provides a wonderful account of what is understood about how animals think and the serious challenges that face scientific study of these fascinating questions. It also offers very reasonable and suggestive thoughts about the place of humans within the rich and complex world of mental achievements and limitations."

--Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

"I had more fun reading this book than I have had from any other book in a long time! It is clever, erudite, and accessible."

--Jonathan Marks, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

 

Press coverage...

 

Breakfast on Radio National with Peter Thompson, Radio Interview, Sydney, Australia Nov 30, 04

 

Puppy love? By Julie Kirkwood, Eagle-Tribune, Lawrence, MA.

QED: mirror test By Robert Matthews, Sunday Telegraph, London UK.

 

Listed by the Philadelphia Inquirer Dec 26, 2004, as one of the "first rate, less-publicized books of 2004 that, in one critic's view, will still be read 10 years from now." (3rd of 10 nonfiction titles.)

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