78 ratings | 20 reviews | avg rating:4.56

Jonathan’s Year In Books

Jonathan’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Jonathan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Jonathan’s 2025 Year in Books

Jonathan Birch’s Followers (18)

Jonathan’s Bookshelves

to-read (19)
currently-reading (1)
read (75)

Jonathan’s Friends (4)

Daniel

1,650 books | 52 friends

Shrilaxmi

492 books | 130 friends

Fernanda González

2,185 books | 128 friends

Fin Moorhouse

1,987 books | 162 friends

Jonathan Birch

Goodreads Author

Born

The United Kingdom

Genre

Philosophy

Member Since

March 2024

edit data

I'm a Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics, where I direct The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience. I study how science is transforming our understanding of the minds of other animals, and the implications of the science for ethics, policy and law. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jonathan Birch questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Jonathan Birch’s books

Average rating: 4.28 · 87 ratings · 23 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI 4.27 avg rating — 78 ratings — published 2024 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Philosophy of Social Evolution 4.33 avg rating — 9 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

0 posts
Jonathan Birch's Blog

Jonathan Birch hasn't written any blog posts yet.

Jonathan is Currently Reading

Jonathan Birch is currently reading

The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

by Cormac McCarthy

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dec 05, 2024 05:37AM

rss
Jonathan’s Recent Updates

Jonathan Birch rated a book really liked it Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This reminded me of Donna Tartt's The Secret History. It has the sort of elaborate and sinister plot that, conventionally, a detective would unravel after the fact, but there is no detective, and the enjoyment consists in watching the threads become ...more
Feb 22, 2026 01:08AM · like · see review
Jonathan Birch liked U's review of The Death of Nietzsche's Zarathustra: "As for now, I haven't read any contemporary study on Zarathustra, which contains so many references to all of the available sources on the topic. Even the bibliography of the Loeb's work could be awarded with 5 stars, not to mention his innovative ap" Read more of this review »
Jan 22, 2026 02:26AM · see review
Jonathan Birch made a comment on Anmol’s review of The Death of Nietzsche's Zarathustra " Great review, thanks. "
Jan 22, 2026 02:24AM · see review
Jonathan Birch and 1 other person liked Anmol's review of The Death of Nietzsche's Zarathustra: "A wonderful interpretation of key themes in Zarathustra. Loeb agrees with Lampert (1986) that Z is Nietzsche’s most important text, even from a philosophical standpoint – while all his other texts are destructive, or ‘no-saying’ (involving critiques " Read more of this review »
Jan 22, 2026 02:23AM · see review
Jonathan Birch wants to read The Death of Nietzsche's Zarathustra by Paul S. Loeb	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 22, 2026 02:22AM · like
Jonathan Birch rated a book really liked it The Children Act by Ian McEwan (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 14, 2026 06:41AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Children Act by Ian McEwan. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Children Act by Ian McEwan <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Birch rated a book it was amazing The Light of Asia by Edwin Arnold	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I loved this. When I read ancient Indian texts I often have a sense of missing out, because I read them in translation and it's impossible to fully capture the rhythm and lyricism of the originals in English. Arnold's long epic poem, running to about ...more
Jan 03, 2026 05:29AM · like · see review
Jonathan Birch wants to read Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China by Noo Saro-Wiwa	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 31, 2025 11:55AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwa. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwa <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Birch rated a book liked it The Black Loch (Lewis Trilogy, #4) by Peter May (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 26, 2025 09:09AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Black Loch by Peter May. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Black Loch by Peter May <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jonathan Birch wants to read The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game by C. Thi Nguyen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 20, 2025 05:51AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Score by C. Thi Nguyen. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Score by C. Thi Nguyen <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">