What do you think?
Rate this book
Animals: Our Return to Wholeness
Book by Smith, Penelope
355 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
28 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 7, 2021
The book needs a good editor to remove the repetition and some of the dull & pointless stories.
Very disappointed with her defence of slaughtering and eating animals. If you can live a happy, healthy life without harming animals, why wouldn’t you?
Penelope may be able to communicate with animals but she really is quite backwards in her ability to advocate for animals; at times she even comes across as animal hoarder. Always getting more animals from pet shops and reckless breeding her dogs. To me she is not spiritually advanced, and almost the opposite. I find her her to be simple and lacking insight, which is amazing considering she is meant to be communicating with animals.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book. There are a few really good stories, but it’s too bad you have wade through her inane stories and tolerance of animal exploitation to get there.
Very disappointed with her defence of slaughtering and eating animals. If you can live a happy, healthy life without harming animals, why wouldn’t you?
Penelope may be able to communicate with animals but she really is quite backwards in her ability to advocate for animals; at times she even comes across as animal hoarder. Always getting more animals from pet shops and reckless breeding her dogs. To me she is not spiritually advanced, and almost the opposite. I find her her to be simple and lacking insight, which is amazing considering she is meant to be communicating with animals.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book. There are a few really good stories, but it’s too bad you have wade through her inane stories and tolerance of animal exploitation to get there.
Read
January 6, 2015I was extremely disappointed with this book. Thank goodness I borrowed it from the library and did not buy it!
On the back cover it touts, "This advanced guide will unlock your intuitive consciousness..." I guess I'm completely void of intuitive consciousness, because I fail to see how I can unlock it from this book. I did not find anything of valid guidance for developing my own intuitive skills from this book. Instead, I found tons of cutesy vignettes about other people and their experiences with pets, and copious stories about her own personal experiences and her poems about her dog that passed away. Nothing about how to do it for yourself - just her talking about what all she's done to communicate with animals, bugs, and plants.
There was no guidance, no exercises, to try to communicate better with animals in it that I could see. I was hoping to get some actual concrete steps to try so I could better communicate on a telepathic/energy level with my dog. Nothing that I could see after pages and pages of her own self-described mystical experiences.
I did not finish this book. I finally put it down because it was taking me nowhere that I hoped to explore.
On the back cover it touts, "This advanced guide will unlock your intuitive consciousness..." I guess I'm completely void of intuitive consciousness, because I fail to see how I can unlock it from this book. I did not find anything of valid guidance for developing my own intuitive skills from this book. Instead, I found tons of cutesy vignettes about other people and their experiences with pets, and copious stories about her own personal experiences and her poems about her dog that passed away. Nothing about how to do it for yourself - just her talking about what all she's done to communicate with animals, bugs, and plants.
There was no guidance, no exercises, to try to communicate better with animals in it that I could see. I was hoping to get some actual concrete steps to try so I could better communicate on a telepathic/energy level with my dog. Nothing that I could see after pages and pages of her own self-described mystical experiences.
I did not finish this book. I finally put it down because it was taking me nowhere that I hoped to explore.
July 31, 2012
Loved this book. Was very easy to feel where Penelope was coming from. Nice to know other people have such a deep connection with and understanding of animals. She also offers great insight and perspectives for animal situations.
September 28, 2012
I am somewhat disappointed in this book. I loved the stories but it does not help or shows technique to help you develop and deepen your telepathic skills. It was a good read. There were times it made me cry and times when I laughed. Still I was expecting a bit more.
July 19, 2016
I loved it (but that doesn't mean you will!)
September 19, 2018
I gave this book about 100 pages. I consider myself a spiritual person, and respectful of animals, but this book just did not resonate with me. I thought some parts were hypocritical and showed the author to be a selfish person. Depending on your own belief system, be forewarned that some of it will just not ring true.
July 2, 2019
Wonderful read! I really enjoyed the author's perspective on the healing powers of communication with animals. This insightful book gave me a whole new understanding/viewpoint I have never seen before. I really appreciate this level of encouraging writing - very empowering and hopeful. Would recommend as an "encouraging hope" read. Be prepared to never look at your pet the same way again.
July 28, 2017
A little bit out there, but gave me some good insights into how to stay in touch with my dog as he ages and ultimately transitions out of his body.
July 31, 2017
Very similar to other titles by author.
November 23, 2024
This book is such a classic. This was a reread for me and it still holds up!
Despite the subtitle "techniques for bonding with animal companions" this is NOT her how-to guide. This book is about her relationship with her animal companions and the successes and struggles of having 80 animals. They arrive, the live, they pass. The relationships are dynamic and not always perfect.
So much of this book is written about the love of Smith's life, her afghan hound Pasha. She wrote much of this book after his passing, and her emotions, the other animals, and interactions with the Earth are breathtaking. It includes the end of life care, their silly antics, as well as his reincarnation. It's a story of a beautiful and sacred life.
The book intersperses with her students' stories. There's a section on aliens and intergalactics too (which I love). Smith includes poetry and anecdotes along the way.
If you ever want to experience what a true telepathic relationship with plants, animals, and the world around us, this is a great place to begin.
One of my favorite bits from the book, very specific to me, is that she mentions that she doesn't talk to her animals all day, just when something is happening or in class or whatever. That is similar to how I interact with my cats. I hear what they say clearly, but I'm not constantly chatting.
It's another way I keep understanding my work and receive reinforcement that other's feel that way too!
Despite the subtitle "techniques for bonding with animal companions" this is NOT her how-to guide. This book is about her relationship with her animal companions and the successes and struggles of having 80 animals. They arrive, the live, they pass. The relationships are dynamic and not always perfect.
So much of this book is written about the love of Smith's life, her afghan hound Pasha. She wrote much of this book after his passing, and her emotions, the other animals, and interactions with the Earth are breathtaking. It includes the end of life care, their silly antics, as well as his reincarnation. It's a story of a beautiful and sacred life.
The book intersperses with her students' stories. There's a section on aliens and intergalactics too (which I love). Smith includes poetry and anecdotes along the way.
If you ever want to experience what a true telepathic relationship with plants, animals, and the world around us, this is a great place to begin.
One of my favorite bits from the book, very specific to me, is that she mentions that she doesn't talk to her animals all day, just when something is happening or in class or whatever. That is similar to how I interact with my cats. I hear what they say clearly, but I'm not constantly chatting.
It's another way I keep understanding my work and receive reinforcement that other's feel that way too!
December 19, 2014
This was a really amazing book by a great pioneer in the field of animal (interspecies) communication. The first part of the book was filled with many of Penelope's personal stories about her own animal companions, illustrating the great depth of emotion and growth that each soul undergoes. After reading this book, I am convinced that ALL souls (whether in the current form of human, animal, plant, mineral, etc.) have a life's purpose to fulfill, and reincarnate again and again to grow and learn and love and evolve.
I was really fascinated by Penelope's insights into reincarnation. She spoke of how a soul may incarnate into many different forms and dimensions, so that a human could have had past lives as a dolphin, faery, angel, or even be from another planet. I have read about this concept in Doreen Virtue's books about Earth Angels (as Doreen calls them) and was surprised to see that Penelope wrote about the same topic over a decade before Doreen.
I also really enjoyed the chapters about communication with plants and all of nature, and the idea of communing with something like an apple before eating it and partaking of its wisdom. This was a truly intriguing book!
I was really fascinated by Penelope's insights into reincarnation. She spoke of how a soul may incarnate into many different forms and dimensions, so that a human could have had past lives as a dolphin, faery, angel, or even be from another planet. I have read about this concept in Doreen Virtue's books about Earth Angels (as Doreen calls them) and was surprised to see that Penelope wrote about the same topic over a decade before Doreen.
I also really enjoyed the chapters about communication with plants and all of nature, and the idea of communing with something like an apple before eating it and partaking of its wisdom. This was a truly intriguing book!
March 18, 2014
This book is amazing and has great stories. To see how animals think and say, was mind blowing. Opened my eyes to a new world.
January 30, 2017
Relly helpful for my animal Reiki practice.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews