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Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind
Tamed and Untamed―a collection of essays penned by two of the world's most celebrated animal writers, Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas―explores the minds, lives, and mysteries of animals as diverse as snails, house cats, hawks, sharks, dogs, lions, and even octopuses.
Drawing on stories of animals both wild and domestic, the two authors, also best friends, created this book to put humans back into the animal world. The more we learn about what other animals think and do, they explain, the more we understand ourselves as animals, too. Writes Montgomery, “The list of attributes once thought to be unique to our species―from using tools to waging war―is not only rapidly shrinking, but starting to sound less and less impressive when we compare them with other animals’ powers.”
Montgomery and Thomas look into the lives of all kinds of creatures―from man’s best friend to the great white shark―and examine the ways we connect with our fellow species.
Drawing on stories of animals both wild and domestic, the two authors, also best friends, created this book to put humans back into the animal world. The more we learn about what other animals think and do, they explain, the more we understand ourselves as animals, too. Writes Montgomery, “The list of attributes once thought to be unique to our species―from using tools to waging war―is not only rapidly shrinking, but starting to sound less and less impressive when we compare them with other animals’ powers.”
Montgomery and Thomas look into the lives of all kinds of creatures―from man’s best friend to the great white shark―and examine the ways we connect with our fellow species.
227 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2017
127 people are currently reading
1137 people want to read
About the author
Sy Montgomery
63 books2,053 followersPart Indiana Jones, part Emily Dickinson, as the Boston Globe describes her, Sy Montgomery is an author, naturalist, documentary scriptwriter, and radio commentator who has traveled to some of the worlds most remote wildernesses for her work. She has worked in a pit crawling with 18,000 snakes in Manitoba, been hunted by a tiger in India, swum with pink dolphins in the Amazon, and been undressed by an orangutan in Borneo. She is the author of 13 award-winning books, including her national best-selling memoir, The Good Good Pig. Montgomery lives in Hancock, New Hampshire.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
May 18, 2019
5/18/19 While I strongly believe in animal rights and that animals have thoughts, feelings and souls just like people, I do not like being preached to, not even about things I agree with. Show me don't tell me. I wanted stories about remarkable animal encounters. Instead I got a prudish lecture about how people are heartless.
Furthermore, I think becoming a vegetarian is not the only "moral choice." People are omnivores. You wouldn't get offended by a tiger eating meat. That is the way it was made. So why get purple in the face because we do? Many people, myself included, feel sick on vegetarian diets. Besides, plants have feelings, friends, memories and even their own languages. The truth is for me to live something else must die. Whether that is a carrot or a cow, I am taking its life. Too often I've met people who judge others for eating animals, but happily enjoy chocolate, palm oil or other things detrimental to the planet. I find many vegetarians also simply find it easier to empathize with mammals and their big eyes, so like our own. But a tree is no less alive. Why does its life matter less?
Furthermore, I think becoming a vegetarian is not the only "moral choice." People are omnivores. You wouldn't get offended by a tiger eating meat. That is the way it was made. So why get purple in the face because we do? Many people, myself included, feel sick on vegetarian diets. Besides, plants have feelings, friends, memories and even their own languages. The truth is for me to live something else must die. Whether that is a carrot or a cow, I am taking its life. Too often I've met people who judge others for eating animals, but happily enjoy chocolate, palm oil or other things detrimental to the planet. I find many vegetarians also simply find it easier to empathize with mammals and their big eyes, so like our own. But a tree is no less alive. Why does its life matter less?
December 10, 2019
You know that friend of yours who is just ineffably cool and gets you on so many levels? And then she has a friend that she ADORES that, while you respect, admire, and even like, you just DO NOT GET? That’s Montgomery and Marshall Thomas to me. I love Sy. Mostly I love Liz; but not always, and sometimes she downright flummoxes me.
This book was highly enjoyable and thought-provoking, though at times I felt the essays were too short.
This book was highly enjoyable and thought-provoking, though at times I felt the essays were too short.
August 9, 2018
I've read two of Sy Montgomery's books (The Good Good Pig and The Soul of an Octopus), so I couldn't wait to read this one. While this one is different in that it's a collection of essays by Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas it does not disappoint. The book is divided into six categories: animals and people, birds, dogs and cats, wild animals, tiny animals, and animal abilities. The essays cover everything from animal intelligence, skills in the wild, how our pets view us, and more. A perfect book for any animal lover out there!
A few quotes I really liked:
"Why is it more fun to adopt a particular, named animal than to simply make a donation for conservation of a species? Because, as researchers confirm, no matter the species studied - be it puffins or snow leopards or even sharks - animals are individuals, just like we are. And their stories can be as compelling as our own." (p. 55)
"An adult hummer visits an average of 1,500 flowers in a day. If the nectar were converted to a human equivalent, that would be fifteen gallons a day. But few people realize that insects are equally essential. Each hummingbird needs to catch and eat six to seven hundred bugs a day. (So spraying insecticide in your yard is like hiring a hummingbird exterminator.)" (p. 64)
"When humans get involved with other species, especially if they try to manage another species, things often get messed up. Ever since a dog's appearance made a difference, breeders have been manipulating what dogs look like no matter what this does to health and longevity." (p. 76)
"Arizona professor Con Slobodchikoff has documented that prairie dogs - gregarious ground squirrels - use specific sounds to communicate to others that a human has been spotted. (They also discuss the dangers of cats, badgers, hawks, and ferrets, as well as announce the comforting presence of harmless species like cows and pronghorns, who signal safety.) Not only that, but the little mammals can communicate what color shirt the human is wearing, whether he is tall or short, and even whether the human is carrying a gun!" (p. 165-6)
A few quotes I really liked:
"Why is it more fun to adopt a particular, named animal than to simply make a donation for conservation of a species? Because, as researchers confirm, no matter the species studied - be it puffins or snow leopards or even sharks - animals are individuals, just like we are. And their stories can be as compelling as our own." (p. 55)
"An adult hummer visits an average of 1,500 flowers in a day. If the nectar were converted to a human equivalent, that would be fifteen gallons a day. But few people realize that insects are equally essential. Each hummingbird needs to catch and eat six to seven hundred bugs a day. (So spraying insecticide in your yard is like hiring a hummingbird exterminator.)" (p. 64)
"When humans get involved with other species, especially if they try to manage another species, things often get messed up. Ever since a dog's appearance made a difference, breeders have been manipulating what dogs look like no matter what this does to health and longevity." (p. 76)
"Arizona professor Con Slobodchikoff has documented that prairie dogs - gregarious ground squirrels - use specific sounds to communicate to others that a human has been spotted. (They also discuss the dangers of cats, badgers, hawks, and ferrets, as well as announce the comforting presence of harmless species like cows and pronghorns, who signal safety.) Not only that, but the little mammals can communicate what color shirt the human is wearing, whether he is tall or short, and even whether the human is carrying a gun!" (p. 165-6)
November 3, 2017
The publisher's information for Tamed & Untamed suggested insights into animal-human interactions. Wrong! This book is a series of essays by Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas about their experiences and anthropomorphized interpretations of animal behavior. It was judgmental, preachy, and a bit too woo-woo for my taste. Wasted my money.
February 12, 2021
I did learn several things.
Hummingbirds need to eat hundreds of insects a day, so "spraying insecticide in your yard is like hiring a hummingbird exterminator."
"We kill 100 million [sharks] yearly. By 2050 we will have filled the sea with more plastics than fish."
I even learned something that I've been trying to figure out for years. "The full moon rises at sunset and on the following nights it rises later, getting smaller, until the last three days of the moon's cycle, when it rises with the dawm. We don't see its little crescent until late afternoon. After that, when it's full, it's in the sky before the sun sets, so it's already there when it gets dark. [What that means is this:] On those nights, our ancestors had less to worry about because they could see what was around them."
"Hyenas 'appear to violate the rules of mammalian biology,' Holekamp tells me. 'Studying the oddballs can teach you about the basics,' she explains. 'They allow us to gain insight into what the rules actually are.' And by showing us an alternative way to sociality and intelligence, they help us better understand our own beloved pets, and perhaps even ourselves."
(Btw, that note helps me understand better why my favorite genres are [human and animal] psychology, evolutionary biology, SF [esp. if it is about cool 'aliens'], and fractured fairy tales. It's all about Another Point of View.
---
I think it might appeal most to people who haven't read books like Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? or Alex and Me or Sy's "Scientists in the Field" series. Or people who would like reading about young dolphins who pass around a pufferfish to take a hit and get high. People who like the idea of bite-size, low commitment essays.
Give it as a gift to them.
---
I, personally, am disappointed. It's not a bad book, and in fact it's great for the right audience, but it's not enough for me.
Few of Liz's essays do anything for me and some just don't even cohere. Several of Sy's essays are recycled from her other publications. It's short, and if the lamest essays were edited out it would be too short to publish... a third contributor would have been a great idea.
But I like that it's printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and that many of the illustrations are from the public domain.
Hummingbirds need to eat hundreds of insects a day, so "spraying insecticide in your yard is like hiring a hummingbird exterminator."
"We kill 100 million [sharks] yearly. By 2050 we will have filled the sea with more plastics than fish."
I even learned something that I've been trying to figure out for years. "The full moon rises at sunset and on the following nights it rises later, getting smaller, until the last three days of the moon's cycle, when it rises with the dawm. We don't see its little crescent until late afternoon. After that, when it's full, it's in the sky before the sun sets, so it's already there when it gets dark. [What that means is this:] On those nights, our ancestors had less to worry about because they could see what was around them."
"Hyenas 'appear to violate the rules of mammalian biology,' Holekamp tells me. 'Studying the oddballs can teach you about the basics,' she explains. 'They allow us to gain insight into what the rules actually are.' And by showing us an alternative way to sociality and intelligence, they help us better understand our own beloved pets, and perhaps even ourselves."
(Btw, that note helps me understand better why my favorite genres are [human and animal] psychology, evolutionary biology, SF [esp. if it is about cool 'aliens'], and fractured fairy tales. It's all about Another Point of View.
---
I think it might appeal most to people who haven't read books like Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? or Alex and Me or Sy's "Scientists in the Field" series. Or people who would like reading about young dolphins who pass around a pufferfish to take a hit and get high. People who like the idea of bite-size, low commitment essays.
Give it as a gift to them.
---
I, personally, am disappointed. It's not a bad book, and in fact it's great for the right audience, but it's not enough for me.
Few of Liz's essays do anything for me and some just don't even cohere. Several of Sy's essays are recycled from her other publications. It's short, and if the lamest essays were edited out it would be too short to publish... a third contributor would have been a great idea.
But I like that it's printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and that many of the illustrations are from the public domain.
March 23, 2022
Every now and then I happen to find what I would call a dream book. This is one of those. I just loved it and it had me laughing pretty well the entire way through. What classy writing, delightful,
experiences, fun people and a great story to boot. I just loved it.
"A Mail on Sunday" 'Critic's Pick' Best Read of the year. I tell you, it's really great.
"So, in their writing and in their lives and in their remarkable friendship, Liz and Sy break down false barriers and carry us closer to our fellow creatures." TAMED & UNTAMED--a collection of essays penned by two of the world's most celebrated animal writers, Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas--explores the minds, lives, and mysteries of animals as diverse as snails, slugs, snails, house cats, hawks, sharks, dogs, lions and even octopuses, and that's just the beginning.
Drawing on stories of animals both wild and domestic, the two authors, also best friends, created this book to put humans back into the animal world. The more we learn about what other animals think and do, they explain, the more we understand ourselves as animals, too. Writes Montgomery,
"The list of attributes once thought to be unique to our species--from using tools to waging war--is not only rapidly shrinking, but starting to sound less and less impressive when we compare them with other animals' powers."
With humor, empathy, and introspection, Montgomery and Thomas look into the lives of all kinds of creatures--from man's best friend to the great white shark--and examine the ways we connect with our fellow species. Both authors have devoted their lives to sharing the animal kingdom's magic with other folks, and their combined wisdom is an indispensable contribution to the field of animal literature.
The book Elephant Company was written by them too, I'm putting it on my list too! Happy Reading. Highly Highly Recommend. Enjoy!! I loved this book...
experiences, fun people and a great story to boot. I just loved it.
"A Mail on Sunday" 'Critic's Pick' Best Read of the year. I tell you, it's really great.
"So, in their writing and in their lives and in their remarkable friendship, Liz and Sy break down false barriers and carry us closer to our fellow creatures." TAMED & UNTAMED--a collection of essays penned by two of the world's most celebrated animal writers, Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas--explores the minds, lives, and mysteries of animals as diverse as snails, slugs, snails, house cats, hawks, sharks, dogs, lions and even octopuses, and that's just the beginning.
Drawing on stories of animals both wild and domestic, the two authors, also best friends, created this book to put humans back into the animal world. The more we learn about what other animals think and do, they explain, the more we understand ourselves as animals, too. Writes Montgomery,
"The list of attributes once thought to be unique to our species--from using tools to waging war--is not only rapidly shrinking, but starting to sound less and less impressive when we compare them with other animals' powers."
With humor, empathy, and introspection, Montgomery and Thomas look into the lives of all kinds of creatures--from man's best friend to the great white shark--and examine the ways we connect with our fellow species. Both authors have devoted their lives to sharing the animal kingdom's magic with other folks, and their combined wisdom is an indispensable contribution to the field of animal literature.
The book Elephant Company was written by them too, I'm putting it on my list too! Happy Reading. Highly Highly Recommend. Enjoy!! I loved this book...
December 4, 2018
Did you know rats laugh when they are tickled? That chickens recognize and call people by name? That dogs learn best from older dogs the same way children learn from their parents? When will humans get over our arrogance and realize we are not that different from the rest of the animals on this planet. That we all think, however differently, that we all feel a full range of emotions? Will we stop treating the pets that love and depend on us as throwaways? Will we recognize that we are destroying ourselves along with the animals? A wonderfully written set of essays about our differences and similarities.
September 19, 2018
This book is utterly delightful.
It consists of a series of essays, short 4 page tops ones, written by Sy Montgomery or Liz Thomas. The essays run the gamut from topics such as pet abandonment to how to properly react to a black bear on your property. There are amusing ones, like Liz's fascination with snails, Sy's delight at cephalopod mating rituals,or both of their deep appreciation of tardigrades. The essays are amusing, touching, and overall educational. If you don't learn something new from all of them, at the very least you get to delight in the second-hand wonder they experience towards the natural world. There's a childlike awe inherent in everything, as well as a hearty bemusement that so many miss the obvious pleasure to be found in all facets of the world around us.
Both naturalists are admirable people, the sort that I aspire to be. Their writing brings a smile to my face, and the breadth of their experiences can't help but inspire. There's so much to learn, and to experience, and they both seem to have pushed themselves to the limit to do both. Yet not to brag, not to exaggerate. Simply to be able to say "I went to Africa and the most amazing animal there is the hyrax," or "I swam with sharks and the great white is such a calming presence." You can come face to face with a black bear, and armed with the statistics of attacks not be frightened, simply surprised and happy to know you got so close.
Knowledge is power, but the power to still be amazed and to be part of the solution. Educate, experience, and share with everyone the fruits of that labor. We live in a wonderful world teeming with intelligent life... why not experience all of that before seeking out other worlds than this?
It consists of a series of essays, short 4 page tops ones, written by Sy Montgomery or Liz Thomas. The essays run the gamut from topics such as pet abandonment to how to properly react to a black bear on your property. There are amusing ones, like Liz's fascination with snails, Sy's delight at cephalopod mating rituals,or both of their deep appreciation of tardigrades. The essays are amusing, touching, and overall educational. If you don't learn something new from all of them, at the very least you get to delight in the second-hand wonder they experience towards the natural world. There's a childlike awe inherent in everything, as well as a hearty bemusement that so many miss the obvious pleasure to be found in all facets of the world around us.
Both naturalists are admirable people, the sort that I aspire to be. Their writing brings a smile to my face, and the breadth of their experiences can't help but inspire. There's so much to learn, and to experience, and they both seem to have pushed themselves to the limit to do both. Yet not to brag, not to exaggerate. Simply to be able to say "I went to Africa and the most amazing animal there is the hyrax," or "I swam with sharks and the great white is such a calming presence." You can come face to face with a black bear, and armed with the statistics of attacks not be frightened, simply surprised and happy to know you got so close.
Knowledge is power, but the power to still be amazed and to be part of the solution. Educate, experience, and share with everyone the fruits of that labor. We live in a wonderful world teeming with intelligent life... why not experience all of that before seeking out other worlds than this?
November 28, 2018
Ringrazio la CE che ha portato in Italia questa meraviglia, spero che possa pubblicare altro delle autrici perché sono le mie due etologhe preferite, ma… il titolo e la cover non c'azzeccano nulla con i temi trattati!
Questa è una raccolta di brevi saggi su diversi argomenti, il comune denominatore di tutti i lavori sono, ovviamente gli animali. Che si tratti di animali selvatici, domestici, di insetti o invertebrati non importa, con precisione e con una passione sconfinata le autrici fanno emergere l’incredibile assenza di informazioni che abbiamo su essi. Si gli animali si studiano da anni, sono i nostri compagni di vita, alcuni di loro vengono amati da noi come dei figli… ma quanto li conosciamo davvero? La risposta è poco, sanno sorprenderci sempre e in maniera inaspettata.
Il saggio si occupa anche di altri argomenti come il rispetto dell'ambiente, il surriscaldamento globale, lo scarso rispetto che l’uomo ha da sempre per le creature più piccole.
Questo brevi scritti servono per riflettere e sanno sorprendere in maniera del tutto positiva, danno una chiave di lettura nuova e profonda.
Ripeto, spero che la CE pubblichi altro… al più presto!
Questa è una raccolta di brevi saggi su diversi argomenti, il comune denominatore di tutti i lavori sono, ovviamente gli animali. Che si tratti di animali selvatici, domestici, di insetti o invertebrati non importa, con precisione e con una passione sconfinata le autrici fanno emergere l’incredibile assenza di informazioni che abbiamo su essi. Si gli animali si studiano da anni, sono i nostri compagni di vita, alcuni di loro vengono amati da noi come dei figli… ma quanto li conosciamo davvero? La risposta è poco, sanno sorprenderci sempre e in maniera inaspettata.
Il saggio si occupa anche di altri argomenti come il rispetto dell'ambiente, il surriscaldamento globale, lo scarso rispetto che l’uomo ha da sempre per le creature più piccole.
Questo brevi scritti servono per riflettere e sanno sorprendere in maniera del tutto positiva, danno una chiave di lettura nuova e profonda.
Ripeto, spero che la CE pubblichi altro… al più presto!
February 5, 2018
This is not my favorite Montgomery book, though admittedly the only other one I've read is "The Soul of an Octopus." This reminded me of the Dick King-Smith books I used to love as a child. Short essays (like 3-5 pages) filled with anecdotes of the authors' interactions with animals. It was an enjoyable read, but not a fantastic one.
June 15, 2019
This series of books has changed me.
It has. Knocked me sideways into a more complete , and complex way of thinking, Always a lover of animals but never understanding WHY I loved them, I am sure they would have simply forgiven me my ignorance and DID 💘 do so.
Thank you for all that you have accomplished in your books and my mind.
It has. Knocked me sideways into a more complete , and complex way of thinking, Always a lover of animals but never understanding WHY I loved them, I am sure they would have simply forgiven me my ignorance and DID 💘 do so.
Thank you for all that you have accomplished in your books and my mind.
March 20, 2018
I prefer other books by Sy.
March 19, 2019
Short essays on human-animal interactions. Wish it'd been more detailed.
April 16, 2019
I am currently reading this wonderful book, but have not finished yet. Although I have read none of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' books, I've read Sy Montgomery's The Good Pig - and loved it. This book is filled with their observations about all kinds of animals. I'm discovering facts about animals that I never knew before and it's totally fascinating, such as the hummingbird is a tiny avian dinosaur, or the peregrine falcon is one of the fastest birds on earth. Did you know that hyraxes (or coneys) are related to elephants?
These facts and so many more make this book quite fascinating if you love all kinds of animals. No, it's not a book where there's high-flying action and drama, so if this is what you're expecting, read another book.
Both Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas give their insights from their many years of owning animals and their numerous experiences in the field with other animal experts. Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind
These facts and so many more make this book quite fascinating if you love all kinds of animals. No, it's not a book where there's high-flying action and drama, so if this is what you're expecting, read another book.
Both Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas give their insights from their many years of owning animals and their numerous experiences in the field with other animal experts. Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind
December 14, 2025
3.5 rounded down to 3.
The book consists of a series of short essays by the two authors, on various things about their pets and other animals that they have encountered. The book is written well and connects a great variety of facets of animal life, especially their learning and emotions. However,
I felt that it was only a specific style of perspective on animals (I still appreciate it though), and based too much on charismatic animals (and of course human pets).
The book consists of a series of short essays by the two authors, on various things about their pets and other animals that they have encountered. The book is written well and connects a great variety of facets of animal life, especially their learning and emotions. However,
I felt that it was only a specific style of perspective on animals (I still appreciate it though), and based too much on charismatic animals (and of course human pets).
July 30, 2019
Another awesome read by Sy Montgomery. Some parts I had read in other books of hers but most of the essays were new to me. A word of warning: if you, like me, can watch pretty much anything unfazed but will cry during the SPCA commercials, some parts will be hard to stomach and may not help your appreciation of humans.
May 11, 2025
This book was a series of short essays by Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. While I found it overall very interesting, there were times where it was almost written in a condescending tone, specifically Liz’s bits. I could always tell when it was her essay versus Sy’s which I preferred. Worth reading for the information and stories in it, but wasn’t my favorite.
July 11, 2025
It took me a little while to get into reading a book composed of very short essays (rarely more than 3 pages), but once I did, I really enjoyed the world of animals opened up for me by these essays. I learned things I never could have imagined; this book gave me new perspectives to which I will refer again and again when encountering animals.
September 2, 2024
This ain't it, chief.
They may not be strong writers, but at least they're condescending.
They may not be strong writers, but at least they're condescending.
October 16, 2025
Animals are the best!
February 9, 2025
A light hearted yet moving collection of essays that completely change the lens in which we view animals and our pets. It's a gamechanger and should be treated as such.
January 1, 2023
B.A.D a literal struggle to finish
November 22, 2024
I liked this one! (Mostly)
Had some minor disagreements with the author Liz, in particular, on the subject of spay/neuter ethics in dogs. Given the major problem of overpopulation, why not alter both sexes of dog? Would that not help the issue?
One of the last essays in the book (by Liz) could've also been edited more precisely (or maybe, simply written better) - she references her earlier essays in the book using the phrase "in earlier essays" probably five or six times in a two-page length! (Just a pure nitpick)
Cool animal fact tidbits. For instance, humans sense of smell pales in comparison to a dog's...we only have about 6 million olfactory receptors in our noses, to a dog's 100 million+!
Foxes scream...who knew?
Octopi/octopuses are so intelligent, they can solve nesting puzzle boxes!
I volunteered at an aquarium in college, and had the opportunity to attend a neat training session one day - the presentation was all about toolboxes. Humans, basically, get cocky. Our brains like to sort, and judge, and group, in order to process. We like to think we have all the answers and solutions...well, the reality is we only ever have access to our 'human toolbox': what it means to be human. This means that intrinsically, we are biased toward every nonhuman species in some form or another: they are not human. It really hit home for me, because I really think to a certain extent, it's true. Humans are always researching and theorizing, specifically in the sciences, and in animal behavior. We like to - even if unintentionally - compare, and anthropomorphize: dogs & cats, housecats & big cats, pet dogs & wolves, wolves & foxes, humans & dogs, humans & cats
Here's the the bottom line, though: None of these animal species have ever had the 'human toolbox'. They've never needed it, they see no value in it. Dogs have the dog toolbox, cats have theirs, octopi, sharks...each being is given their own unique set of skills, and adaptations to thrive and survive.
How special the human-animal bond becomes, when we finally realize there is no us versus them.
It's only ever been us, all together.
Had some minor disagreements with the author Liz, in particular, on the subject of spay/neuter ethics in dogs. Given the major problem of overpopulation, why not alter both sexes of dog? Would that not help the issue?
One of the last essays in the book (by Liz) could've also been edited more precisely (or maybe, simply written better) - she references her earlier essays in the book using the phrase "in earlier essays" probably five or six times in a two-page length! (Just a pure nitpick)
Cool animal fact tidbits. For instance, humans sense of smell pales in comparison to a dog's...we only have about 6 million olfactory receptors in our noses, to a dog's 100 million+!
Foxes scream...who knew?
Octopi/octopuses are so intelligent, they can solve nesting puzzle boxes!
I volunteered at an aquarium in college, and had the opportunity to attend a neat training session one day - the presentation was all about toolboxes. Humans, basically, get cocky. Our brains like to sort, and judge, and group, in order to process. We like to think we have all the answers and solutions...well, the reality is we only ever have access to our 'human toolbox': what it means to be human. This means that intrinsically, we are biased toward every nonhuman species in some form or another: they are not human. It really hit home for me, because I really think to a certain extent, it's true. Humans are always researching and theorizing, specifically in the sciences, and in animal behavior. We like to - even if unintentionally - compare, and anthropomorphize: dogs & cats, housecats & big cats, pet dogs & wolves, wolves & foxes, humans & dogs, humans & cats
Here's the the bottom line, though: None of these animal species have ever had the 'human toolbox'. They've never needed it, they see no value in it. Dogs have the dog toolbox, cats have theirs, octopi, sharks...each being is given their own unique set of skills, and adaptations to thrive and survive.
How special the human-animal bond becomes, when we finally realize there is no us versus them.
It's only ever been us, all together.
September 20, 2021
This book consists of short essays written by Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas for The Boston Globe. The essays are divided into several sections: on animal abilities, on tiny animals, dogs and cats, birds, and so on. Some essays are by Montgomery, some by Thomas, and each essay looks at a unique aspect of animal life. There are essays on everything from how animals dream (and what they dream of); the emotions animals feel; animals in war (that is, all those horses, elephants, camels, dolphins, and other species that man has trained to help him in decimating his own species); animals as healers and teachers; and so on.
I learnt a lot from this book: I hadn’t, for instance, known about water bears before. Or that bit about animals dreaming. Or how octopus may have a sense of humour, and that rats laugh when tickled (yes, really). Plus, it’s all written in an easy, readable style (interestingly, both women write in so similar a style that it never seemed like a book written by two people: their voices were very much the same. There are informative bits, grounded on solid scientific research; there are more emotional, more intensely personal sections. There are hair-raising anecdotes and rib-tickling ones, and others (Snowball the dancing cockatoo) which made me go online to check.
My only grouse was that the essays were so short. With many of these, I was left thinking, at the end of that handful of pages, ”but I wanted to know more!” For instance, what makes hyenas so unique? Or how did scientists discover that chickens can recognize each other’s (not to mention human) faces? Or how do elephants create infrasound (and why, when)? Some of these essays deserved to be longer.
But still. A superb book, enjoyable and informative.
I learnt a lot from this book: I hadn’t, for instance, known about water bears before. Or that bit about animals dreaming. Or how octopus may have a sense of humour, and that rats laugh when tickled (yes, really). Plus, it’s all written in an easy, readable style (interestingly, both women write in so similar a style that it never seemed like a book written by two people: their voices were very much the same. There are informative bits, grounded on solid scientific research; there are more emotional, more intensely personal sections. There are hair-raising anecdotes and rib-tickling ones, and others (Snowball the dancing cockatoo) which made me go online to check.
My only grouse was that the essays were so short. With many of these, I was left thinking, at the end of that handful of pages, ”but I wanted to know more!” For instance, what makes hyenas so unique? Or how did scientists discover that chickens can recognize each other’s (not to mention human) faces? Or how do elephants create infrasound (and why, when)? Some of these essays deserved to be longer.
But still. A superb book, enjoyable and informative.
May 9, 2019
Next Sunday's Monadnock Summer Lyceum lecture will be given by local authors, Sy and Liz, so I wanted to read their book before hearing them.
This is a delightful book with short, 2-4 page, essays about different 'animals' from snails to lions. Though I have read books by both of these authors, there was only one essay that I remembered from reading another book, Soul of an Octopus and I didn't mind reading it again as it was the description of Squirt and Mr. Rain, two giant Pacific octopuses, meeting each other on a blind date on Valentine's Day at the Seattle Aquarium.
Though both authors are fascinating to read, I do prefer Sy's humorous twists. My favorite of the essay's is about Snowball, the dancing cockatoo. He's been on The Tonight Show with David Letterman, on Good Morning America, and you can see 8 or so videos of him on You Tube. Well, Sy being Sy, flew to Indiana to dance with Snowball. Hysterical!
I learned about animals I had never heard of, hyraxes, kudus (check out their atlers!), and giant Palouse earthworms!
Both Sy and Liz (knowing them both, I already call them by their first names) love animals and if you do too, pick up this book! It's a quick read and thoroughly enjoyable.
This is a delightful book with short, 2-4 page, essays about different 'animals' from snails to lions. Though I have read books by both of these authors, there was only one essay that I remembered from reading another book, Soul of an Octopus and I didn't mind reading it again as it was the description of Squirt and Mr. Rain, two giant Pacific octopuses, meeting each other on a blind date on Valentine's Day at the Seattle Aquarium.
Though both authors are fascinating to read, I do prefer Sy's humorous twists. My favorite of the essay's is about Snowball, the dancing cockatoo. He's been on The Tonight Show with David Letterman, on Good Morning America, and you can see 8 or so videos of him on You Tube. Well, Sy being Sy, flew to Indiana to dance with Snowball. Hysterical!
I learned about animals I had never heard of, hyraxes, kudus (check out their atlers!), and giant Palouse earthworms!
Both Sy and Liz (knowing them both, I already call them by their first names) love animals and if you do too, pick up this book! It's a quick read and thoroughly enjoyable.
December 20, 2020
i love sy montgomery and found her essays lovely, tender & enjoyable, which is why i picked up this book, but getting through elizabeth marshall thomas's essays was a drag and made finishing this a herculean effort. while sy montgomery always approaches all subjects from a place of joy, wonder, and desire to share her love for creatures, elizabeth marshall writes in a tone somewhere between kindergarden teacher and person giving you a lecture, and approaches all her essays from the assumption that we, the readers, are careless and callous and indifferent and ignorant about animals, and she is here to enlighten us on why, actually, she is right and we are wrong. it's a really weird and jarring vibe.
April 18, 2018
An informative and highly engaging book of essays that are divided into six sections, each describing a different area of animal life - and gives an excellent tip on how to bring a lost dog home by honing I Mom their sense of small. A veterinarian’s dog was lured home when the vet put all of his dirty laundry in his car, blasted the heater, and drove around his home with the windows open. His dog reappeared shortly. The book contains references to their other lengthier works such as The Good, Good Pig and the Soul of an Octopus. Delightful!
August 28, 2018
This was a very enjoyable book of observations and contemplations of the animals we live with, and who sometimes meander into our lives by way of a backyard garden. Two renowned naturalists and writers, Sy and Elizabeth have found a tasteful way to prompt compassion that crosses the species divide. There truly wasn't anything depressing about this book. It just made me want to learn more about the animals around me. What communications have I been missing all these years? A great read if you want insight into the emotional lives of your pets.
January 3, 2019
I decided to read this because Montgomery's new, critically acclaimed "How to Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals" was not available at the library. A series of short essays, the writing is uneven because they are split between Montgomery and author Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, and their styles are so different. Some essays are short and abrupt, while others go into a lot of detail. Most of the tidbits were pretty interesting and educational. But while I consider myself an animal lover, these authors sometimes bordered on obsession and neuroticism.
December 31, 2017
Delightful series of brief essays by longtime best friends and nature writers Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. Covers subjects from chickens to hyraxes to octopi. Much of the material is familiar but the writers' enthusiasm drawn from personal encounters with other animals makes these pieces fresh and inviting. Overall the book covers the similarities and differences between the behavior of humans and other animals.
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