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How to be Animal
A New History of What It Means to Be Human
1 of 1 copy available
“A brilliant, thought-provoking book.” —Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library
A wide-ranging take on why humans have a troubled relationship with being an animal, and why we need a better one
Human are the most inquisitive, emotional, imaginative, aggressive, and baffling animals on the planet. But we are also an animal that does not think it is an animal. How well do we really know ourselves?
How to Be Animal tells a remarkable story of what it means to be human and argues that at the heart of our existence is a profound struggle with being animal. We possess a psychology that seeks separation between humanity and the rest of nature, and we have invented grand ideologies to magnify this. As well as piecing together the mystery of how this mindset evolved, Challenger's book examines the wide-reaching ways in which it affects our lives, from our politics to the way we distance ourselves from other species. We travel from the origin of homo sapiens through the agrarian and industrial revolutions, the age of the internet, and on to the futures of AI and human-machine interface. Challenger examines how technology influences our sense of our own animal nature and our relationship with other species with whom we share this fragile planet.
That we are separated from our own animality is a delusion, according to Challenger. Blending nature writing, history, and moral philosophy, How to Be Animal is both a fascinating reappraisal of what it means to be human, and a robust defense of what it means to be an animal.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 23, 2021 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593392928
- File size: 240202 KB
- Duration: 08:20:25
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from April 19, 2021
Why do humans consider themselves separate from the animal kingdom, and what are the implications of that, asks Challenger (On Extinction), an environmental philosophy researcher, in this winning rumination. Challenger opens with paradoxes: “The world is now dominated by an animal that doesn’t think it’s an animal. And the future is being imagined by an animal that doesn’t want to be an animal.” The belief that humans are superior to other animals, Challenger writes, has led to climate change, which puts all life in danger, as well as technological breakthroughs that allow humans to transform life, such as by cloning pets to “assuage the muddled grief of their owners.” She calls for humans to get back in touch with the “blunt realities of being an animal” and offers plentiful examples of animal ingenuity and complexity—such as the problem-solving capabilities of ants, and sea sponges that find means to outlast pollution—to illustrate that intelligence isn’t a strictly human phenomenon. Challenger convincingly demonstrates that “the human form of consciousness and its capacity to deliver meaning” doesn’t negate the natural world’s “spectacle of richness.” Impassioned and intelligent, this is a treatise with the possibility to change minds. Photos.
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