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Title details for Beastly by Keggie Carew - Available

Beastly

The 40,000-Year Story of Animals and Us

by Keggie Carew
Pippa Haywood
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Animals have shaped our minds, our lives, our land, and our civilization. Humanity would not have gotten very far without them—making use of their labor for transportation, agriculture, and pollination; their protection from predators; and their bodies for food and to make clothing, music, and art. And over the last two centuries, humans have made unprecedented advances in science, technology, behavior, and beliefs. Yet how is it that we continue to destroy the animal world and lump its magnificence under the sterile concept of biodiversity?
In Beastly, author Keggie Carew seeks to re-enchant listeners with the wild world, reframing our understanding of what it is like to be an animal and what our role is as humans. She throws listeners headlong into the mind-blowing, heart-thumping, glittering pageant of life, and goes in search of our most revealing encounters with the animal world throughout the centuries. How did we domesticate animals and why did we choose sheep, goats, cows, pigs, horses, and chickens? What does it mean when a gorilla tells a joke, or a fish thinks? Why does a wren sing? Beastly is a gorgeously written, deeply researched, and intensely felt journey into the splendor and genius of animals and the long, complicated story of our interactions with them as humans.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 18, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798350837292
      • File size: 479258 KB
      • Duration: 16:38:27

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 22, 2023
      In this eye-opening survey, memoirist Carew (Quicksand Tales) illuminates the varied ways humans have related to animals throughout history and contends that they’re more emotionally sophisticated than people give them credit for. Decrying the cruelty humans have inflicted on animals, Carew notes that ancient Romans killed thousands of bears, lions, and other creatures in the Colosseum and that 19th-century animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck used brutal methods to capture baboons, giraffes, and zebras in Africa, and ship them to zoos around the world. Other stories cast doubt on scientists who dismiss animals’ apparent displays of emotion as anthropomorphism. In 2011, for example, a humpback whale was filmed leaping out of the water 40 times over the course of an hour in joy after humans freed her from a fishing net. Carew also highlights the emotional bonds animals form with humans, describing how Polish wildlife photographer Lech Wilczek rescued a young raven who in adulthood rode around on Wilczek’s shoulder and the back of his motorbike. The heartwarming anecdotes persuasively attest to the complexity of animals’ interior lives, making a strong case for humans to reconsider how they treat other species. Impassioned and entertaining, this is a no-brainer for animal lovers. Photos.

    • Library Journal

      June 10, 2024

      In 2014, nature writer Carew (Quicksand Tales) established the Underhill Wood Nature Reserve in Wiltshire, England, where she still lives. In her latest book, she translates her passion for conservation into an interrogation of the relationship humans have built over millennia with animals, for good or (mostly) ill. She offers a complex blend of stories, revealing awe-inspiring interspecies connections and sickening examples of cruelty inflicted on the animal world. Carew exhorts her audience to care as deeply as she and an increasing number of other humans do about the effects of anthropogenic biodiversity loss. Her stories span continents and centuries; accordingly, narrator Pippa Haywood deftly produces American, Australian, and other accents for a fully immersive listening experience. Haywood's native English accent evokes Carew's rewilded acres, and her crisp, lively delivery engages. VERDICT Carew's study makes a strong case for balanced ecosystems to support all Earth's animals, including people, while sharing the often shameful history of humans' lack of consideration for other species' inherent rights. A natural selection for listeners who loved Ed Yong's An Immense World.--Lauren Kage

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.