Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, and Heart/Marc Bekoff (Oxford
University Press, New York, NY), 2002. Compendium of information on the
richness of nonhuman animal lives: intelligence, thinking, cooperation and
other topics in relation to the meaning of consciousness. Presents a powerful
argument for improvement in humanity's relationship with nature and the
other animal species that share our planet.
Wild Health: How Animals Keep Themselves Well and What We Can Learn from
Them/Cindy Engel (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston), 2002. Fascinating account
of ways in which nonhuman animals take an active role in maintaining their
own health (would that humans would do more of the same!), including herbal
and mineral self-medication strategies, coping skills, personal hygiene,
recreation, healing retreats, and family planning.
Animal Equality: Language and Liberation/Joan Dunayer (Ryce Publishing,
Derwood, MD), 2001. A look at the words and expressions we use in talking
about animals or about humans in animal terms (inappropriate similes and
metaphors), euphemisms used for ill treatment of animals, etc., with concrete
suggestions for improving the situation.
Animal Grace: Entering a Spiritual Relationship with Our Fellow Creatures/Mary
Lou Randour (New World Library, Novato, CA), 2000. Compelling presentation
of the author's personal journey of discovery and "progressive revelation"
about the "kindom" of animals (including us). "I was blind
and now I see" from the hymn Amazing Grace, associated with the anti-human
slavery movement, suggests the kind of transformation humans need to make
in their attitudes toward nonhuman animals.
The Souls of Animals/Gary Kowalski (Stillpoint, Walpole, NH), 1991;
2nd rev. ed., 1999. A wonderful collection of vignettes from animal lives
dealing with such qualities as altruism, capacity for love, playfulness,
and awareness of mortality. Rev. Kowalski calls us to be "more careful
and less callous" in our relationship to these remarkable creatures
who live and move and share our being.
Animal Consciousness (Frontiers of Philosophy Series)/Daisie and
Michael Radner (Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY), 1996. Examination of philosophical
and theological fallacies in western history concerning animals and discussion
of current approaches to the evaluation of consciousness. The authors suggest:
"Maybe the human species shouldn't be exalted quite as much as it is."
The Animal Mind/James L. Gould and Carol Grant Gould (Scientific
American Library, New York, NY), 1994. Overview of research in many areas
of nonhuman animal dynamics: learning, communication (including dance language
of bees), individual recognition, architectural skills, insight, etc. Comparative
studies reveal that "nonhuman animals are smarter than is generally
believed, and humans are not nearly as clever as we give ourselves credit
for."
That Quail, Robert/Margaret A. Stanger (J.B.Lippincott Co., Philadelphia,
PA), 1966, reissued 1992. Intelligence, keen perception, love of companionship!
These qualities and more in a small quail who hatched out from an abandoned
egg and became part of a human family on Cape Cod, USA. Every animal lover
and anyone with doubts about animal consciousness will want to read this
delightful story ["among the great nature tales of all time" (Boston
Globe)].
Also of interest: The Vegan Sourcebook/Joanne Stepaniak (Lowell House,
Los Angeles, CA), 1998; Animals and the Law: A Sourcebook/Jordan
Curnutt (ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA), 2001.