Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domesticationby Stephen Budiansky
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. What a mixed bag! The discussion of the co-evolution of humans alongside domesticated animals and plants is so well articulated, as is the critique of our persistent romanticized view of "nature," now created from afar since so many of us have such a mediated experience with anything remotely wild and even then, what appears wild when we are only occasionally stepping out of the built environment may still be profoundly shaped by co-evolutionary forces that we don't recognize. I've read similar analyses in other books (e.g. pieces by Temple Grandin), but those were written at a later date, so it was interesting to read this argument at a much earlier point in that conversation. So those parts were great, but the diatribes against animal rights advocates is completely out of control. By contrast to his thoughtful analysis and deconstruction of naive understandings about the relations between people and animals and plants, in discussing animal rights movements the author gives into self-indulgent slams against tactics and doesn't attempt to address any of the real problems this movement was trying to surface. Interestingly, he predicted a great backlash against their perspective because of the tactics, but that is not in fact how history has played out. ( ) no reviews | add a review
Awards
Stephen Budiansky shows how domestication has proved to be a brilliantly successful evolutionary strategy, benefiting humans and animals alike. His book is an eloquent plea for reason in the animals emotional debate over animals' rights and humans' responsibilities. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)636Technology Agriculture & related technologies Animal husbandryLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |