Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion

by Ingrid Newkirk, Gene Stone, Mayim Bialik Ph.D. (Foreword by)

Overview

The founder and president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and bestselling author Gene Stone explore the wonders of animal life with “admiration and empathy” (The New York Times Book Review) and offer tools for living more kindly toward them.

In the last few decades, a wealth of new information has emerged about who animals are: astounding beings with intelligence, emotions, intricate communications networks, and myriad abilities. In Animalkind, Ingrid Newkirk and Gene Stone present these findings in a concise and awe-inspiring way, detailing a range of surprising discoveries, like that geese fall in love and stay with a partner for life, that fish “sing” underwater, and that elephants use their trunks to send subsonic signals, alerting other herds to danger miles away.

Newkirk and Stone pair their tour through the astounding lives of animals with a guide to the exciting new tools that allow humans to avoid using or abusing animals as we once did. Whether it’s medicine, product testing, entertainment, clothing, or food, there are now better options to all the uses animals once served in human life. We can substitute warmer, lighter faux fleece for wool, choose vegan versions of everything from shrimp to marshmallows, reap the benefits of animal-free medical research, and scrap captive orca exhibits and elephant rides for virtual reality and animatronics.

Animalkind provides a fascinating look at why our fellow living beings deserve our respect, and lays out the steps everyone can take to put this new understanding into action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501198557
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	01/19/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	439,988
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Ingrid Newkirk founded PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the largest animal rights organization in the world, with affiliates in eight countries, in 1980. She is the author of Save the Animals! 101 Things You Can Do, Kids Can Save the Animals, The Compassionate Cook, and several other books available in multiple languages.

Gene Stone has written, cowritten, or ghost-written more than forty-five books on a wide variety of subjects, including the bestsellers Forks Over Knives, How Not to Die, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life, and The Engine 2 Diet.

Mayim Bialik, PhD, is perhaps best known for her lead role as Blossom Russo in the 1990s television sitcom Blossom, and she starred on the top-rated comedy The Big Bang Theory. Bialik earned a BS from UCLA in 2000 in neuroscience and Hebrew and Jewish studies, and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007. She designed a neuroscience curriculum for homeschoolers in Southern California, where she also teaches middle and high school students. Married to her college sweetheart with two young sons, Bialik is also a Certified Lactation Education Counselor. Visit her at MayimBialik.net.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction 1

Section I Remarkable Discoveries about Animals

The Mysteries of Navigation 15

The Channels of Communication 38

The Intricacies of Love 62

The Joy of Play 88

Section II Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion

Scientific Research 119

Clothing 155

Entertainment 181

Food 205

Afterword 239

Acknowledgments 241

Selected Sources 243

Notes 267

Index 275

Editorial Reviews

Humanity’s survival depends upon our learning to live in harmony with all other species. The second law of ecology is the law of interdependence. Without bees, phytoplankton, worms and trees we cannot live; without dogs, cats, horses, elephants and penguins we cannot be truly happy. We are a part of them as they are a part of us and together we are the planet Earth. Ingrid Newkirk and Gene Stone have done a wonderful service to us all with their stories of kindness and compassion. The book is truly inspiring.”
— Captain Paul Watson, CEO and founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

“Thought-provoking... Animalkind will have you thinking about the creatures that share our planet — their astonishing capabilities and emotions, and the ways in which we could improve how we cohabit with them.”
— Columbus Dispatch

“What Animalkind reveals only reinforces my belief that some of the most brilliant individuals you could ever hope to meet have fur, fins or feathers.”
— Alan Cumming, stage and screen actor

"We share this planet and the same kingdom with the animals and although we feel superior to them, they have senses that far surpass ours. This book shows how much we have to learn from them beginning with compassion, simplicity and unconditional love. It is a must read."
— Dr. Marty Goldstein, author of The Nature of Animal Healing

“With wisdom and eloquence, Ingrid Newkirk and Gene Stone remind us of what we've always known, but too often forget: animals are deserving of our care.”
— Jonathan Safran Foer, New York Times bestselling author of Eating Animals

“Compendious... Meant to evoke both admiration and empathy.”
— The New York Times Book Review

“This book makes the spot-on case that the future of laboratory research will not be based on four-legged or tail-wagging models, but rather on sophisticated, human-relevant and high-tech animal-free testing methods. As Newkirk and Stone point out, these modern technologies are delivering better human health outcomes and are benefiting patients, physicians and researchers.”
— John Pawlowski, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical Faculty Physician

“This is the book to buy, read, and give to others so that everyone finally sees why they should respect and cherish all animals.”
— Anjelica Huston, Oscar winning actress

“A resourceful guide...a treasure of greater compassion, integrity and awareness, Animalkind is both a moving compendium of animals’ remarkable intelligence and emotional complexity, and a manual of all the ways we can stop accepting and contributing to their slaughter and exploitation.”
— Joy Williams, author The Quick and the Dead and The Changeling

“Animalkind is a much-needed antidote to viewing other animals as second-class citizens and offers a fresh look into the cognitive and emotional lives of other animals. This thought provoking and engaging book will change your view of who other animals are and how you should interact with them in respectful and compassionate ways. It could be a game-changer.”
— Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., author of The Emotional Lives of Animals

“Buy this book for anyone you know who harbors even the slightest doubt that animals aren’t super-clever or that there aren’t many ways to help them — because Newkirk and Stone show that animals are, and that you can.”
— Edie Falco, Emmy winning actress

"A fascinating look at animal behavior, as well as a treatise against cruelty toward animals... Newkirk and Stone’s informative survey effectively nudges readers to think twice about their own use of products sourced, perhaps less than ethically, from the animal kingdom."
— Publishers Weekly

“This emotional and informative book should be required reading for everyone! I urge you to pick it up and embrace its beautiful message of compassion and understanding. The time is now for all of us to fall in love with Animalkind!”
—Mike White, filmmaker, actor, and producer

“This book takes you by the hand and leads you, enchanted, into the wonderful world of diverse animal life.”
—James Cromwell, Emmy winning actor

From the Publisher

10/07/2019

This earnest volume from Newkirk, cofounder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Stone (Eat for the Planet, coauthor) is a fascinating look at animal behavior, as well as a treatise against cruelty toward animals. Divided into two halves, it begins by focusing on “who animals are—their many talents, languages, and complex cultures.” Ants, for example, have strong collective instincts; each has “a specific role within a group, and each group has a distinct purpose.” The coauthors also discuss how birds navigate and hone a sense of direction that would “put even the most deft human explorers to shame.” The second half focuses on how humans can improve animals’ lives—not least by abstaining from cruelty. Descriptions of the experiments done on animals including mice, rabbits, monkeys, and dogs in order “to study toxic chemicals, drugs, or diseases” get graphic quickly. As do discussions about animals “routinely killed and skinned for their fur” or crocodiles and alligators “slaughtered for leather.” Newkirk and Stone’s informative survey effectively nudges readers to think twice about their own use of products sourced, perhaps less than ethically, from the animal kingdom. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly