O/T When Elephants Weep

[Sarah]

Carolyn and others of you wonderful Rabbits Onlyfolks recommended reading When Elephants Weep. It is such a great bookI want to tell everyone to pick it up. It's a must-read for animallovers. The emotional lives of animals is sort of taboo in the scienceworld, and the book explains why that is and how personifying animalscan be problematic. Instead of personifying animals it providesnumerous accounts of animals displaying emotions, which are familiar tohumans. Most of the stories are scientifically documented and notonlyexhibit animals displaying emotions but, demonstrate thestruggle man has to understand animal emotions, without projecting hisown emotions onto what he observes. To give you an idea of what i meanhere are some chapter titles:

Fear, hope and the terrors of dreams...Love and Friendship...Grief,sadness, and the bones of elephants...Rage, dominance and Cruelty inpeace and war.

I haven't finished it yet, but I'm sure it won't be long, as it's hardto put it down. It really has caused me to give a lot more thought tothe behavior of my animals, and wild animals for that matter. So now Ineed to know what others who have read this thought of it.

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[Emmits_mom]

thanks for the post, Sarah. I'm alwayslooking for a good book to read-especially during the summer!I haven't read any good animal books, but I did just finish readingNicholas Sparks - The Notebook...I read it before the movie came out,and I think the book is much better. If you liked that one,then read The Wedding by Sparks as well. It's sort of acontinum of Noah's life. I also suggest any books by BarbaraKingslover or Katherine Paterson. I just love a good book!

-Carrie

 

[Carolyn]

Good For You, Sarah, for going out there andgettingit!!

It's one of the best books I've ever read.

And some people say that animals arestupid.

-Carolyn

 

[Sarah]

I think I have The Notebook here. Did it come outa few years ago? A friend of mine recommended it as well. I thought itwas a romance novel, so I never picked it up, but recently I've heardso many good things about it, I might give it a shot. That's why theysay not to judge a book by its cover i guess. Thanks forthe tip.

I'm planning a wedding, I know you are as well, so the book The Weddingsounds like it could be a horror story aboutthe agony ofcenterpiece makingand caterer deposits. Have youchecked out the websitewww.indiebride.com ? I know that'soff the topic, but from one bride to another, it's really helpful.

*********

When Elephants Weep did certainly clear up any thoughts I had aboutdumb animals. I never thought they were dumb, but there are someanimal...prejudices...i guess you'd call them, that I didn't know Ihad. In particular, I was floored by the story about a defiant octopus.After a few experiments that his tank mates happily took part in herebelled. He broke the device that they were being conditioned to pullto recieve a small amount of fish. He attached himself to the areawhere they fish came out and broke the dispenser. He then floated tothe top, eyed the scientist with his octopus eyes and spit waterdirectly at them multiple times. I was laughing out loud! Who knew aoctopus could have so much character?!

 

[m.e.]

I personally love the stories about Alex theAfrican Grey parrot. There's no way anyone could say he's just"mimicking" language.

~M

 

[Carolyn]

m.e. wrote:

Ipersonally love the stories about Alex the African Grey parrot. There'sno way anyone could say he's just "mimicking" language.

~M

Absolutely m.e. As a matter of fact, I think it was you thatoriginally mentioned the book in this forum. There were partsof that book that I got teary-eyed myself.

Sarah, I didn't particularly care for The Notebook.You might though. It did come out a few years ago.

Didn't realize you were getting married. Exciting!The Honeymoon's the best part of getting married in myopinion. By the timemywedding day came, Iwas so sick of the wholedeal that I just wanted to getaway.



-Carolyn

 

[Emmits_mom]

Sarah wrote:

I'm planning a wedding, I know you are as well, so the book The Weddingsounds like it could be a horror story aboutthe agony ofcenterpiece makingand caterer deposits. Have youchecked out the websitehttp://www.indiebride.com ? I knowthat's off the topic, but from one bride to another, it's reallyhelpful.



Sarah- the wedding is another romance novel, as I amtold. I think i'm going to begin reading ittonight. Thanks for the website. I'm always lookingfor new bride things to look at and read (i'm so sick of the repetitivemagazines).

-Carrie