Review by Booklist Review
Science has neglected animal pleasure, Balcombe states in his survey of the role pleasurable experiences play in the lives of nonhuman animals. Pleasure is evolutionarily adaptive; the pleasure an animal feels after it eats, while it plays with a companion, or when it is groomed or stroked can all increase its chances to survive. The author, a consultant with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, reviews a vast body of scientific literature in his examination of positive feelings in animals. He first defines what is meant by pleasure and why it is worthy of study, then looks at several potentially pleasure-causing activities: play, eating, sex, touching, and love. Full of examples both anecdotal and from refereed journals, and with a copious bibliography, this book not only makes a case for animal pleasure but calls for more research on the science of pleasure in animals, allowing humans to view them in a new way. --Nancy Bent Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When birds take a dip in the water, is it to clean their feathers, or is it just plain fun? The author addresses such questions in a brisk, erudite and enormously entertaining contribution to the growing genre of books about the emotions of animals. Balcombe, an animal behavior research consultant for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, presents an excellent, approachable introduction to the basic issues in animal behavior, with the potential to gain a much wider reception than such classics as Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy's When Elephants Weep. By presenting evidence "from both scientific study and anecdote, that the animal kingdom is rich in pleasure," Balcombe balances a general philosophical look at the prevalence of pleasure among animals (he rejects the view that all behavior must be explained in terms of adaptation for survival) with detailed anecdotal evidence of how specific animals experience pleasure in play, food, sex, touching and love. But what may most attract readers to Balcombe's powerful argument "that animals have minds and feelings" is the cover photo: two smiling pigs nuzzling each other in an inescapably endearing pose. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Do animals experience pleasure? That is the question animal behavior research consultant Balcombe (The Use of Animals in Higher Education) seeks to answer in this entertaining and thought-provoking book. While acknowledging the touchy-feely aspects of the subject and the difficulty of conducting rigorous scientific study, Balcombe enumerates the reasons why pleasure may contribute to natural selection, thus providing a scientific rationale for why pleasure is important, perhaps even vital, to animal survival. Many animals, especially vertebrates, have neural systems similar to those of humans, and the author suggests that animals of this type can react to taste, touch, or situations as humans do-with pleasure. Leavening his argument with illustrative anecdotes, Balcombe stresses that the recognition that animals are not merely reactive organisms but have the capacity to feel pleasure is essential to improving the manner in which we treat them. Recommended for popular science collections.-Ann Forister, Roseville, P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
