Customer Reviews

The Animal Within Us: Lessons About Life from Our Animal Ancestors

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Let me say outright that I didn't get past the fifth chapter, or "lesson" as the author calls them. After hinting that this would book would use scientific and rational means, the author indulged in vague and undefined statements like, "We each have a soul...the animals have no soul..." Huh? I suppose it could work as a children's book. I think many adults drawn to this subject will find it simplistic and trite, so I would recommend other books for them. Perhaps The Moral Animal (a good introduction to Evolutionary Psychology), The Adapted Mind (a bit weightier), and/or The Biological Basis of Human Behaviour (quite technical in spots).

Although Dr. Glass fastens himself securely to the extreme end of an important debate, the fact remains that his subject is probably the foremost intellectual question of our time, and his book is ultimately quite provocative. Is there such a thing as progress, as we have come to define it? Spirituality? Emotion? Are we one hundred percent composed of and motivated by chemicals in our brain we have had since birth, handed down directly to us from our animal ancestors? Dr. Glass may think so. I don't know if I absolutely agree, but he's making me think. He's making me forget momentarily about politics, scandal, and cult of personality and drawing me into some fundamental issues of the human condition. A welcome break. More talented writers and thinkers should follow your lead, sir. One question, Dr. Glass: did you write this book so you could get laid?

I found this book very readable and every page seemed to have a new idea that was worth putting the book down and thinking about. In particular the idea that our religous beliefs are a part of our genes is startling and seemed to make sense. I am still thinking through many of the ideas since if the author is right, they will have a profound influence on my life. Highly recommend

I agree with almost everything he has to say, but it is all painfully obvious. I keep notes of what I learn when I read a (non-fiction) book. Usually it is difficult to summarize what I learn down to a few pages. In this case, 10 lines did it. I guess this book would be worth while to somebody if it caused them to realize that emotion and underlying human goals have arisen only because they were evolutionarily beneficial, but Selfish Gene is a much more succinct source for that lesson.

It very much annoys me that he complicates arguments by running in circles and never stating the conclusion in simple terms. For example, he never comes out and answers the questions about the souls of animals, etc. He gives several examples showing that animals do not differ from humans at all, but never concludes the argument. I kept waiting for him to take it up again or summarize, but he doesn't.

Early on, he explains the trivial fact that stereotyping is misleading when dealing with bell curve shaped data. A few chapters later, he stereo-types away.

His definitions are short sighted and dishonestly honed for his specific argument. For example, he says that every human being in the world has 5 fingers on each hand. Untrue. I know of people who have been born deformed with four fingers, and I know sombody that has lost one finger. These people are still human.

It really surprised me that somebody with his credentials is so naive. He read some artsy-fartsy book about some art society. The author of this book made a very overt analogy to animal societies (e.g., these artists struggled for dominance, etc.). Glass was blown away by this. It is funny that the author of this other book understood that humans share many emotions and drives with animals, and casually used it to enliven his fiction. Glass is blown away by this obvious phenomenon (20 years later) and feels obligated to share what he obviously thinks is a revolutionary discovery.