The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication [Paperback]

Stephen Budiansky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 1999

Animal rights extremists argue that eating meat is murder and that pets are slaves. This compelling reappraisal of the human-animal bond, however, shows that domestication of animals is not an act of exploitation but a brilliantly successful evolutionary strategy that has benefited humans and animals alike.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Formerly Washington editor of the journal Nature, Stephen Budiansky is a senior writer at US News & World Report, where he writes about science, the environment and current affairs. He lives with his wife and two children on a small farm in Virginia. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (April 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300079931
• ISBN-13: 978-0300079937
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Animal Rights

More About the Author

Stephen Budiansky is a writer, historian, and journalist, the author of 14 books about military and intelligence history, science, and the natural world. He is a former editor and writer at U.S. News & World Report and The Atlantic and the former Washington Editor of the scientific journal Nature. He lives on a small farm in northern Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking ideas about domestication, July 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication (Paperback)

Despite the other reviewers that dislike this book and the ideas presented in it, I found it fascinating. I have a suspicion that negative reviewers were people with an extreme animal rights philosophy (very different than animal welfare and often confused by the lay person). This book does not concentrate on modern animal agriculture or a defense of it (many aspects of which I do not like), but instead explores the process of domestication and the relationship between domestic animals and humans. Other reviewers comments that suggest Budiansky says things such as, battery hens _like_ to live in small cages, indicates to me that they did not get the point of this book. Budiansky doesn't suggest that animals like to be mistreated, he suggests that a strategy for a species to survive may have been to pair its fate with humans. If you want to learn more about the evolution of and scientific principles behind the strategy of domestication, you will find this book to be illuminating!

32 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but a bit thin, September 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication (Paperback)

Budiansky makes some very interesting points about domestication, how evolutionary adaptation led pets to choose to be domesticated rather than us choosing them, etc. But too much of this book is taken up with diatribes against animal rights groups. Sure, he has some good points, but he uses up more than half the book making them and I felt cheated - I wanted to read about biology and evolution and not stupid political movements.

32 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have ever read, May 24, 2000

By 

Desiree Scott - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication (Paperback)

This is a magnificent book that takes into consideration virtually all of the latest scientific research into animal behaviour and the history of domestication, and then presents it in a way that is easy to assimilate. It should be compulsory reading for all those that profess to care about any species of animal, but most especially for those species that decided that their lifestyle would be easier if they joined up with human beings ; that is the domestic animals. I cannot help but use a cliche -it is like a breath of fresh air through the mass of anthropomorphic woolly thoughts which predominate when animals come up in conversation. Some of my best friends are vegetarian, but I would have even more respect for them if they read this book, thought about the arguments it raised, and then decided about their eating habits. The 'ahh' factor for fluffy bunnies and other cute animals is unscientific, and in the long run a destuctive way of thinking about other species. Read this book for the closest approximation to the truth in print.