The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Capacities [Hardcover]

Amy Hatkoff (Author), Jane Goodall (Introduction), Wayne Pacelle (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

Chickens can count. Pigs are smarter than poodles. Cows form close friendships. Turkeys know one another by their voices, and sheep recognize faces—of other sheep, and of people. Far from lacking thoughts and feelings, barnyard creatures demonstrate sophisticated problem-solving abilities, possess rich social lives, and feel a wide range of emotions. In other words, they’re much like humans in countless ways. And, like us, they suffer physical pain and mental anguish.

In The Inner World of Farm Animals, Amy Hatkoff combines the latest research on the emotional and intellectual capacities of farm animals with touching—and often surprising—stories to bring their inner world to life. Soulful photographs of cows, goats, lambs, and other barnyard animals complement the text, and add to the belief that these creatures deserve our attention. In this heartfelt book, Hatkoff joins the growing call for treating these sentient, aware beings with compassion and respect.

 

"THE INNER WORLD OF FARM ANIMALS will surely change your mind about the emotional lives of these wonderful beings. Moving stories of Alice, a doting and dancing turkey, Hope and Johnny, two loving pigs, and Olivia, a goat with a wonderful personality, woven in with the latest scientific research, make it clear that we must stop abusing them and other hapless animals for our own selfish needs. The easiest way for us to increase our compassion footprint is to appreciate animals for who they are -- amazing individuals who care deeply about what happens to them."
--Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, Animals Matter, Animals at Play, and Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals (with Jessica Pierce)
 
"All animal lovers will love this book. Farm animals are sentient and they have true emotions. The photography in the book is gorgeous."
--Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation
 
"A beautiful, evocative, and pretty much perfect book--this book will leave you changed for the better."
--Rory Freedman, co-author of Skinny Bitch
 
"This beautiful, well-researched book should make every meat-eater think differently about the lives of the animals that turn up on his or her plate."
--Peter Singer
 
"Amy Hatkoff's insightful book addresses a question we've finally started asking: just how evolved is our place in the food chain, anyway? It's time we realized we are dealing with sentient beings rather than assembly-line widgets. Books like this one point to a more enlightened road: the future depends on us taking it."
--Dan Barber, Owner and Executive Chef, Blue Hill restaurants
 
"The Inner World of Farm Animals brings together a fascinating mix of science and story-telling about the intelligence and emotional lives of farm animals. A treasure-trove book, which will delight, amaze, cause laughter and, possibly, a tear or two."
--Joyce d’Silva, Compassion in World Farming

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amy Hatkoff is a parenting educator, writer, filmmaker, and advocate. She leads seminars and lectures all over the country and is a graduate of the Institute for Infants, Children & Family of Wheelock College. She is the author of STC’s You Are My World. Hatkoff lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584797487
• ISBN-13: 978-1584797487
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate argument for treating animals ethically., April 17, 2009

By 

Greg "Saganite" (Brooklyn Park, Mongolia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Capacities (Hardcover)

Peter Singer can go on making his logical, rational, reasonable case for ethical treatment of animals, and PETA can go on with their outrageous campaigns equating factory farming to the Holocaust, and self-righteous vegans can avoid eating figs because they have dead wasps inside them (which is truthy--wasps do get absorbed into figs as part of a necessary pollination/reproduction symbiosis)...but the ultimate, ULTIMATE argument for ethical treatment of animals and decreased meat consumption is in this book: Farm animals are cute. I mean really cute. And they are playful and can be smart, too. They have little societies, of a sort, and can remember things, have favorites, hold grudges. They are not just little people only furrier (and possibly more delicious). But they are not mere unfeeling objects, either. They can, in fact, suffer. And whatever else can be said about humans, by and large those of us who are not sociopaths cannot stand by and watch something innocent and cute suffer. The hamburgers we eat, the buckets of chicken and crispy bacon--all of our meat is so far removed from the animals of which it consists that it is easy to start thinking of meat as something quite removed from suffering, and quite apart from the cute animals pictured in this book. "Inner World" disabuses us of that comforting myth by reminding us, with sparkling prose and wonderful photographs, of what precisely that stuff on our plate really is. I'm pretty far from being an animal rights extremist and am at best a fair-weather vegetarian, but this book strikes me as the perfect prod to a conscience put into a trance by too many "I'm lovin' it" commercials. It is not depressing. It is not shocking. It is, in fact, a great book for children, with all its adorable duckies and lambs and piglets and so forth. No pictures of slaughter-houses, no descriptions of cruelty to shock the senses. Just a reminder that the bacon double-cheeseburger few of us can resist was once, in fact, something we would find it very hard not to pet.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Stunning., April 29, 2009

By 

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, author of The Joy o... (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Capacities (Hardcover)

I just received this book and I'm absolutely blown away. The photographs Amy chose for this book perfectly capture the beautiful essence of the various species and individuals featured, and the stories are enough to make people change their minds about "farm animals" without having to sift through high scientific language. I will be giving many copies out as gifts for many years to come. Brava!

I wrote this on behalf of 'farm animals' and thought I would share it here, as Amy's book perfectly captures my thoughts:

"My hope is that we can all navigate through this world with the grace and integrity of those who most need our protection. May we have the sense of humor and liveliness of the goats; may we have the maternal instincts and protective nature of the hens and the sassiness of the roosters. May we have the gentleness and strength of the cattle, the wisdom, serenity, and humility of the donkeys. May we appreciate the need for community as do the sheep and choose our companions as carefully as do the rabbits. May we have the faithfulness and commitment to family of the geese, the adaptability and affability of the ducks. May we have the inquisitiveness, sensitivity, and playfulness of the turkeys and the intelligence, loyalty, and affection of the pigs. My hope is that we can learn from the animals what we need to become better people."

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll never look at a cow the same way, April 10, 2009

By 

Jonathan Balcombe "author of Second Nature: T... (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Capacities (Hardcover)

Hats off to Amy Hatkoff, author of this beautiful, approachable book. With simple prose, Hatkoff introduces readers to some startling scientific revelations of animals we prefer to think of as dumb and unfeeling. From pigs who can take the perspective of another, to sheep's preferences for smiling faces, to cows who use an aluminum shed as an amplifier to call their calves in for dinner--you'll find plenty to raise your eyebrows here. I've yet to encounter a solid rationale for the oft-held bias that domesticated animals are less aware, intelligent or sentient than wild animals. Hatkoff has marshaled the evidence to lay that bias to rest.

The pages are also graced by a collection of really fine photos, as well as touching stories and eyewitness accounts from animal rescuers and sanctuary workers. I take issue with just one clause in the final section, where we're reminded that these animals are raised and killed "for our benefit." Animal agriculture's harmful contributions to global warming, animal well-being, and human health are no more beneficial to us than they are to the animals. Pass me that veggie-burger.