Kinship with Animals: Updated Edition [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Michael Tobias (Editor), Kate Solisti (Editor), William Shatner (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2006

Scientists, artists, activists, philosophers, lawyers, and spiritual leaders share their intensely personal experiences and ponder on the meaning and import of human/animal relationships. From prairie dogs, donkeys and squid to Best Friends Sanctuary’s dogs and cats, the contributors tell of a wide variety of insightful encounters with animals. Jane Goodall recalls how her lifelong commitment to animals began with a fateful childhood meeting with a dragonfly. Homeless veterans find healing with the parrots of Serenity Park. Musician Jim Nollman plays the waterphone for an audience of orcas.

Our understanding of animals has increased greatly in just the last few years. "Kinship with Animals: Updated Edition" contains new research findings and new contributors. Wesley the Owl saves a woman’s life. A rescued whale shows his gratitude. Lawyer Jody Weiner muses on Koko the Gorilla’s sexual harassment lawsuit. Dave Soldier designs instruments for the Thai Elephant Orchestra. This collection of over thirty stories will inspire and delight animal-lovers of all stripes.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

"Kinship with Animals" is a poignant collection of more than thirty personal stories from a diverse range of scientists, artists, activists, and spiritual teachers, which all tell of the moment they began to see animals as sentient beings capable of expressing altruistic emotions and sophisticated thoughts. From prairie dogs, desert tortoises, and squid to Best Friends Sanctuarys dogs and cats, the contributors tell of a wide variety of insightful encounters with animals. Jane Goodall recalls how her lifelong commitment to animals began with a fateful childhood meeting with a dragonfly. Ingrid Newkirk co-founder and president of PETA talks about her life-changing experience with fish. Musician Jim Nollan plays the waterphone for an audience of orcas. Each story tells of fascinating creatures and the equally interesting humans who are changing the way we perceive the animal world. Printed on 100% PCW paper.

About the Author

William Shatner is an actor and writer. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on March 22, 1931. He graduated from McGill University in 1952. Shatner made his acting debut at the Montreal Playhouse in 1952 and performed with the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa. From 1954 to 1956 he appeared in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario and in 1956 he made his Broadway debut in Tamburlaine the Great. In 1966, Shatner was cast as Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the TV series Star Trek. The TV show inspired several film spin-offs, the early ones starring the original cast. Shatner directed Star Trek V. In addition to acting, Shatner began a career as a writer of science fiction novels. The first one, Tek War, was published in 1989. Shatner has also written his memoirs, Star Trek Memories. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as The Big Giant Head on the TV series 3rd Rock From the Sun.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Council Oak Books; Updated edition (May 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571781897
• ISBN-13: 978-1571781895
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #939,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just entertainment, January 2, 2008

By 

Ann Baker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinship with Animals: Updated Edition (Paperback)

This book will make you laugh and cry, and will keep you mesmerized until the last page. But more than that, it will make you think and rethink. It will challenge the reader to consider new ways of looking at the intelligent life that surrounds us, and to realize that these other beings are more like us (or we are more like them) than we are often willing to admit, even though this truth should be self evident. Long after you have read the book, you will be thinking about it and talking about it. In this day and age, that is a rare quality indeed. I rate this as one of the more important books of our time, and I predict that the concepts presented in the book are the beginning of a new way of thinking that will eventually prevail, making our current thinking look primitive in retrospect.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Process, not content, October 29, 2006

By 

M. Spruce (Gauteng South Africa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kinship with Animals: Updated Edition (Paperback)

I rate this a five on the basis of the importance of having people from such different walks of life telling essentially the same story in their own unique way. Solisti and Tobias have put together a compendium of tales that illustrate the individual dilemma that each one of us face at this moment in time. Whether approached from a scientific, spiritual, moral or uniquely personal view, the need to make a personal choice regarding one's relationship with one's context is one that those privileged enough to be able to read and buy books are faced with in this important time in history. Books reviewed in times to come will reflect such choices. The heavy responsibility that each of us carries is well illustrated in this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Charles Tobias' Kinship With Animals - Breathtaking!, December 1, 2011

By 

Lorenzo Fincher - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinship with Animals: Updated Edition (Paperback)

Tobias' edited anthologies transcend the genre. His indelible stamp of quality, literary luminosity, and provocative thinking are indisputably unique and everlasting. This is another example of Tobias' hallmark: great writing, great editing, great beauty, great importance.