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Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good [Hardcover]

Jonathan Balcombe (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Book Description

1403986010 978-1403986016 May 2, 2006
The recognition of animal pain and stress, once controversial, is now acknowledged by legislation in many countries, but there is no formal recognition of animals' ability to feel pleasure. Pleasurable Kingdom is the first book for lay-readers to present new evidence that animals--like humans--enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival and the avoidance of pain. Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to baboons feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe proposes that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society.

For more information please visit the author's website at www.pleasurablekingdom.com

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Scientific American

If you have ever scratched a dog’s belly as the animal lies, legs splayed, you would find it hard to believe that the pooch was not experiencing pleasure. Jonathan Balcombe, who has tickled many a mammal, thinks so, too, and he rails at the reductionism of biologists who see animals as genetic automatons that seek little more than to eat, sleep and reproduce. Instead, he asserts, "We are evolutionarily continuous with the other beasts ... and we are now realizing that ours is a planet rich with other minds and experiences."

Balcombe is an animal behavior research scientist with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C. To back up his claim that all vertebrates, at least, experience pleasure, he presents hundreds of anecdotes about animals playing, eating, copulating, grooming, loving—and enjoying all of it. Most examples come from biologists observing or experimenting with an array of species from moles to whales, but Balcombe also quotes pet owners and talks about his own menagerie.

Interestingly, his best counter to the belief of some scientists that animal behavior is largely instinctual and in service of reproduction comes in his chapter on sex. In many species, only a few dominant males gain access to females, but this fact scarcely means the others abstain from sex. To the contrary, Balcombe documents the widespread practice of homosexual couplings and masturbation. The only reward for these creatures seems to be pleasure. Because animals—at least mammals—can experience both pleasure and pain, Balcombe concludes that we owe them better treatment. He ends Pleasurable Kingdom with a plea for improving the lives of animals, from battery hens and pigs kept in dark concrete barns to the millions of lab rats consigned to wire cages.

Unfortunately, some bad stylistic and logical choices lessen the book’s impact. Balcombe lists far too many anecdotes and adds too little analysis. He also makes presumptuous leaps: the fact that birds have brilliant plumage, and eyes to see other birds’ feathers, does not mean they possess an aesthetic sense. One story of a chimp supposedly watching an African sunset is turned into an epiphany in which the ape is "contented with life." Such unprovable assertions detract from an otherwise well-argued thesis.

Jonathan Beard


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (May 2, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1403986010
  • ISBN-13: 978-1403986016
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in England, raised in New Zealand and Canada, and have lived in the United States since 1987. I studied biology in Toronto and Ottawa before earning a PhD in ethology (animal behavior) from the University of Tennessee, studying communication in bats. My career has been focused mainly on animal protection. I have worked for several non-profit organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, as well as a for-profit company, Immersion Medical. I have written many scientific papers and lay-articles on animal behavior, animal research, and humane education. Recently, I decided to leave traditional office life, and now work as a private consultant. My services include writing for lay- and academic-audiences, public speaking, editing, and creative input. And, of course, I write books! In addition to the three you see featured here, I have another scheduled for publication by the University of California Press around September, 2010. It is titled Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure, and it features stunning photos of animals in pleasurable situations. In my new consulting capacity I am preparing to teach a course (Jan - March 2010) called Animal Behavior, Animal Minds and Animal Protection, for Humane Society University. I also teach soccer clinics to young children aged three to seven. In addition to my professional work, I enjoy biking, wilderness, kayaking, piano (especially Bach), painting, travel, vegan cooking and baking, and reading (preferably with a cat on my lap). I have two websites, www.jonathanbalcombe.com, and www.pleasurablekingdom.com, where (among other things) I post upcoming media and speaking engagements, and occasional musings.

 

Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Thought Provoking, May 17, 2006
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This review is from: Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good (Hardcover)
Though clearly written with a view to influencing public opinion, this is a profoundly interesting book.

Although not long, it is packed with information to support the contention that animals - and not just mammals - are as capable of feeling pain, pleasure and joy as are humans. After spending a great deal of time with animals, I am in little doubt that Jonathan Balcombe's fundamental premise is quite correct. The scientific literature confirms that mammals experience fear, anxiety and pain. Not just a set of reflexes that look like or are interpreted as fear or anxiety, but the real thing. Several governments have been sufficiently impressed by this evidence to enact laws to protect the welfare of many species. It should surprise nobody that a biological system would have to be set up to generate the opposite: animals seem to be able to experience not just pleasure, but joy and happiness. Many of us have thought that feelings are unique to mammals, but it seems that even fish display behaviors indicating that they are sentient. Always difficult to prove if we cannot ask direct questions, but even the most objective research is providing robust, objective evidence that this is true.

Jonathan Balcombe argues - I believe convincingly - that animals are individuals with an impressive range of feelings and emotions. As I am composing this review, I have just written an article on my blog concerning the findings published this week that dolphins call each other by "name." This is further evidence supporting the facts presented in this book.

If the material presented here is correct, then it has some stunning ethical implications. I found this book to be a good complement to Peter Singer's The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter and Michael Pollan's the Omnivore's Dilemma.

Highly recommended.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Focusing on the postive aspects of animals' lives, September 14, 2006
By 
Dr. Annie Potts (Lyttelton, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good (Hardcover)
It was a pleasure to discover 'Pleasurable Kingdom'. In fact, I read Balcombe's book in one go - I could not put it down - and have been totally inspired by it. It has changed the way I am observing and relating with the animals who share my home. There were several aspects of "Pleasurable Kingdom" that I was particularly taken with: the author's astute critique of wildlife documentaries which concentrate on the violent deaths of animals (the 'struggle for survival' narrative in such films is relentless), and neglect all the other positive moments - and times for leisure -in a creature's life; Balcombe's respectful inclusion of insect, chicken and fish pleasure; and his compelling analysis of the implications for the future of our knowing non-human animals feel and appreciate pleasure as much as human animals do (albeit in different ways). The author's use of personal anecdotes is also very effective. I will be setting 'Pleasurable Kingdom' as a text for my course in human-animal studies. It will be challenging for students - in the very best kind of way.

Dr Annie Potts, University of Canterbury
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A book every thinking person should read, July 3, 2006
This review is from: Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good (Hardcover)
This small volume is a book of huge significance. We humans are not alone in loving and valuing our vivid, eventful, cherished lives. Here is the book that proves it. This book convincingly challenges the notion than humans are fundamentally different than the rest of animate creation--and insodoing, for the first time I know of, probes the true nature of the experience of existence on this planet outside of our single species. Jonathan Balcombe is a maverick thinker and an excellent writer. Read this joyous account and rejoice. You will feel far more at home on this sweet green Earth. May his book change the way we treat the others with whom we share the planet.
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pleasurable kingdom, animal pleasure
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Bernd Heinrich, Frans de Waal, Joanna Burger, South American, Mike Tomkies, Marc Bekoff, Gordon Burghardt, Hugo Van Lawick, Jane Goodall, Jaak Panksepp, University of California, New Zealand
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