Customer Reviews

Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good

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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.

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

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.

By showing that animals enjoy life, Balcombe demonstrates that humans do wrong in depriving them of opportunities to seek pleasures by caging them in factory farms for meat, in laboratories for harmful experiments, and in zoos or circuses for our amusement. It doesn't take much thought to imagine the displeasure a person would feel in similar situations. We animals are all alike in our pursuit of happiness, and we should live our lives in a way that recognizes and respects this truth. Make the world a more pleasurable place for all of us by going vegan.

The evidence is mounting and irrefutable: Animals are entitled to respect and kindness as living, feeling beings. They are NOT little machines or economic units that live, suffer and die for human "pleasure." Anyone who claims to be honest must read this and make appropriate changes in their behavior. I was shocked, years ago, into giving up meat and animal products when I became aware of the reality of what happens to animals raised as "food." Those who own and run factory farms are on the moral level of death camp commandants. There are no more rationalizations possible in the light of research and logic. Compassion requires change.

As a neurologist, it comes as no surprise to read that all animals feel pleasure and pain, as they are neurologically equipped for both. Eloquently written -and often humorous- this book forces us to rethink our use of animals is many areas, including medical experiments, that cause immense suffering and that deprives them of even the most basic pleasures in life.

As an animal lover, a rabbit and bird fancier, I literally could not put this book down. I search out books on animal behavior and intelligence and there is little out there. The info on insect behaviour I found the most fascinating. It's about time that scientists are proving what us animal lovers have known all along.

This book could open new directions for serious scientific work on subjective feelings and emotions of non-human animals. At the same time, the approach provided by Balcombe sheds new light on evolutionary explanations and their applicability to explaining human and non-human behavior and psychological/mental processes. A remarkable book indeed. Don't be misled by the sentimental cover-picture... it's a really important scientific achievement. A pioneering work.

"Pleasurable Kingdom" is a vital work in our attempt to understand animals. In my undergraduate education my concentration for my biology degree was in mammalogy, which helped foster a lifelong interest in animal behavior, particularly in lemurs, pangolins, and cats of all shapes and sizes. I have always loved animals and have wondered about how (and the degree to which) animals feel pleasure and emotions; unfortunately, I usually found only anecdotal information that was not collected in a systematic way. This book taught me that I was not alone: one of the biggest problems in this research area is the lack of systematic study, or even a conceptual ability to measure data in a meaningful way.

Despite the difficulties of study in this field, Balcombe has written an accessible yet scientifically important book. Unsurprisingly to animal lovers it shows what we have suspected all along: animals are very capable of experiencing joy, engaging in play, and having fun. The reverse is also, of course, true, as anyone who has seen a cat or dog grieve at the loss of a human or animal companion knows intuitively.

I enjoyed the book immensely, and found it to be more substantive and scientifically weighty than I expected. The sources cited are numerous, and provide excellent starting points for further research. I thought the entire book was strong, although some of the conclusions reached in chapter seven, "Touch", seemed a bit tenuous. I especially loved the chapters "Love" and "Transcendent Pleasures". I was amazed, for example, at the discussion of zoopharmacognosy: I had been aware that some animals enjoyed the sensations of being intoxicated or in a drugged state, but had no idea the extent of that desire in the animal kingdom. I had known that elephants seek fermenting marula fruit, but I had no idea that some capuchins rub psychoactive millipedes on their bodies as an illicit drug. That is but a small example of the detail that this book contains. The end feeling is that animals are more sensitive and less motivated solely by survival than has been conventionally explored or argued with evolutionary theory.

I recommend this book unequivocally for animal lovers. It's a detailed but very readable book that is fascinating and full of new information from cover to cover.

Author Jonathan Balcombe, PhD, gives those of us who love animals a wonderful gift: insights into the intelligence, sensuality, and emotions of the creatures with whom we share this planet. I chose to take this book on a recent trip and what good company it was!

Jonathan Balcombe is an insightful thinker, loves nature, and effectively uses humor, facts, and anecdotes to create an enjoyable read. The book clearly portrays animals as they truly are: intelligent, capable of rational thought, sensitive, and with an apparent depth of emotion to rival our own.

I was engaged by the stars of this book: the sentient and sensate individuals garbed in various textures and colors, who come in so many different sizes and shapes and who each have a unique character. The animals held my attention from start to finish. I found myself laughing out loud at the "thrill seekers," surprised by the antics of the "demolition players", amused by new words (such as "wuzzles") that were added to my vocabulary, and touched by sadness while reading the brief descriptions of animals suffering from human-caused plights.

After reading this book, animals may seem to look and act differently, but it's more likely that you will be seeing them through different eyes. Nature walks will become more meaningful. For example, next time you see a downed butterfly--now knowing that he or she is likely dehydrated and in need of water and shade--you may save a delicate and precious life. I highly recommend this volume as a way to lift your own spirits and to expand your ideas about the complexity of the non-humans with whom we share this amazing planet.

Marie Mead, Author (with collaborator Nancy LaRoche)of Rabbits: Gentle Hearts, Valiant Spirits Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph, and Joy

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Rabbits: Gentle Hearts, Valiant Spirits: Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph, and Joy