Customer Reviews

Raising the Peaceable Kingdom: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Social Origins of Tolerance and Friendship

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As I have read amost all of Masson's books I was looking forward to this one. The premise is interesting, seeing if natural enemies can learn to tolerate each other, and hopefully become friends, if raised together from an early age.

Yet while I found the book easy to read and wanting to know the outcome, I was put off by several things. First, I did not think his writing style compares to his other books. I also felt that Masson was very repetitive in his beliefs of trying to create a natural environment for all. I do not feel differently from him, but I felt he was a bit over the top and could have distanced himself from several readers.

This book also caused me to look at Masson differently. I was upset to learn that many of the animals Masson gets for his research (including "Dog's Never Lie") were given away afterwards. While I am sure all animals went to good homes, I was dissapointed that they were not as much a part of his family as it came off. With the way Masson treated his dog in this book, I was glad the dog was given away.

But overall it was entertaining although it didn't live up to expectations.

Masson, a resident of Auckland, New Zealand, was interested in learning the essential ingredients in interspecies friendship. His idea was to raise a puppy, bunny, chick and a baby rat together to see if they could get along with each other but also grow an authentic friendship. He hoped that there might be, in his experiment, some lessons for human beings to learn about getting along with each other.

Masson ended up with seven animals: one puppy, one bunny, two rats, one kitten and two chicks. The animals were absorbed into the family and observed. Initially the results were mixed with the adjustment being the easiest on the rats. Soon the chickens began their exploration of the Masson home and contact with the author. As in life, there were accidents and scares. Hohepa, the rabbit suffered an injury that easily could have resulted in death -- and the rats disappeared one day. They were eventually found in the bathroom wall but Masson noted that while they seemed to enjoy human contact, they preferred the freedom to wander at will.

As the experiment continued it was interesting to see what happened with the relationships between the animals -- and between the animals and the human beings in their lives.

Armchair Interviews says: Raising the Peaceable Kingdom is an extremely interesting, unique and entertaining look at the world of animals and how they behave. Most readers will ponder the results and wonder, what if?

This is an interesting concept and idea, but I really had some unhappy feelings about the way the author executed it.

The author wanted to do an "experiment" and see if he could raise animals that are considered to be natural enemies together, and see if they could overcome their differences and co-exist, and ultimately see if it would be possible for them to actually become friends or even "soul-mates." He wanted to compare this to humankind trying to overcome our differences. The animals he chose for this experiment were birds, cats, rats, rabbits, and dogs.

The most disturbing factor is that the author did little to no research on the animals he adopted. His sole information on the care of the animals was based on what he already knew (or thought he knew) and the opinions of the people he got the animals from. Depending on where they came from, the information he got was both good and very bad.

He adopted a dog from a shelter and talked to a dog psychologist there about which one would be best to fit in with this family. He bought a cat from a breeder based on word-of-mouth opinions that he had heard on which breed would be most docile. He adopted two chickens, and on the owner's advice, took two because just one would be unhappy (one of the few good pieces of advice he received). He adopted two rats from a shelter and took both because the shelter recommended that they'd also be lonely without another rat companion. He bought one rabbit from a breeder who misinformed him that rabbits don't have feelings, aren't social and don't need companions, and need nothing but food and a cage to be happy.

(Also interesting to note- the author states that he is only interested in adopting animals that are homeless, but then he buys some animals, including the cat, from breeders.)

I was especially distressed by his admittance that he didn't seek outside advice regarding animal care when he was aware that the people he got his information from did not even like the animals (the rabbit seller, for example). I believe that he made the initial existence of some of these animals very miserable and endangered simply due to his ignorance and unwillingness to do research for his experiment.

The "experiment" was further tainted by the fact that he already had two cats who were a well-established part of his household. None of the animals were able to grow up completely surrounded by other animals that did not know a life without the others. The original pet cats were threatening to the smaller animals for months and eventually did kill one of the rats.

I think the concept of this book was a good idea, but it was very poorly executed and dismal in the lack of research. It's amazing to me that the animals survived as well as they did, and heartening at least that the rabbit eventually was able to bond with the youngest cat in the household. It was upsetting to read about the rabbit's behavior for the first year, as it was obviously very lonely and feeling neglected.

The author feels that this experiment was a beautiful success and can be compared to how humans should overcome their differences and all live peacefully, but I only saw a little of that in his experiment. He likes to ramble about the beautiful beach and yard he provided to the animals, while refusing to acknowledge any mistakes or failures in the experiment (including the death of an animal and several near-fatal events); he only reiterates the successes and brushes off violence and problem behavior as accidents. It is heartening to note that eventually the animals did form some kind of community, but also interesting to note that he didn't keep them, and eventually gave most of them away to better homes. He briefly admits at the end that several of the animals were unhappy or in mortal danger, and he gave them away.

This book is a really intriguing idea, which is very poorly executed.

Jeffrey Masson's latest is a delightful book and a good read for children and adults. He shows us how he and his family learned to live with cats, dogs, chickens, rats, and a rabbit. We learn how,with patience and understanding, these animals gradually come to accept each other. Why, one wonders, if cats and a bunny can get along, why can't human beings?

I was most delighted by Masson's stories about the two rats, Kia and Ora. People tend to despise rats along with bats, spiders, snakes and a few other species. They are hated and feared so that most people simply refuse to learn anything about them. The hate and fear is passed down from generation to generation and few people care enough to learn more about them.

Friends got me over my learned prejudices about rats in my early twenties. They worked in a research lab where they had befriended some of their subjects and brought them home as pets. They had the run of the apartment. When I stayed there, a couple of them would sleep with me on the couch. They were like small kittens and just as playful and affectionate. Many a morning I would be awakened by the tickle of whiskers, twitching noses, and tiny feet on my neck or cheek.

As usual in his books, Masson's prose is like a friend talking with you, but with plenty of friendly questions and remarks that will make you think.

If you can make it all the way to the end, this book will teach you about the eight rules of tolerance, then the nine rules of play, then back to eight for the eight rules of friendship. Occasionally, I feel that Moussaieff Masson jumbled the rules slightly, or stuck one in a list (say, for "friendship") where it might more accurately be conceptualized as a rule for "play." For example, "One step at a time." Now, he has this listed as the fourth rule of friendship, and I would urge squeezing it into the list of rules of play, even if this means expanding the number of play rules to an ungainly ten. Well, I never have liked one of the existing "rules of play" anyhow--the very first, "Know when to quit." It reminds me of the famous song by Kenny Rogers about The Gambler/ So perhaps that rule could be omitted, the line about "one step at a time" given its due among the rules of play, and then the rules of friendship would be reduced.

These rules are inspiring and, I feel, credence must be given to Moussaieff's own experiments using animals to prove his various points, such as rule 7 of the "Eight Rules of Tolerance," which is, "Possess nothing the other wants." But you have to admit, that's a hard one to follow in real life practice! Maybe for animals, who don't really "have" anything anyhow (except good looks and high energy). But for people, it's a different story. For what person, no matter how humble, doesn't have something that somebody else might conceivably desire? Masson himself is rather a pretentious man and some of us, both in the USA and his adopted New Zealand are united in this opinion, but most odd is his apparent lack of love for most of his pets. It seems like he just gets them to write about them, and when he's done writing about them, he lets them go to other homes.

Sometimes the results are amusing, sometimes one feels he just writes to shock, for he started as a controversialist and something of the tabloid headline will always cling to his name. "Visitors were sometimes shocked," he writes, in a discussion about the socialization of rats, "to see two small heads pop out from between Leila's breasts" (by the way, Leila is a grown human) "the whiskers twitching nervously, bright little eyes alight with curiosity." Next stop, Stuart Little!

It's not often that you find these three elements -- uniqueness, insights, and fun -- in the same book, but in Raising the Peaceable Kingdom, you do.

Animals can teach us many things we really need to learn, and humans are just beginning to wake up to the idea, helped along by books like this one. Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson is a gifted and inspired writer, and I heartily recommend this book (and all of his books, frankly) to anyone -- from those who have pets/love animals and are already predisposed to enjoy the topic to those who might be a bit skeptical about what humans might learn from animals about getting along with each other. If you're not sure which side of that fence you're on, it doesn't really matter, because you'll enjoy the book either way.

I found the book to be a little too preachy about vegetarianism; I think the author is quite proud of being a vegetarian, and he hits on that point quite a bit.

I really didn't feel that inspired about what animals can teach us about tolerance or friendship, either.

I grew up on a farm, and have seen firsthand how "tolerant" and "friendly" animals can be towards each other. I guess that I am just a little too realistic to believe in a beautiful co-existence with nature; I feel that nature is nature, and will do its best to exist, no matter whose expense is taken.

After spending eight years as a psychoanalyst, Mr. Masson set out to see if it is possible for "animals ...to live with other species in peace...and friendship." He admits halfway through his experience with the chosen menagerie to decide that his goal was to learn something about the roots of tolerance, friendship, and even compassion in humans from this project of raising animals together. Affection is different from tolerance. You cannot coerce affection, cannot force one animal to like or love another animal. But, he wrote, "the conditions which permit affection to grow can be cultivated, encouraged and rewarded."

In this project, he gathered together animals which would not normally choose to be together. Using domestic animals there in New Zealand, the final experiment included two rats, two chickens, a kitten, a puppy, and two rabbits. This in-home observation of the interactions of this diverse group lasted six months. I don't call that time enough to "raise any animal." We once had a rabbit for several months which my son won at the Fall fair; by Spring, 'Roger Rabbit' had to move on after he bit the tip of my little finger off -- no doubt, thinking it was a small carrot. With this disparent collection, he hoped to learn about the essential characteristics of enmity between humans (comparatively) and what made for cooperation, empathy, compassion and friendship. He came to the conclusion that "there are no experts when it comes to human emotions or animal emotions." He commented on humans inability to understand the feelings of other people. We are responsible for whatever we tame. In the movie, 'Fly Away Home,' a thirteen year old girl nurtured fifteen Canadian geese and led them to freedom. "We, animals and humans, can change. I have seen it with my own eyes in this "little experiment with the big ideas."

When cats are not compatible, it is generally about territory, and they don't have to justify their actions. It is a protective measure. Cats are the only ones who choose to live with humans. His young family already had two three year old cats who had their own ways to treat the young male cat; one ran away from him with a hiss and a snarl. The other showed more than curiosity toward the two rats. I have difficulty understanding how anyone would want to observe a rat outside of a lab, though his pediatrician wife became attached to them. I had a close encounter with a rather large gutter rat at the bus stop -- thought at first that it was a small squirrel coming toward me until I saw its long, skinny tail. My dad used to raise chickens, but he had a large group for which he built a chicken house and enclosed yard surrounded by chicken wire. I steered clear of them as the rooster was a mean character.

The family black-and-white pictures throughout the book showed different ones with the animals as they were initiated into a communal experience, which proved the impossibility of peaceful habitation in close quarters for some of their choices. It made me feel that he needed to watch Marc Morrone on his weekly "Petkeeping" television show. Now, he is an expert! "My experiment, to find the peaceable kingdom, was really in conflict with allowing the animals to live as close to a natural life as could be achieved in the suburbs of a large city. When they were all assembled, it was chaos and confusion with no order or effectual rules. One of his young sons said, "Dad, I thought you were an animal expert."

"Only a few months after these 'natural enemies' began to live in close contact, while they weren't yet best friends, they were one and all living peacefully together. I considered that a significant accomplishment, the implications of which fascinated me. As for the older cats, I wasn't sure they would ever adjust or that it was even reasonable to expect them to." The real surprise of the experiment, and the "unexpected success for me, was what had been happening" to the two established pets. The kitten was placid, "like Ferdinand the bull," no fighter. "Against all expectations and contrary to all rules of cat behavior and their evolution, the two older, semiferal cats had appeared to accept the younger animals. At the end, Megala, the one cat who had refused to join 'the peaceable kingdom,' even made friends with one of the rats, a transformation he never thought even possible. Megala (miracle of miracles) did what leopards do when they make friends: turned over and started to purr. "I guess Megala finally decided there was nothing like friendship across the species barrier." This justified his entire experiment as he watched the transformation and acquiescense. He felt rewarded at the result.

Since leaving the psychoanaylzing of humans back in Berkeley, California, his collection of books would make one think the has turned into an animal behavior expert. His books include THE CAT WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD: A FABLE, THE NINE EMOTIONAL LIVES OF CATS, THE PIG WHO SANG TO THE MOON, WHEN ELEPHANTS WEEP and DOGS NEVER LIE ABOUT LOVE.