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Lucy Cooke

The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife Hardcover – Illustrated, April 17, 2018

by Lucy Cooke (Author)

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Mary Roach meets Bill Bryson in this "surefire summer winner" (Janet Maslin, New York Times), an uproarious tour of the basest instincts and biggest mysteries of the animal world

Humans have gone to the Moon and discovered the Higgs boson, but when it comes to understanding animals, we've still got a long way to go. Whether we're seeing a viral video of romping baby pandas or a picture of penguins "holding hands," it's hard for us not to project our own values -- innocence, fidelity, temperance, hard work -- onto animals. So you've probably never considered if moose get drunk, penguins cheat on their mates, or worker ants lay about. They do -- and that's just for starters. In The Truth About Animals, Lucy Cooke takes us on a worldwide journey to meet everyone from a Colombian hippo castrator to a Chinese panda porn peddler, all to lay bare the secret -- and often hilarious -- habits of the animal kingdom. Charming and at times downright weird, this modern bestiary is perfect for anyone who has ever suspected that virtue might be unnatural.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

April 17, 2018
Dimensions

6.38 x 1.13 x 9.63 inches
ISBN-10

0465094643
ISBN-13

978-0465094646
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Editorial Reviews

Review

On the New York Times Book Review's Paperback Row

One of the New York Times Book Review's "17 Refreshing Books to Read This Summer"

"Her pace is quick, her touch is light, and through her wealth of research we can reach new heights of wonder."―New York Times Book Review

"Funny and fascinating, this book will change the way you see wildlife."―Bustle

"A surefire summer winner...even Cooke's simple facts are funny."―New York Times Book Review

"Endlessly fascinating."―Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods, A Short History of Nearly Everything, and In a Sunburned Country

"Lucy Cooke's modern bestiary is as well-informed as you'd expect from an Oxford zoologist. It's also downright funny."―Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, The Selfish Gene, and The Ancestor's Tale, and emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford

"Cooke, founder of the Sloth Appreciation Society, raises the profile of many poorly understood animals, revealing surprising, and often hilarious, truths that are much better than the fictions."―Scientific American

"[A] deeply researched, sassily written history of 'the biggest misconceptions, mistakes and myths we've concocted about the animal kingdom,' spread by figures from Aristotle to Walt Disney." ―Nature

"Cooke's extensive travels, research and delightful sense of humor make The Truth about Animals a fascinating modern bestiary."―Seattle Times

"In the end, the history of zoology reveals as much about our human foibles as about the animals we study. And this book will leave readers more enlightened about both."―Science News

"Lucy Cooke's new book makes Playboy seem as tedious and tame as a phone book...In her delightful reading of natural history, [Cooke] is both scientist and standup comic...Trained as an academic, Cooke's writing style is anything but--rather, it's bawdy, irreverent, guiltless, sometimes locker-room-ish and comedic. She makes you feel she's having fun as she pounds out the words...The Truth About Animals is a great read and fascinating fun."―Winnipeg Free Press

"Lucy Cooke takes equal delight in natural oddities and in people's long struggles to understand them. Part history, part biology, and wholly entertaining, The Truth About Animals is a quirky and edifying romp."―Thor Hanson, author of Buzz, Feathers, and The Triumph of Seeds

"[An] intriguing and amusing survey of some unusual facets of animal behavior...Cooke puts scientific errors, some of them hilarious, into historical context."―Booklist

"[A] lighthearted but scientifically rigorous exploration...A pleasure for the budding naturalist in the family--or fans of Gerald Durrell and other animals."―Kirkus Reviews

"Readers keen on animals and natural history in general should find Cooke's discussion fascinating and educational."―Publishers Weekly

"Lucy Cooke's [The Truth About Animals] was a joy from beginning to end. Who could resist a writer who argues that penguins have been pulling the wool over our eyes for years, and that, far from being cute and gregarious, they are actually pathologically unpleasant necrophiliacs?"―The Guardian (UK)

"Each of Cooke's thirteen breezy yet fact-stuffed chapters traces the origins of a long-standing myth about a species or class of animal."―Times Literary Supplement (UK)

"The eclectic stories come thick and fast, with an equally varied human cast dedicated to uncovering the truth, scientifically or otherwise. Cooke illuminates and mickey-takes in equal measure, and the truth as she tells it is not only unexpected but often bizarre, bawdy and very, very funny. "―BBC Wildlife (UK)

"As surprising as it is diverse. Consummate natural history writing: illuminating, remarkable - and very, very funny."
―Alice Roberts, author of The Complete Human Body and The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being

"The rising star of natural history ... is she the new David Attenborough?"―The Times (UK)

"TOP AUTUMN BOOK PICKS: Lucy Cooke's fascinating book is full of mind-boggling stuff. Cooke takes much pleasure in throwing in all manner of amazing facts."―Reader's Digest (UK)

"A riot of facts....Cooke scores a series of goals with style and panache."―The Times (UK)

"Beautifully written, meticulously researched, with the science often couched in outrageous asides, this is a splendid read. In fact, I cannot remember when I last enjoyed a non-fiction work so much."―Daily Express (UK)

"Lucy Cooke unravels myths that will make you laugh out loud. Her knowledge of all things, furry, slimy and scaly is jaw-dropping."―The Sun (UK)

"BOOK OF THE WEEK: Highly amusing and enlightening new book [from] brilliant zoologist Lucy Cooke."―The Idler (UK)

About the Author

Lucy Cooke is an award-winning filmmaker who has written, produced, and directed several popular documentary series for the BBC, PBS, Discovery, and National Geographic. Her first book, A Little Book of Sloth, was a New York Times bestseller. She has written for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among others, and she holds an MA in zoology from the University of Oxford. She lives in London.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (April 17, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465094643
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465094646
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 1.13 x 9.63 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #399,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #269 in Biology of Mammals
- #308 in Natural History (Books)
- #352 in Animal & Pet Care Essays

Customer Reviews:
304 ratings

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Lucy Cooke

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Lucy Cooke is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning broadcaster, National Geographic explorer and TED talker with a Masters in zoology from New College Oxford, where she studied under Richard Dawkins. Lucy has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times and Telegraph and is a columnist for BBC Wildlife magazine. Her first book The Unexpected Truth About Animals was short-listed for the Royal Society prize and has been translated into 18 languages. Her latest Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution, and the Female Animal (also Bitch: On the Female of the Species in the US) was published in 2022 to critical acclaim. The UK launch was accompanied by a BBC Radio 4 series ‘Political Animals’, written and hosted by Lucy. Lucy has written, produced and presented prime time TV documentaries for BBC, PBS, Animal Planet and National Geographic. She is an accomplished public speaker and has performed at a range of events from the Royal Institution to Glastonbury music festival and the prestigious TED Women.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

304 global ratings

5 star		74%
4 star		17%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Daniel

What a "wild ride"; pun intended

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

The animal kingdom just became more fascinating. We can all look to our past and say how dumb we were way back when, but i see how we tried to make since of what we couldn't explain; even though we had ulterior motives a lot of the times. However, we're only human, right?
An extremely, intriguing wealth of information captured and written by an extremely, intriguing and beautiful lady. Thank you for taking us on your adventure, even if you were the one having all the fun.
I only wish my favorite animal, the duck, was weird enough to have made an appearance😁

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Teal

Interesting read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

I would rae this five stars but this book is great for me as I have a degree in wildlife, for people not educated in it then they may not enjoy it as much. Shipping was fast and condition was great!

Helpful

W. Wilson

Entertaining, Informative, Brilliantly Written

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

What a wonderful book. Lucy Cooke infuses real soul into her prose, which is beautiful, poetic, and funny. Nevermind how much you'll learn from this book (which is likely going to be a lot), it's just a joy to read through Cooke's apparent passion and breadth of knowledge. There is a personality to this book, a charm born of equal parts wit and sass. It's definitely well worth the read. I bought copies for at least two other people. Take that for what it's worth.

One person found this helpful

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Crafter

Delightful read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

I read this on vacation and found it very entertaining with lots of fascinating (sometimes quirky, impressive or bizarre) details about each misunderstood animal. Books that claim to correct misconceptions are probably popular because we like to laugh at stupid people and feel superior, and I usually feel like I’m being manipulated and shouldn’t be enjoying it. 🙂 But this didn’t feel like that kind of book. There was enough of a mixture of history, science, psychology and ethics that it just felt well-developed and compelling.

4 people found this helpful

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puffinswan

very fresh

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 10, 2021

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i thought i knew most everything about these animals but i did not and it is so nice to read something i did not already know.

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Alan Mattia

Loaded with facts and lots of fun to read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

Lots of information about animals you might think you know, but will quickly discover you hardly know at all. Hilarious and a bit crude at times, but never anything offensive unless you are extremely sensitive to that kind of language. Definitely not just a dry collection of facts, a fun read that can expand your appreciation for animals that are more eccentric than you might think.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 28, 2021

Verified Purchase

A great book with a ton of fun and memorable stories of animals and a great message to look at animals through their own unique lense

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Hard to get wrong talking about animals, but there really is too much about the crazy ideas of the past. Maybe I missed the advert about its being a history of bogus ideas, a rather academic exercise. Still, enough real natural history to make it worth it, used.

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Top reviews from other countries

Carolyn

Although written by a scientist everything is clear and easy to understand

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is such a fascinating book!

Although written by a scientist everything is clear and easy to understand. There is a great deal of humour in the book and also some cringe worthy descriptions of some animals’ behaviour in the wild. Ridiculous historical experiments by scientists and would-be naturalists to prove their beliefs.amounted to animal abuse and torture. She hopes that if we come to understand the truth about various animal species by dispelling myths, greater effort will be made to preserve them and their natural habitats.

The writer, Lucy Cooke is an Oxford educated zoologist and a documentary film maker. It is evident she has done much field research as well as interviewing naturalists who are studying animals long term all over the world. Her book includes much study of ancient texts and encyclopedias and also our modern beliefs and scientific work giving us a greater understanding of the 13 animals included in the book. There are ancient drawings as well as some modern photographs to illustrate some of the strangest passages.

Some long held misconceptions arose from folklore, superstition and even Aesop’s Fables. Medieval and Renaissance scholars looked for the truth behind unusual attributes these animals were supposed to possess. Unfortunately they often came up with even more absurd conclusions.

I loved this well written, compelling book. Highly recommended. I hope there will be a forthcoming book featuring more animals.

H

Good gift!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

Bought as a gift for a friend, who is enjoying it immensely.

.C.

loved everything about it

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

best book ive read in ages. laughed lots and learned lots. will be reading again!