The philosopher Raimond Gaita has always been fascinated by animals– their obvious intelligence and disturbing brutality, their uncanny respo...
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Sep 17, 2007
Inder
rated it: 
I admit, I couldn't make it all the way through this book. The personal anecdotes are great, but sections on the "philosophy" of our relationships with dogs and other animals were ponderous and boring. I am too pragmatic to read 200 pages of wandering prose discussing whether or not dogs are "sensate creatures." I mean, duh! Of course they are! (Which is the conclusion of the book, too, but he just takes longer to get there.) Don't waste my time!
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Dec 28, 2008
Katie
rated it:
Gaita's use of anecdote is an effective tool--at first. However, it quickly becomes apparent (and maddening) that he relies almost entirely upon these anecdotes, to the detriment of the work as a whole. The end result is, unfortunately, a book that comes across as absolute fluff for mass-consumption, whatever the original intent. This is, in essence, a less efficient, less compelling attempt at what Scully so elegantly penned in [Dominion].
Nov 30, 2010
Kathy
rated it: 
Wow, this was heavy. Too heavy for me. I was expecting some nice stories of people and their relationships with their pets. While there is some of that, it's really more a deep philosophy treatise. Not exactly a quick, pleasant read. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I'd know what I was getting into.
Aug 08, 2011
Merinde
rated it:
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. I liked how thoughtful it was and how it seemed torn between objective analysation and what we actually experience in the begining. The stories were nice, but simply not enough, and after a while he starts repeating himself. I agree with the final conclusion, but I think it could have taken a lot less long to come up with it. And perhaps could have had some more depht. The intent was good and after reading it I'm pretty sure I'd probably like the au
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Aug 12, 2008
Ragnheiður
rated it: 
Have finally finished this book - and found a lot of thoughtprovoking things in it - but on the whole I am not sure I really like it.
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