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The Man Who Lives with Wolves
What would compel a man to place himself in constant danger in order to become a member of a wolf pack? To eat with them, putting his head into a carcass alongside the wolves' gnashing teeth? To play, hunt, and spar with them, suffering bruises and bites? To learn their language so his howl is indistinguishable from theirs? To give up a normal life of relationships and fam...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
October 20th 2009
by Crown
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This book was a dollar store find for me. I almost did not buy this book. In high school I wrote a research paper about wolves for my Wildlife Ecology class. I was curious about these animals beyond what I learned in school. This book would have been a great find back then if it had existed. In the beginning of this book which is mostly autobiographical rather than scientific research related. Ellis talks about his upbringing and how he never met his Father and so on. I was really more intereste...more
This is definitely the best book I've ever read on wolves. Shaun Ellis is not a scientist. He has no advanced degrees. What he does have is the gift of animal empathy. He has a particular attachment to wolves and their evolutionary descendants, the dogs. I have read statements by biologists that dogs are radically different from wolves. Shaun Ellis is quite certain that dogs and wolves have a great deal in common. Since wolves and dogs can interbreed, they can't be two entirely separate species....more
I have always liked wolves and have felt for years that these animals are not the monsters that a lot of people make them out to be and how fairy tales have contributed to the many untruths of these amazing animals. Every person on this planet needs to not only read this book but they should also see the 1983 movie "Never Cry Wolf".
I hate the ranchers who think their land only belongs to them. And I am furious when I hear that wolves that have been reintroduced into Yellowstone Park, etc. are h...more
I hate the ranchers who think their land only belongs to them. And I am furious when I hear that wolves that have been reintroduced into Yellowstone Park, etc. are h...more
Time Taken To Read - 1.5 days
Blurb From Amazon
What would compel a man to place himself in constant danger in order to become a member of a wolf pack? To eat with them, putting his head into a carcass alongside the wolves' gnashing teeth? To play, hunt, and spar with them, suffering bruises and bites? To learn their language so his howl is indistinguishable from theirs? To give up a normal life of relationships and family so that he can devote himself completely to the protection of these wild an...more
Blurb From Amazon
What would compel a man to place himself in constant danger in order to become a member of a wolf pack? To eat with them, putting his head into a carcass alongside the wolves' gnashing teeth? To play, hunt, and spar with them, suffering bruises and bites? To learn their language so his howl is indistinguishable from theirs? To give up a normal life of relationships and family so that he can devote himself completely to the protection of these wild an...more
Shaun Ellis lived for two years with a wolf pack in the Idaho wilds, eating what they ate, learning his position in the pack, and being cared for by this wild animals. He neither saw nor spoke to anyone during this time. Although he was criticized by scientists, his ground breaking discoveries have forever changed the human view of the wolf as a dangerous, fearsome creature. If human beings lived more like the wolves, the world would be a better place. You will be amazed at what you will learn a...more
This book was incredible!!! I got so much more than I bargained. Not only did I get to read an amazing, moving memoir about a man whose love for wolves is as big as the planet... I got up close and personal with wolf behavior and how that can apply to my own pets.
Chapter 24 and Chapter 25 were invaluable to me in my coming years of thinking of owning a dog. Chapter 24 talks specifically how to pick up the right puppy from a litter in comparison to wolf behavior and how the wolf pack functions. C...more
Chapter 24 and Chapter 25 were invaluable to me in my coming years of thinking of owning a dog. Chapter 24 talks specifically how to pick up the right puppy from a litter in comparison to wolf behavior and how the wolf pack functions. C...more
I've gotten my fiery passion for wolves once I read 'The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness' series by Michelle Paver. I was fascinated by the wolf character so that was when my attention shifted to Shaun Ellis. I didn't know about him til I was looking around on google and found out about him. I was immediately enthralled by the fact that he lived with wild wolves for 2 years! When I found out he wrote a book about how his life came to be with wolves, I picked it up from my local library immediatel...more
Jul 24, 2011
dragonhelmuk
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Very beautiful book about wolves, extreme love for nature and breaking the barriers. I think I've never heard about such passion and sacrifice for it. And before reading i thought - living with wolves as one of them? Ok, nice word trick and sales talk for make people read it. But I was wrong. The story of Shaun Ellis makes us believe, that maybe we are (or were) a part of nature, when a man can become a brother of wolves. But - really unusual man.
I think the most moving, central fragment of book...more
I think the most moving, central fragment of book...more
Read this book after reading Jodi Picoult's Lone Wolf. One of Picoult's main characters was based on this man and I found the book to be very informative. What Shaun Ellis has done with wolves has changed my view point on the animals. By extension he has also learned how wolf behavior also applies to domestic dogs, descendants of the wolf. He had some good information on how to handle dogs and why they seem to have certain personalities. If you own a dog and love dogs, you might find this an int...more
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An amazing book. It was really interesting to find out about his young childhood, and fasinating how everything in his life previous to his encounter with wolves prepared him for what was to come. It really does look like it was fate for him to become a brother to these amazing animals. The book goes through the stages of his life starting with his early childhood on a farm, and his relationship with the dogs there, and continues through his life in the army and then with the Nez Perce (a tribe...more
Aug 03, 2011
Krysti
added it
This is an amazing book. I learned a lot about wolves (and dogs too). Wolves really are amazing creatures and it was so cool (and weird and scary) how Ellis was able to infiltrate a wild pack. Some highlights - he didn't take a shower and stayed in the same clothes for like 2 years. The wolf pack he became a part of would go hunting and bring him back a deer leg to eat (yes, he lived on raw meat for almost 2 years). **Spoiler alert*** The only reason he left the pack was because he could feel hi...more
I heard about this book when I was looking at Jodi Picoult's new book, Lone Wolf. Picoult said she got a lot of good information about wolves from Shaun Ellis, so I looked up his website and then discovered his book.
Ellis is the title character in the TV series "Living With The Wolfman," but that just scratches the surface. He forges a deep connection with wild creatures early in life and even goes out into the wilderness for months to live with a wild pack of wolves. The book shows his passion...more
Ellis is the title character in the TV series "Living With The Wolfman," but that just scratches the surface. He forges a deep connection with wild creatures early in life and even goes out into the wilderness for months to live with a wild pack of wolves. The book shows his passion...more
Learned about the author and wolf researcher of this book while reading a dull Jodie Picoult novel entitled "The Lone Wolf." The only thing I like about her novel was the story within the story based on the real man Shaun Ellis. Ellis really did live with a wild pack of wolves for two years. "Ellis shares how he ate raw kill; washed rarely, and only in plain water to keep his scent; learned to bury his face into the carcasses of prey–and, when necessary, to defend his share of the kill; communic...more
I thought this was a really interesting book. I enjoy reading and studying about wolves anyway but what I really enjoyed most about this book was the authors revolutionary thoughts on researching them. His approach to studying wolf packs by actually living an interacting with them, I found to be a brilliantly radical approach. It was disheartening, yet not surprising to see the ire raised in the general scientific community to his approach. The idea that we can somehow learn more about a species...more
Since I'm trying to write a text game from the POV of a wolf, I've been on the lookout for books with modern information about wolf behavior.
Ellis has brought back some interesting information about wolf pack structure and behavior that I hadn't heard before, and I really enjoyed reading about that in this book. While there is a lot of wolf info in this book, I still wish there had been more.
* * *
As a memoir, this is OK. You've got to appreciate someone who'll go so far into an animal culture to...more
Ellis has brought back some interesting information about wolf pack structure and behavior that I hadn't heard before, and I really enjoyed reading about that in this book. While there is a lot of wolf info in this book, I still wish there had been more.
* * *
As a memoir, this is OK. You've got to appreciate someone who'll go so far into an animal culture to...more
If you want to understand your dogs better, read this book. It absolutely fascinated me. I love wolves, but would never be able to do what this man did. Its obvious that you cannot really understand the inner workings of a creature different from you by merely observing, you must live with and become them in order to really unlock the mysteries around why they do what they do and what they are all about This is a remarkable book by a remarkable man. I truly wonder what the long range effects of...more
This book is really, really interesting. It's a suggested reading at the end of Jodi Picoult's Lone Wolf (which I also enjoyed), except this is the true story of a guy who actually went and lived with a wild pack of wolves for a while.
It's late, so this is likely to be a disorganized review, so bear with me.
First, I'd like to say that Shaun Ellis does not seem as weird as one would think of someone from the British Isles who came to Idaho to learn about wolves, who thinks one of his brothers is...more
It's late, so this is likely to be a disorganized review, so bear with me.
First, I'd like to say that Shaun Ellis does not seem as weird as one would think of someone from the British Isles who came to Idaho to learn about wolves, who thinks one of his brothers is...more
Shaun Ellis from Great Brittain buys a cheap plane ticket to Northern Idaho. With the clothes on his pack, a few pieces of beef jerkey, he walks into the snowy woods to become a member of a wolf pack.
Jodi Piccoult used this character for her inspiration for her most recent book Lone Wolf. Is it possible..1st could a man really survive a winter in Idaho with minimal food and shelter. Secondly could a human infiltrate a wolf pack.
Ellis shares how he ate raw kill and buriee his face into the flesh...more
Jodi Piccoult used this character for her inspiration for her most recent book Lone Wolf. Is it possible..1st could a man really survive a winter in Idaho with minimal food and shelter. Secondly could a human infiltrate a wolf pack.
Ellis shares how he ate raw kill and buriee his face into the flesh...more
"Żyjący z wilkami" to wspomnienia Shauna Ellisa znanego szerszej publiczności z serialu przyrodniczego o tym samym tytule. Autor koncentruje się na swoich kontaktach z wilkami prezentując je przez pryzmat własnych życiowych doświadczeń. Shaun Ellis i jego metody badawcze wielokrotnie padały ofiarą krytyków, co nie powinno nikogo dziwić, zwłaszcza po przeczytaniu tej publikacji, jednak pokazują czytelnikom jak interesujące są wilki i jak mało tak naprawdę o nich wiemy. Zwierzęta te rysują się prz...more
I really loved this book, though it's not light-hearted fare. One of the signs of the changes we're going through in the world, is cross-cultural communication. This man not only communicates with the wolves, he becomes one of them. His work and his life will contribute so much to our understanding of this beautiful creature. It is time we treated our fellow sentient beings as equals. This book and Wesley the Owl and Monty Roberts and Jane Goodall's books before them are helping to point us in t...more
I wanted to read this autobiography book after loving Jodi Picoult's book, Lone Wolf. I learned that she used much of his research within her own book after joining a book signing of hers in SC. I found his research to be interesting! He was so brave, and focused to actually integrate himself into a wild pack of wolves with full dedication. It was a bit dry and I would have liked to have seen more information about how to apply his knowledge to domestic dogs that we have as pets. However, I foun...more
If you think you can't get past the fact that this man abandoned his wife and children to go and live with a bunch of animals, don't start reading this book. It's full of 'Boo-hoo, the wolves were my only real family' and 'Sniff, I've never felt more at home than when I was with the wolves' and blah blah blah, which sometimes made me want to scream at the guy. What are you saying, you have five children! FIVE, dude!! ARGH!! O_O
Don't get me wrong, this is one of the best books I've read in a whil...more
Don't get me wrong, this is one of the best books I've read in a whil...more
I found this book fascinating. I recently read a fictional version of this man (Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult), which I enjoyed, and I found the true story even more captivating. The author is rather an odd duck (would have to be to go off into the wild to live with wolves for as long as two years at a time) who felt he didn't fit in to normal human society. I really liked learning about the language and culture of the wolves and the structure of the pack. There is also a lot of advice for dog owner...more
I read it before. but reading it again, also reading and studying Renald Harris Smythe. "The mind of a dog" and the Oxford handbook,on Comparative Psychology,and others. I want to send your book to friends, but my windows xp keeps telling me that the feed story publishing to others is disabled for this application. need help.. thanks.. mitch pitt.. at Pitt.mitch1@gmail.com
I opened this book with HIGH expectations. It got raving reviews. I am frankly disappointed. To me it was irritating and self-centered. I mean - this man turned his back on numerous relationships and his numerous children to live with wolves. I'm sorry - I don't think that's impressive. Maybe he learned a lot that helped humans better understand wolves, maybe he made some valuable discoveries... to me the trail of broken families and abandoned children was way more tragic then poor misunderstood...more
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Really enjoying the book so far. Very interesting, especially after reading Lone Wolf. In trying to find the website for the book, came across some quite polarised comments. The book itself is a valuable read with insights that could be applied to aspects of life, I think. The information about dogs I think is useful.
Fascinating and insightful. If you're interested in the psychology of wolves & dogs, this is great reading & food for thought. His understanding of their language & behaviour could potentially be very beneficial to re-establishing the wolf species as a valuable asset to the wild world.
I met Shaun on one of his wolf experiences and then read his book after. Really interesting book, he has sacrificed so much for his research and it makes compelling reading. A really great guy and a real quality book. Read it or howl...
It is intresting to learn the actually facts of wolves and how people always down the creature just because it hunts just for survial. There not as bad as people think they are, they won't harm you as long as you don't make them mad, as long as you are minding your own business they won't do a thing.
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