What do you think?
Rate this book
Being With Animals: Why We Are Obsessed with the Furry, Scaly, Feathered Creatures Who Populate Our World
What do Mickey Mouse, Ganesh, a leopard-skin pillbox hat, A Lion Called Christian , and the Aflac duck have in common? They all represent human beings' deeply ingrained connection to the animal kingdom. In Being With Animals, anthropologist Barbara King unravels the complexity and enormous significance of this relationship.
Animals rule our existence. You can see this in the billions of dollars Americans pour out each year for their pets, in the success of books and films such as Marley and Me, in the names of athletic teams, in the stories that have entertained and instructed children (from The Cat in the Hat back to well before Aesop created his fables), in the animal deities that pervade the most ancient forms of religion (and which still appear in sublimated forms today), to the paintings on the cave walls of Lascaux. The omnipresence of animal beings in our lives--whether real or fictional--is something so enormous that people take often it for granted, never wondering why animals remain so much a part of human life. It has continuously maintained a powerful spiritual, transcendent quality over the tens of thousands of years that Homo sapiens have walked the earth. Why?
King looks at this phenomenon, from the most obvious animal connections in daily life and culture and over the whole of human history, to show the various roles animals have played in all civilizations. She ultimately digs deeply into the importance of the human-animal bond as key to our evolution, as a significant spiritual aspect of understanding what truly makes us human, and looks ahead to explore how our further technological development may, or may not, affect these important ties.
BARBARA J. KING is Chancellor Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary. She has studied monkeys in Kenya and great apes in various captive settings. She writes essays on anthropology-related themes for bookslut.com and the Times Literary Supplement (London). Together with her husband, she cares for and arranges to spay and neuter homeless cats in Virginia.
Animals rule our existence. You can see this in the billions of dollars Americans pour out each year for their pets, in the success of books and films such as Marley and Me, in the names of athletic teams, in the stories that have entertained and instructed children (from The Cat in the Hat back to well before Aesop created his fables), in the animal deities that pervade the most ancient forms of religion (and which still appear in sublimated forms today), to the paintings on the cave walls of Lascaux. The omnipresence of animal beings in our lives--whether real or fictional--is something so enormous that people take often it for granted, never wondering why animals remain so much a part of human life. It has continuously maintained a powerful spiritual, transcendent quality over the tens of thousands of years that Homo sapiens have walked the earth. Why?
King looks at this phenomenon, from the most obvious animal connections in daily life and culture and over the whole of human history, to show the various roles animals have played in all civilizations. She ultimately digs deeply into the importance of the human-animal bond as key to our evolution, as a significant spiritual aspect of understanding what truly makes us human, and looks ahead to explore how our further technological development may, or may not, affect these important ties.
BARBARA J. KING is Chancellor Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary. She has studied monkeys in Kenya and great apes in various captive settings. She writes essays on anthropology-related themes for bookslut.com and the Times Literary Supplement (London). Together with her husband, she cares for and arranges to spay and neuter homeless cats in Virginia.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
6 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Barbara J. King
14 books66 followersBarbara J. King
The College of William and Mary
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
Barbara J. King is a biological anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at The College of William and Mary. Professor King received her B.A. in anthropology from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma.
Professor King’s research interests concern the social communication of the great apes, the closest living relatives to humans. She has studied ape and monkey behavior in Gabon, Kenya, and at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University. The recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, she has published three books on anthropology, including The Information Continuum: Social Information Transfer in Monkeys, Apes, and Hominids.
At William and Mary, Professor King has won four teaching awards: The William and Mary Alumni Association Teaching Award, the College’s Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award, the Virginia State Council of Higher Education’s Outstanding Faculty Award, and the designation of University Professor for Teaching Excellence, 1999–2002.
The College of William and Mary
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
Barbara J. King is a biological anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at The College of William and Mary. Professor King received her B.A. in anthropology from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma.
Professor King’s research interests concern the social communication of the great apes, the closest living relatives to humans. She has studied ape and monkey behavior in Gabon, Kenya, and at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University. The recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, she has published three books on anthropology, including The Information Continuum: Social Information Transfer in Monkeys, Apes, and Hominids.
At William and Mary, Professor King has won four teaching awards: The William and Mary Alumni Association Teaching Award, the College’s Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award, the Virginia State Council of Higher Education’s Outstanding Faculty Award, and the designation of University Professor for Teaching Excellence, 1999–2002.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 20, 2011
Although this is a book that deals with people, animals and mainstream spirituality, I enjoyed most what I suppose would be called the new age-y aspects to this. The author, Dr. King, does refer to “new age woo-woo,” warns against greedy neo-shamans and won’t get mixed up in anything to do with psychic pets. However, it is in the chapter titled “Dog and Cat (and Buffalo) Mysteries” that this interesting book about the human-animal bond especially comes to life. The skeptical Dr. King entertains the notion that perhaps pets can be telepathic, citing Rupert Sheldrake’s (a scientist with a PhD in biochemistry from Cambridge University in England) theories on morphic fields. There does appear to be both anecdotal and documented evidence of pets seeming to be aware of when their owners will be arriving home. Dr. King handles this respectfully and allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.
I loved the chapter titled “Ravens, Shamans, and Dogs Who Dream.” I could easily gobble up an entire book devoted to subjects such as the reindeer people of Northern Siberia: “Eveny people dream about reindeer, and use the dreams’ content to make sense of issues and problems in their lives, sometimes in retrospect. It’s not that the reindeer offer solutions themselves; these dreams feature no cartoonish talking animals. Rather, people need to pay keen attention to how animals act, both in their waking and dreaming lives.” Further along in the chapter, it is described how the Runa people of Ecuador perform ceremonies on dogs – including giving them hallucinogens -- to make them understand human speech.
Being with Animals traces the history of peaceful – and not-so-peaceful -- cohabitation of people and animals from archeological evidence of cave art to speculation about the future. With numerous examples from the animal kingdom, and some mythical creatures such as unicorns, the spiritual bond between animal and human is affirmed in this thoughtful exploration. Recommended.
I loved the chapter titled “Ravens, Shamans, and Dogs Who Dream.” I could easily gobble up an entire book devoted to subjects such as the reindeer people of Northern Siberia: “Eveny people dream about reindeer, and use the dreams’ content to make sense of issues and problems in their lives, sometimes in retrospect. It’s not that the reindeer offer solutions themselves; these dreams feature no cartoonish talking animals. Rather, people need to pay keen attention to how animals act, both in their waking and dreaming lives.” Further along in the chapter, it is described how the Runa people of Ecuador perform ceremonies on dogs – including giving them hallucinogens -- to make them understand human speech.
Being with Animals traces the history of peaceful – and not-so-peaceful -- cohabitation of people and animals from archeological evidence of cave art to speculation about the future. With numerous examples from the animal kingdom, and some mythical creatures such as unicorns, the spiritual bond between animal and human is affirmed in this thoughtful exploration. Recommended.
August 9, 2016
This was ok. I thought it moved a little slowly and never really got "to the point". Bogged down with historical art/artifact details. I thought the last half was better than the first. A little more emphasis on spirituality/religion than I had anticipated but it does not overwhelm. King offers amusing/entertaining anecdotes but is quick to follow them up with "but as a scientist I can't really support this" disclaimers.
July 4, 2013
A very well-written and nicely paced book indeed. It is full of wonderful anecdotes of the bonds that can so easily form between humans and other animals. I am not sure it would appeal to someone who hasn't already felt that deep affection and kinship, but fortunately for me that aspect of my life has been rich indeed.
June 11, 2012
I had a fine hour or two skimming this book, but it seemed such a good fit for a friend that I'm putting it directly in the mail. I am not quite compelled to make the time commitment to finish it, but I do find it a worthwhile prospect.
Read
January 8, 2011I'll refrain from rating this since I wrote it! Obviously I'm pretty fond of it, and especially of the responses I'm getting from animal lovers.
May 22, 2014
Highly informational about relationship between people and animals.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews