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autienaut's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
3.75
An okay book. Definitely a good introduction to animals and animal neuroscience but a little slow for me. 🖤
wordsofclover's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Neuroscientist Gregory Burns put his love for dogs, and his questions about their behaviour to work when he decided to embark on a project examining the brains of dogs under an MRI scanner to see what he could find out about how it all worked in comparison to the brains of humans.
This book looks at the driving forces behind the actions of dogs, whether it be food, love of an owner or a combination of both, as well as taking turns at looking at other animals in the natural world from sea lions, dolphins and Tasmanian Devils. Burns even gets to handle a 100-year-old brain of a creature thought to have gone extinct in the 1900s.
As a dog lover and an animal/nature lover I really enjoyed this book and I found the topic really interesting. Thanks to a glance at other reviews before I picked the book up, I knew not to expect the book to be all about dogs, though the start and end are both focused on the author's work with dogs. I think it's very unfair to review this book poorly because of the 'lack' of dogs in it - as dogs are the author's love and interest in dogs is the driving force behind the project before he begins to explore other animals. I think the book is really well written and engaging - I particularly loved learning more about sea lions, and how clever they are and the training methods used to see how they used their brains - as well as the domoic acid poisoning which I had never heard of before.
I also loved learning more about the thylacine which, while a very sad story maintains a small bit of hope that perhaps there are more out there, just hiding away from the humans who persecuted them for years.
CW at the end of this book for mentions of animal cruelty and animals being harmed for the 'benefits' of science/science experimentation. I really appreciate and respect Gregory Burns for telling the story that clearly haunts him, from when he was in medical school and as part of lab work, had to experiment different drugs on dogs before killing them. You can feel the shame, pain and regret from the author and even though the story was hard to read, I respected him for sharing it and not hiding away from the continuous cruelty of animals within the world of science. And I really loved and appreciated how he shared how they gave the dogs within the MRI training a choice on if they wanted to go into the scanner, and there were some who despite training wouldn't do it and didn't have to.
All in all, an enjoyable nature-focused non fiction that I really liked reading!
This book looks at the driving forces behind the actions of dogs, whether it be food, love of an owner or a combination of both, as well as taking turns at looking at other animals in the natural world from sea lions, dolphins and Tasmanian Devils. Burns even gets to handle a 100-year-old brain of a creature thought to have gone extinct in the 1900s.
As a dog lover and an animal/nature lover I really enjoyed this book and I found the topic really interesting. Thanks to a glance at other reviews before I picked the book up, I knew not to expect the book to be all about dogs, though the start and end are both focused on the author's work with dogs. I think it's very unfair to review this book poorly because of the 'lack' of dogs in it - as dogs are the author's love and interest in dogs is the driving force behind the project before he begins to explore other animals. I think the book is really well written and engaging - I particularly loved learning more about sea lions, and how clever they are and the training methods used to see how they used their brains - as well as the domoic acid poisoning which I had never heard of before.
I also loved learning more about the thylacine which, while a very sad story maintains a small bit of hope that perhaps there are more out there, just hiding away from the humans who persecuted them for years.
CW at the end of this book for mentions of animal cruelty and animals being harmed for the 'benefits' of science/science experimentation. I really appreciate and respect Gregory Burns for telling the story that clearly haunts him, from when he was in medical school and as part of lab work, had to experiment different drugs on dogs before killing them. You can feel the shame, pain and regret from the author and even though the story was hard to read, I respected him for sharing it and not hiding away from the continuous cruelty of animals within the world of science. And I really loved and appreciated how he shared how they gave the dogs within the MRI training a choice on if they wanted to go into the scanner, and there were some who despite training wouldn't do it and didn't have to.
All in all, an enjoyable nature-focused non fiction that I really liked reading!
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
ncrabb's review against another edition
3.0
I very much enjoyed this, and it deserves a higher rating than it gets. I realize the title points the way to creatures other than dogs, as does the introduction, but I would have enjoyed a somewhat more narrow topic. That said, this is written with a memorable style that is both easy to understand and always interesting.
Essentially, Burns relates his experiences with studying dogs and other animals using MRI technology in an effort to determine how these creatures think and what it might be like to be them. He rejects the idea that it is impossible to know what it's like to be another animal, and his reasons for rejecting that are laid out persuasively and in an easy-to-read manner.
If you read only pieces of this, at least read chapter eight, the section on how dogs process language. It will fascinate you and put to rest some of the myths about dogs who are capable of understanding hundreds and hundreds of words.
On balance, this is well worth your time and worth an Audible credit if that's the way to choose to read this.
Essentially, Burns relates his experiences with studying dogs and other animals using MRI technology in an effort to determine how these creatures think and what it might be like to be them. He rejects the idea that it is impossible to know what it's like to be another animal, and his reasons for rejecting that are laid out persuasively and in an easy-to-read manner.
If you read only pieces of this, at least read chapter eight, the section on how dogs process language. It will fascinate you and put to rest some of the myths about dogs who are capable of understanding hundreds and hundreds of words.
On balance, this is well worth your time and worth an Audible credit if that's the way to choose to read this.
mheinlein's review against another edition
4.0
I did enjoy listening to this informational book, despite the fact it was not primarily about dogs. Maybe the title should be "Adventures is Animal Neuroscience, and we'll talk a little bit about dogs too". Well, I guess that also does not sound like a good title, but it would have given a better indication of what was in the book. The somewhat misleading title is really my only complaint with this book. It is well written and interesting. The brain is a complex and fascinating topic, and I was glad to spend some time learning more about it.
stephlmacp's review against another edition
3.0
It was interesting if not compelling. I got bogged down 2/3 of the way through. However, I enjoyed the read and would recommend to an avid dog lover.
bartendm's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book after reading Berns's first book about dog imaging (How Dogs Love Us) to see what else he learned. It was interesting to see how those initial fMRI studies with dogs led him to also do imaging in the brains of other large animal species, including sea lions, dolphins, and Tasmanian devils and tigers. So there is a lot of comparative anatomy and big picture thinking about how different brains are configured and what that means about the life and dignity of each species. I found one of the most delightful chapters to be the one entitled: Why a Brain? More wonderful big picture thinking.
"Animals have brains to tailor their actions to their environment.
In other words, animals do not exist in isolation. They are embedded in the world around them, and part of the function of a brain is to link the external world to the animal’s decision-making system, and ultimately, its body."
This book does add to his the body of data trying to understand what your dog is thinking and experiencing, but it is so much more than that. Maybe so much so that the main title is a bit deceiving and may be disappointing to many. It was all interesting to me and I'm glad to have read both books.
"Animals have brains to tailor their actions to their environment.
In other words, animals do not exist in isolation. They are embedded in the world around them, and part of the function of a brain is to link the external world to the animal’s decision-making system, and ultimately, its body."
This book does add to his the body of data trying to understand what your dog is thinking and experiencing, but it is so much more than that. Maybe so much so that the main title is a bit deceiving and may be disappointing to many. It was all interesting to me and I'm glad to have read both books.