How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World

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How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World

By: Henry Mance

Narrated by: Henry Mance

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

We love animals, but our relationship with them is laced with self-doubt. We watch nature documentaries and cat videos, and pamper our pets. Yet we also know that most farm animals lead miserable lives and many wild animals are losing their homes. We reluctantly accept this as the price for human progress; no one wants a philosophical debate every time they buy a sandwich. The truth is that the way we treat animals is not only irrational and unethical - it's unsustainable.

Henry Mance sets out on a personal quest to see if there is a fairer way to share our planet with the other species who enrich our lives. He goes to work in an abattoir and on a pig farm and meets chefs, hunters, activists, scientists and conservationists who want to redefine how we think about animals.

Even on a planet shaped by human activity, we can find the space to allow other sentient beings to thrive - to put our love for animals into practice. This is not a book about what animals can do for us, but what we can do for animals. Thoughtful, provocative and witty, it is ultimately a story of discovery and hope - and of a future that might just become a reality.

Henry ManceHenry MancePenguin Audio

Animals

Biological Sciences

Environment

Outdoors & Nature

Personal Development

Science

Sustainable & Green Living

Conservation

Witty

Animals Biological Sciences Environment Outdoors & Nature Personal Development Science Sustainable & Green Living Conservation Witty

Most relevant

I had practically turned vegetarian by the time I’d finished chapter one.

This book has invaded my headspace completely. I find I am referring to it in nearly every conversation I have with people. It is rammed with useful facts and figures that Henry Mance has clearly researched very thoroughly and the author makes a very likeable, affable study partner (I won’t say teacher or guide since there is not a hint of didacticism in his tone; instead he expresses something like humility, shame or awe at everything he learns.

The book overall is incredibly depressing since, after scavenging for every little bit of data on how we coexist with animals and pawing through reams of anecdotal colour to give us the fullest picture possible of how animals think, feel and respond to human treatment, the author leaves us with only one conclusion: the human race must die to allow animals to live. … I jest and exaggerate, but it is fundamentally a brutal indictment on nearly every thing we have ever done to animals and continue to do, whether in the name of food, entertainment or profit, or even — as we might term our feelings towards our pets or the subjects of a David Attenborough documentary — “love”. Basically, we’ve been getting it so, so wrong. Most of us have an inkling that we’re doing it wrong, but even as we approach the climate disaster that will wipe out nearly 90% of all species on earth, we fail to recognise our biggest mistake of all: we fail to see that we, too, are animals. Loving animals properly, in the way that Henry Mance concludes is the best way (gotta read to the end to find out), and THEN the dividends will benefit us just as much as every other species on the planet.