Critic reviews
Wild and strange, and full to the brim with tales from the deep past, offering a meaningful connection to our ancestors. It is a reminder of what we came from and how we might move forwards into the future; a brighter future filled with beasts. An essential for any bestiary or folklore fan (LALLY MACBETH, author of The Lost Folk)
Folklore, myth and magic collide beautifully in The Book of Beasts (EDWARD PARNELL, author of Ghostland)
This beautifully written book considers the relationship between humans and animals through the whole of time and across the planet... [it is] ultimately an examination of the place of humans in the world, past and present (RONALD HUTTON, author of The Witch)
Immersive, enchanting, and exquisitely written, The Book of Beasts is a clarion call to rethink and rewild our relationship with animals. Prepare to be changed by this magical book (KRISTEN J. SOLLEE, author of Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine)
In this powerful and beautifully written book, Elizabeth Sulis Kim explores humanity’s relationship with animals across history and cultures. She weaves together archaeology, mythology, religion, ecology, and psychology to show how the stories we create about animals shape our understanding of humanity, and how changing those stories could help change our world (MELANIE JOY, PhD, bestselling author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows)
Dazzling in range and tender in purpose, The Book of Beasts is an invitation to remember our kinship with the living world. Elizabeth Sulis Kim asks urgent questions with a scholar's rigour and a storyteller's heart. It is both confounding and humbling to consider how often humans forget that we belong to nature too (HOLLIE STARLING, editor of Bog People)
The Book of Beasts is epic and wise, but also tender and sensitive. From prehistory to the present, through myth and magic to religion and literature, this captivating and highly-original book explores the immense importance of animals across diverse human cultures. With profound reflections about the power of beastly thinking, The Book of Beasts is essential reading for animal lovers everywhere (THOMAS WATERS, author of Cursed Britain: A History of Witchcraft and Black Magic in Modern Times)
This is a beautiful book, and an important one. Elizabeth Sulis Kim reawakens an older way of looking at animals, through stories of reverence and resonance that ask us to reconsider how we interact with the animal kingdom. From stepping among temple rats in Rajasthan to walking the Great Bear Rainforest and making eye contact with whales, the author travels a fascinating pathway across thousands of years of folklore that always has an eye on the world around us today (NICHOLAS JUBBER, author of Monsterland)
