ANIMAL NATURE, HUMAN HEARTS – NONFICTION

In VANESSA CHAKOUR’s Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature, she draws parallels from struggles she has weathered in her own life to those endured by 23 different wild animals, exploring our unease of feeling like prey; challenging the entrapment of our limiting beliefs; contextualizing the turmoil of fractured landscapes; and affirming our primal ache to belong. In BRANDON KEIM’s Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World, the science journalist observes that honeybees deliberate democratically, rats reflect on the past, and snakes have friends. Asks Keim, What does the science of animal intelligence mean for how we understand and live with the wild creatures around us – and what would it mean for us to take the minds of the rest of the living world seriously?

Buy Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature – Chakour

Buy Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World – Keim