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Marie Arendt

MEET THE NEIGHBORS

Brandon Keim

Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World

What does the science of animal intelligence mean for how we understand and live with the wild creatures around us?
Facts about animals, from MEET THE NEIGHBORS: - Bumblebees and many species of frogs are among the animals who can count, which helps them choose habitats and engage in mating rituals. - Research shows advanced cognition in even newly hatched ducklings, who recognize light patterns modeled after a cat's walk and grasp abstract concepts such as similar and different. - Rats can both recall the past and imagine the future, as found in brain activity mapping alternate routes to a just-completed maze. - Coyotes, crows, and Canada geese form long-term, monogamous bonds with their mates; they've been found to mourn separation and the loss of their partners. - Elephants can remember the voices of up to 100 other elephants, even when years have passed since hearing them. - A subpopulation of blue-spotted salamanders is composed entirely of females who reproduce by cloning themselves. - Raccoon mothers will adopt orphaned baby raccoons. Honeybees deliberate democratically. Rats reflect on the past. Snakes have friends. In recent decades, our understanding of animal intelligence has exploded - but the way we relate to wild animals has yet to catch up. Meet the Neighbors asks: What would it mean if we took animal minds seriously? Science shows that the creatures who share our everyday landscapes - from devoted geese to clever raccoons to playful turtles - are thinking, feeling individuals. Should we then see them as fellow persons, even citizens? Weaving in the latest research, Brandon Keim takes us into courtrooms and wildlife hospitals, under backyard decks and into deserts, to meet the philosophers, rogue pest controllers, ecologists, wildlife doctors, and others who are reimagining our relationships to animals and to nature. A beguiling invitation to discover an expanded sense of community and kinship beyond our own species, Meet the Neighbors opens our eyes to the world of vibrant intelligence just outside our doors. Brandon Keim is an independent journalist specializing in animals, nature, and science. His work appears regularly in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Nautilus, National Geographic, and elsewhere. He lives in Bangor, Maine.
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Published 2024-07-01 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. - New York (USA)

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Book Review: Are The Wild Animals in Your Backyard a Nuisance or Neighbors? Call off the pest control and learn to live with wildlife Read more...

The New Science of Animal Minds The author on writing his new book Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World. Read more...

Keim provides fascinating insight into ways humanity might take animal rights more seriously.The result is a potent complement to Martha C. Nussbaum's Justice for Animals.

On the surface, the book is about how we can better live with wildlife, but really is a charming dive into all the way animals interact with each other, and with us. We're not as far apart as we might seem, according to Keim.

Meet the Neighbors invites each of us to reimagine how we view and treat our animal kin. Rich in behavioral insights and crafted with unstinted empathy, [it] calls for a profound cultural shift.Open minds and hearts will be rewarded.

Few writers plumb the lives of our nonhuman brethren with more sensitivity and originality than Brandon Keim.You'll surely feel new empathy for your local raccoons, robins, and rats after reading this profound, big-hearted book.

An indispensable companion. Keim's book opens our eyes to the wonder in our midst, from the smallest bee to the wittiest coyote. What we learn should change how the law treats animals, how society treats them, and how we treat them as neighbors.

A heartfelt and unique look at the inner life of animals and how we so often fail to understand them.Sure to be an instant classic.

Book Review: 'Meet the Neighbors' by Brandon Keim Compassionately Complicates the Narrative About Animals A big-hearted and heavily researched exploration of what it means to treat animals with respect. Read more...

Does your love of animals fill you with wonder about how they experience being alive? And do you wonder what to do with your feelings for animals? Author Brandon Keim has filled these pages with intelligence and generosity. This is a mind-opening, heart-healing book.

Keim presents all of this information with insight and compassion.[Meet the Neighbors is] a comprehensive guide to thinking of animals not as anonymous creatures, but as individuals.

What animals think, feel and love Read more...

A Road Map for Improving Human Relationships Brandon Keim's "Meet the Neighbors" reassesses the links between us people and nonhumans Read more...

The Perks of Appreciating Wild Neighbors as Sentient Beings A new book shows respecting their emotional lives is good for them and for us. Read more...

A love letter to nature.It shows us how humans are part of the tapestry that is life, and how we can join and support the community of other nonhuman persons.This is the kind of thinking that needs to be nurtured. It gives us inspiration to respect, to care, and to be connected.