`An unbelievably inspiring book' Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of TreesDid you know that pigs frequently throw tantrums?Jeffrey Masson delves deep into the mysterious world of farm animals and reveals just how sophisticated these creatures truly are - capable of joy, sadness, love and friendship - just like us.
In the hugely popular <i>New York Times</i> bestseller, <i>Dogs Never Lie About Love, </i>provocative psychoanalyst Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson brilliantly navigated the inner landscape of “man’s best friend.” Now he delves deep into the secretive, playful world of cats, revealing emotions, debunking myths, and honoring the feline’s evolution from solitary jungle creature to human companion. Drawing from literature, history, animal behavioral research, and the wonderful true stories of cat experts and cat lovers around the world, Jeffrey Masson vividly explores the delights and mysteries of the feline heart. But at the core of this remarkable book are Masson’s candid, often amusing observations of his own five cats. Their mischievousness, aloofness, and affection provide a way to examine emotions from contentment to jealousy, from anger to love. Consider the question: Are cats selfish? While human egocentricity is defined by how little a person cares about others, the cat’s narcissism is not like that at all. Cats may appear self-centered, but they watch us all the time, taking us in. They see us; they notice us–a far cry from vanity. Cats are curious, a trait that rarely kills them. On the contrary, it gives them the chance to assess, in their own idiosyncratic way, whether we are worthy of their attention. Cats are happy to be themselves. What they think of <i>us</i> is a different question entirely. “We need cats to need us,” notes Masson, “It unnerves us that they do not. However, if they do not need us, they nonetheless seem to love us.” <i>The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats </i>will captivate readers with its surprises and insights, offering a new perspective on the deep connection shared by humans and their feline friends. This is the book that Masson’s many fans and cat lovers everywhere have been waiting for. <i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>
As he guides readers through the surprising depth of canine emotional complexity, Jeffrey Masson draws from myth and literature, from scientific studies, and from the stories and observations of dog trainers and dog lovers around the world. But the stars of the book are Masson's own three dogs - Sasha, Sima, and Rani - whose delightful and mysterious behavior provides the way to exploring a wide range of subjects - from emotions like gratitude, compassion, loneliness, and disappointment to speculating what dogs dream of, how they perceive of other species (including humans), and how their powerful sense of smell shapes their perception of reality. As he sweeps aside old prejudices on animal behavior, Masson navigates through the rich universe of dog feeling to its essential core, their "master emotion": love.
For more than 100 years, scientists have denied that animals experience emotions, yet this remarkable and groundbreaking book proves what animal- lovers have known to be true: wolves, tigers, giraffes, elephants and many other creatures exhibit all kinds of feelings - hope, fear, shame, love, compassion.