Humanish: What talking to your cat or naming your car reveals about the uniquely human need to humanise - Couverture rigide

Gregg, Justin

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0861549821 ISBN 13 : 9780861549825

Editeur : Oneworld Publications, 2025

Synopsis

Ever glanced at your cat and wondered if they were plotting something? Or passed a car and thought its headlights looked ‘angry’?

A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Illuminating and lively.’ Guardian, Book of the Day

Anthropomorphism – the irresistible desire to apply human characteristics to animals, natural phenomena and even inanimate objects – is as natural as breathing.

And it gets weirder… Million-dollar industries have sprung up to provide ‘cosmetic enhancements’ for dogs who’ve had the snip – their (inevitably male) owners wracked with guilt that their pets might be missing out on… something. Similarly, Justin Gregg, a researcher with the Dolphin Communication Project, regularly receives emails from mothers-to-be convinced that dolphins would make excellent midwives (spoiler alert: they definitely wouldn’t).

Diving into the strange way anthropomorphism shapes our understanding of the world, Gregg offers an eye-opening journey through human perception. From cinema’s obsession with talking animals to the way we interact with our soon-to-be robot overlords, Humanish takes a hilarious journey through the strange world of anthropomorphism and explores what it reveals about this weird and wonderful bias within us all.

***

'Everyone who is interested in both human and animal behaviour will love this book.' Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

'Hilarious, engaging, informative, timely, and astute, and truly addictive to read.' Alie Ward, host of Ologies podcast

'Humanish taught me a lot. Thanks to the jokes, I barely even realized I was being educated. Neat trick.' Peter Watts, Hugo Award-winning author of Blindsight

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Justin Gregg is science writer and author of the book If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal. Justin regularly lectures on topics related to animal/dolphin cognition and teaches a course on Animal Minds at St. Francis Xavier University. He has written widely about animal behaviour and cognition, with articles appearing in Salon, The Wall Street Journal, Aeon Magazine, Scientific American, BBC Focus, Slate, as well as on his blog with Psychology Today, 'Elegant Arguments'.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Oneworld Publications
• Date d'édition: 2025
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0861549821
• ISBN 13: 9780861549825
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 304
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible