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| Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good | 
| Author: Jonathan Balcombe
Publisher: Macmillan
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $5.97
You Save: $8.98 (60%)
New (41) from $5.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 258116
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 1403986029
Dewey Decimal Number: 590
EAN: 9781403986023
ASIN: 1403986029
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Pleasurable Kingdom presents new evidence that animals--like humans--enjoy themselves. From birds to baboons, insects to iguanas, animals feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe shows that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society. For more information please visit the author's website at www.pleasurablekingdom.com
Book Description
The recognition of animal pain and stress, once controversial, is now acknowledged by legislation in many countries, but there is no formal recognition of animals' ability to feel pleasure. Pleasurable Kingdom is the first book for lay-readers to present new evidence that animals--like humans--enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival and the avoidance of pain. Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to baboons feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe proposes that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Animal Emotions: A Primer March 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Pleasurable Kingdom" is a vital work in our attempt to understand animals. In my undergraduate education my concentration for my biology degree was in mammalogy, which helped foster a lifelong interest in animal behavior, particularly in lemurs, pangolins, and cats of all shapes and sizes. I have always loved animals and have wondered about how (and the degree to which) animals feel pleasure and emotions; unfortunately, I usually found only anecdotal information that was not collected in a systematic way. This book taught me that I was not alone: one of the biggest problems in this research area is the lack of systematic study, or even a conceptual ability to measure data in a meaningful way.
Despite the difficulties of study in this field, Balcombe has written an accessible yet scientifically important book. Unsurprisingly to animal lovers it shows what we have suspected all along: animals are very capable of experiencing joy, engaging in play, and having fun. The reverse is also, of course, true, as anyone who has seen a cat or dog grieve at the loss of a human or animal companion knows intuitively.
I enjoyed the book immensely, and found it to be more substantive and scientifically weighty than I expected. The sources cited are numerous, and provide excellent starting points for further research. I thought the entire book was strong, although some of the conclusions reached in chapter seven, "Touch", seemed a bit tenuous. I especially loved the chapters "Love" and "Transcendent Pleasures". I was amazed, for example, at the discussion of zoopharmacognosy: I had been aware that some animals enjoyed the sensations of being intoxicated or in a drugged state, but had no idea the extent of that desire in the animal kingdom. I had known that elephants seek fermenting marula fruit, but I had no idea that some capuchins rub psychoactive millipedes on their bodies as an illicit drug. That is but a small example of the detail that this book contains. The end feeling is that animals are more sensitive and less motivated solely by survival than has been conventionally explored or argued with evolutionary theory.
I recommend this book unequivocally for animal lovers. It's a detailed but very readable book that is fascinating and full of new information from cover to cover.
Pleasurable Kingdom October 25, 2007
Author Jonathan Balcombe, PhD, gives those of us who love animals a wonderful gift: insights into the intelligence, sensuality, and emotions of the creatures with whom we share this planet. I chose to take this book on a recent trip and what good company it was!
Jonathan Balcombe is an insightful thinker, loves nature, and effectively uses humor, facts, and anecdotes to create an enjoyable read. The book clearly portrays animals as they truly are: intelligent, capable of rational thought, sensitive, and with an apparent depth of emotion to rival our own.
I was engaged by the stars of this book: the sentient and sensate individuals garbed in various textures and colors, who come in so many different sizes and shapes and who each have a unique character. The animals held my attention from start to finish. I found myself laughing out loud at the "thrill seekers," surprised by the antics of the "demolition players", amused by new words (such as "wuzzles") that were added to my vocabulary, and touched by sadness while reading the brief descriptions of animals suffering from human-caused plights.
After reading this book, animals may seem to look and act differently, but it's more likely that you will be seeing them through different eyes. Nature walks will become more meaningful. For example, next time you see a downed butterfly--now knowing that he or she is likely dehydrated and in need of water and shade--you may save a delicate and precious life. I highly recommend this volume as a way to lift your own spirits and to expand your ideas about the complexity of the non-humans with whom we share this amazing planet.
Marie Mead, Author (with collaborator Nancy LaRoche)of Rabbits: Gentle Hearts, Valiant Spirits Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph, and Joy
[...]
Rabbits: Gentle Hearts, Valiant Spirits: Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph, and Joy
"What's your pleasure?" October 21, 2007
Jonathan Balcombe is to be congratulated for intelligently illustrating what should be, but unfortunately isn't, obvious to the rest of us. A realistic definition of "scientific data" ought to be "an irrefutable amount of evidence" even if anecdotal. With billions of dollars spent on "animal research" (and much of it wasted, ending up in human death and suffering), why haven't our "best minds" realized what is apparent even to the smallest child? Perhaps because their careers depend on denying the clear truth. Mr. Balcombe has now made the facts colorfully clear.
Anyone who has spent time with animals (and I have been privileged to share time with gibbons, dogs, cats, pigs, elephants, tiger, cheetah, wolves, bears, llamas, donkeys, deer, ferrets, goats, cows, turkeys, sheep and horses) knows that animals feel and seek pleasure. Those who dispute this would, if they are honest, have to conclude that from the animals' viewpoint, since they cannot adequately question us, we humans have no feelings, and in many cases no common sense. Though this could just be a function of our language skills being inadequate.
Animals have been here much longer than we have, and they have managed to thrive without all the artificial contrivances that we need to get by. No schools, no weapons, no therapists, no written materials. And yet they live fully functioning lives. Doesn't it make sense that those lives would include pleasure? Doesn't it make sense that we "intelligent" humans would be able to see this? Sadly, it takes a book like "Pleasurable Kingdom" to clear the fog out of our eyes -- if we are willing to take a good look around. We should all read this fine book, and thank Mr. Balcombe for demonstrating that all animals (which includes us two-leggeds) are entitled to (and seek) life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
 Don Graves August 6, 2007
An excellent if somewhat concise read for anyone interested in examining how the evolutionary fitness of animal species may be influenced by individual's needs for pleasure. Science can not measure many of the diverse qualities that make up human or other animal interactions, nor should it try to do so. Whatever the evidential shortcomings of anecdotes or experiential observations, the author encourages the reader to draw on their own life experiences to corroborate the thesis that animal nature is not an inherently fearful nor a brutal competitive struggle for survival of the strongest, most ruthless or toughest. However unpleasant that any life may end, much of daily life existence is instead balanced with hedonistic individuals and inter- or intra-species collectives, benefiting from collaborative, companionable and enjoyable actions.
Fascinating for animal lovers May 31, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As an animal lover, a rabbit and bird fancier, I literally could not put this book down. I search out books on animal behavior and intelligence and there is little out there. The info on insect behaviour I found the most fascinating. It's about time that scientists are proving what us animal lovers have known all along.
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