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| The Pig Who Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals (Audio Editions) | 
| Author: J. Moussaieff Masson
Creator: Tim Jerome
Publisher: Audio Partners
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $9.95
You Save: $20.00 (67%)
New (13) from $9.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 1856760
Format: Abridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 6
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.3 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 1572703725
Dewey Decimal Number: 636
EAN: 9781572703728
ASIN: 1572703725
Publication Date: December 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: brand new-shipped next day in box-no damage-guaranteed in stock
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Product Description
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's groundbreaking When Elephants Weep explored emotions in the animal kingdom, particularly those of wild animals. Now, in a book that is as fascinating - and sure to be as controversial - as his earlier work, Masson reveals startling evidence that barnyard creatures have complex feelings too, such as love, loyalty, friendship, sadness, grief, and sorrow. Weaving together history, literature, science, and his own vivid experiences observing pigs, cows, sheep, goats, and chickens, Masson bears witness to the emotions and intelligence of these remarkable animals, each possessing distinct qualities. Shattering the lingering myth of the "dumb animal without feelings," the author has written a revolutionary book that is sure to stir human emotions far and wide. Reader Tim Jerome's extensive theatrical background enhances Masson's penetrating prose.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Animals are thinking, feeling beings May 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Anyone who has been around animals and spent some time casually observing them knows that they are thinking and feeling beings. This book affirms what most people seem to want to deny, which is they (animals)are very similar to us; they feel joy, pain, sorrow, and affection. If we were to admit the obvious, we would have to stop eating them and treating them with more respect and consideration. I don't think most people want to do that.
 A disappointing read from a sloppy journalist January 26, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Of course animals have feelings! Any veterinarian, caring pet owner or biologist worth her salt will tell you this! Farmed animals are animals, too, and therefore have feelings and complex methods of communication and patterns of behavior. Why the author considers this is an amazing and revolutionary leap of logic boggles me. Humans have known for millenia that animals possess emotions and limited languages (such as bird calls) peculiar to their species; just consult world folk tales and mythology-- the sort of anecdotal information upon which most of this book is based!
This stance smacks of an arrogant attitude toward the reader-- and subsequently anyone who (regardless of economic, geographic, cultural or other circumstances) cannot magically become vegan tomorrow. (Masson admits in the text to a years'-long difficulty switching over from vegetarian to vegan, so I find his blanket condemnatory stance of omnivores hypocritical). The author completely fails to acknowledge the reality of literate and impoverished people in his former country of residence (USA) who must consume meat, eggs and milk products for protein in lieu of far less affordable soy alternatives. Not to mention minors and college students without transportation, stuck on school-mandated meal plans with no suitable non-animal proteins provided. Who might prefer being vegetarian over the awful school meat, you know? Hate to break it to the author and majority of reviewers, but economic elitism is *also* a serious ethical flaw, along with cruelty.
Factory farming appalls any decent human being that has encountered it.
In a book with recommendations from the PETA president, it's preaching to the choir to go on about it. The audience who values such an endorsement should already be quite well-informed on the subject.
Just because you have written several popular books on a topic does not, in fact, make you a scientific authority on the subject. It doesn't even make you a good journalist. Thorough research, the ability to weigh your own bias against the evidence presented by material, and direct observations do that.
Mr. Masson builds most of his book on the treatise that our deliberately "dociled", weakened and "cutened" domestic animals are little different from their wild forebears. This smacks of *no* direct observation of any of these animals in the wild (surprise, all of his direct observation comes from pets at a sanctuary!). He also writes a pseudo-scientific text with no direct citation and quoting of primary sources-- this means scientific studies, not gems of literature and hearsay tales of farm pets rescuing people, however moving.
I was seriously disappointed by the lack of real, verifiable information on a subject in which I was deeply interested.
As a person who grew up both in the presence of farms and wildlife (has Mr. Masson ever encountered a wild boar outside a farm sanctuary? They live in several United States parks and can be extremely dangerous!) I have both a love and healthy respect for the animal kingdom. He seems to forget that the lovable, omnivorous farm pig he cuddles up to is the descendant of a powerful, fast-running, territorial and opportunistic predator/omnivore. Not an obese pet animal cared for lovingly by humans to which it has bonded in a compassionate sanctuary far, far removed from the rigors and dangers of a natural environment. These animals need never worry about their next meal due to environmental pressures-- or becoming the meal of a predator. As such, their behavior has been seriously modified. Obviously, he has never been in danger from an animal while hiking in protected wilderness!
(Yes, domestic pigs are intelligent, clean and affectionate. How did I, and several of my friends, grow up in an average American middle class family knowing this for years if we're all so willfully ignorant? I have avoided pork products for years, once I understood this.)
This book derailed for me when he talked about cuddly chickens. I had a pet chicken. She was, alas, eaten by the neighbor's vicious German Shepherd who followed his natural imperative to jump his fence and kill my chicken. We mourned the death of Miss Cluck, even though she was a visitor to our household. She chose my family, arriving one day on our doorstep. We took care of her, not knowing where she came from. We were glad that she followed her natural imperative to eat ticks, mosquitoes and other small pests in our yard. We ate her eggs. They were delicious. She laid at least one unfertilized egg daily and truly seemed to have no sense of the difference when we removed it. They were the best eggs I've ever eaten, and I can verify that until someone else's pet killed *my* pet, that chicken was humanely treated and looked upon with affection. That chicken was never caged or restrained, given free run of our yard and provided with a shelter she could willingly enter or leave at night. I never saw that chicken fly into a tree (she preferred our deck), and her feathers were never clipped. And no, we didn't have the real estate zoning-- or the money-- to buy her a companion.
All of our humane treatment still didn't change the fact that she ran away if you tried to touch her. The best we ever got was acknowledging coos of our presence and a jaunty little dance at feeding time. Where are these magical, tree-nesting affectionate domestic chickens Masson mentions?
Another point of arrogance on the part of this author: when a farmer is making the attempt to be ethical and decent in his treatment of animals on a humane farm, allowing open visits to monitor any aspect of their lives, including their deaths... why does he walk in and proceed to condemn him? Wouldn't that energy be much better spent attacking a callous, corporate factory farm?
Authors like this seriously marginalize animal rights as the realm of "bleeding-heart quackpots with buckets of paint". This is a crying shame, as it successfully stops the ears of many mainstream, reasonable people who might otherwise-- with hard journalism and solid facts-- pay closer attention to the plight of those who cannot speak for themselves in our society. To turn around and brand those mainstream people as both stupid and immoral is a smug response, patting the author and vegans on the back instead of truly attempting to change the mind of an omnivore. To change anyone's mind, you've got to start with respect for your audience, at least.
Animals deserve compassion.
And humans do, too.
Author has no clue January 2, 2007
10 out of 17 found this review helpful
We live with farm animals and know that they have complex emotional lives, so I had high hopes, but I was very disappointed, the author doesn't really know animals and their emotions; he just has a warm fuzzy feeling about them and wants us to be nice to them. I don't disagree entirely, I'm totally against factory farms, but this book is supposed to be about their emotional lives, no? "Fast food nation" and "the omnivores dilemma" do a MUCH better job of addressing that issue. The stated title of this book is completely inaccurate, in my opinion, after living day to day with goats, sheep, chickens and a few other odds and ends for five years. If you want a book that actually talks about farm animal emotions, "Animals in Translation" really does this in a way that resonates with my experience.
I couldn't even finish reading this book, it was so far off the mark, I hate to even give it one star.
 The singing pig makes your heart join in July 23, 2006
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
From reading a fair bit of animal rights literature, I grew weary of the typical rhetoric that I've seen repeated over and over again (which I won't get into; if you know it, you know of what I speak, and if you don't, you should go out and see!), much of which I already figured out for myself from talking with people. The Pig who Sang to the Moon gives us an insight into the lives of animals who are kept on farms for whatever reason, be it milk, meat, fur, wool, or skin.
That's the other major thing I like about Pigit has a clear focus. You're meant to pick up this book, and through the stories, you should gain some insight that those animals that we've more or less writted off as "stupid beasts" lead lives that we are not privy to [if we don't pay attention]. When you leave, even if you don't fully embrace the decidedly vegan perspective, there is still a marked change in your thinking in understanding where Masson can find these emotions he speaks of.
Starting from pigs, moving on to goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, cows, and other animals kept on farms, Masson explores stories sent in by people about how animals display their complex lives. He tells us the story about the pig who sings to the moon. We learn of the chicken who followed her human around. We smile from ear to ear when we read the story about the cow that solves puzzles.
All of them give us a glimpse of a world that we'd never consider before this. Instead of bludgeoning you with an agenda or a message, Masson tells you a story, asks you to think about what that story means, and humbly requests that you maybe give the animals another chance. He gives voice to those whose voices we cannot comprehend. A must read for any animal lover.
Think of them as Animals not Meat January 6, 2006
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
I love Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. He's brave enough to challenge our notions of animals without overlooking all evidence as 'anthromorphizing.'
I feel that Masson when he says we should take things at face value. If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck... in other words if animals appear to act as if they are expressing a certain emotion, then they probably are. He explores the emotional complexity of each animal we use for food including: pigs, cows, chickens, goats, ducks, and geese. He uses mainly anecdotes as well as behavioral studies, which are very compelling.
I definitely reccomend this book for two reasons: 1) you will think twice about the animals you eat and 2) you will be alerted to the horrible abuses of animals on factory farms. Also read When Elephants Weep by the Masson. :)
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