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| When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals | 
| Authors: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Susan Mccarthy
Publisher: Delta
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $0.25
You Save: $15.75 (98%)
New (47) Collectible (5) from $2.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 40288
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0385314280
Dewey Decimal Number: 591.51
UPC: 400307296869
EAN: 9780385314282
ASIN: 0385314280
Publication Date: May 2, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Activism Masquarading as Science... October 20, 2006
5 out of 41 found this review helpful
Knowing the author by name and by reputation, I borrowed this book from a friend rather than contributing to him financially by paying for it. It's just the kind of pseudo-scientific garbage I'd expect when someone schooled in Philosophy is allowed to write a book on a scientific topic. The serious question of whether - and to what degree - nonhuman animals experience emotion should be entered into not only with skepticism, but with knowledge of how Science should be carried out, and how to go about evaluating the data that results. Masson is qualified to do NONE of these, and seems utterly unaware of that handicap.
It's precisely what I'd expect from someone who romanticizes the barbaric acts of the Animal Liberation Front, however, a terrorist group that firebombs research facilities and university labs, then enters high schools and teaches those same tactics to our children. To my mine, Masson should share a prison cell for supporting them in his idiotic writings.
What this book could have been August 27, 2006
10 out of 21 found this review helpful
It started with a great title, and an interesting subject. In fact, i already started reading it agreeing with the author. However, this book is terrible. It is unbelievably repetative, and the arguments are amazingly bad. If this book was redone using some solid thinking, it would be awesome. We won't change anyone's mind until you write arguments above a junior high level. I would recomment looking for other authors. I went into this book with high expectations, and was very disapointed. In fact, it pushed me more over to the other side as I read it, just because i was so taken aback by the garbage that was being put forth as argument and evidence. There just has to be a higher standard than this. If a student wrote it, i would give it a D.
 arrogant authors August 9, 2006
6 out of 23 found this review helpful
What a piece of crap! I agree with the overall point the authors attempted to make, but they spent so much time bashing humans while offering so little support for their argument that I want to disagree. The authors should stick to something they know something about.
Interesting subject, but the book is garbage. April 6, 2006
15 out of 34 found this review helpful
Before I begin, I would like to say that I am not an expert on the subject, but I do personally feel that some more advanced animals (apes, dogs, etc) do very possibly have some type of lower, basic emotions. When I purchased this book, I hoped that the author would provide some detailed scientific evidence supporting the theory that animals do have emotions and accounts of examples that demontrate the theory in action.
Unfortunately, all I got was an attack on the idea of "Anthropomorphism" and Science as a whole, some anecdotal "evidence" and some hackneyed junk theories that the author just made up as he went along.
When the author takes a break from telling you how evil and heartless scientists are or endorsing a vegetarian lifestyle or spewing out the kind of drivel you could find in a run-of-the-mill PETA pamphlet he presents such arguments for his case as "Animals have emotions because this person over here who owns a dog says so." Wow, truly groundbreaking.
This book is a hotbed of junk science only made to appeal to dullards who want to hear someone that seems important and/or smart say that their dogs love them as much as the reader loves their dog, even if it's not proven with any real science.
 science with heart- it's about time March 21, 2006
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having read some other of this author's books about a wide range of subjects, I think he is a very brilliant and soulful person who I would like to meet and interview. This was my favorite of his writings. It was interesting, compassionate and you could tell he put a lot of energy into this subject which he cares a lot about.
He has a lot of stories about animals from spiders to elephants. He writes about things they do, from unique things by a specific animal, to broad characteristics of a species, that show evidence of emotion.
He also has a lot of stories of scientists' seemingly desperate attempts to deny that they have emotions. He points out the ways in which these scientists contradict themselves and each other in their arguments against animal emotions, some of which had me saying "And these people call themselves scientists?". He describes some of the history of science and the biases which are still prevalent today- in particular, the idea that only people matter and they can do whatever they want to anything else. He also has some views from scientists who argue against these biases.
For people who are very sensitive when it comes to animal cruelty, I should warn you that there are some extremely upsetting stories about scientific experiments as well. I felt it was worth it to read the whole book and it's important to tell the whole truth.
Of course, it is probably preaching to the choir because most of the people who read this book are people who already agree. I know I was thinking "Duh! Of course animals have emotions!" However it will give new arguments that you could use when debating with someone who doesn't believe in animal emotion.
This book had a lot of information and could be challenging for some, but I felt it was explained in a way which was understandable and interesting. He put his own opinions and experiences, but that's the whole point of a book where he is trying to convince you of something. Some will disagree, but I thought it was written in a scientific way, but also with a lot of heart.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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