When I picked up this book, i.e., Beauty in the Beasts : True Stories of Animals Who Choose to Do Good by Kristin Von Kreisler, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson , at my local library I thought that it would be sugar sweet. However, what I found was a heartfelt and touching collection of stories that prove that animals too have feelings; and not only basic feelings but complex once such as empathy and sympathy. Highly Recommended (especially for people whom love animals)(.

I just picked this book up last night. It is so touching and heartfelt I could not put it down. I laughed and cried. This is a must read for everyone with a soft spot for animals.

I loved reading this intelligent, beautifully written book. Kristin von Kreisler takes the reader through eight important virtues: sensitivity, compassion, courage, loyalty, fortitude, cooperation, resourcefulness and generosity, all the while drawing on extensive research to demonstrate that animals are totally capable of choosing to act in ways that exemplify these virtues. She backs up her case with interviews with an astounding number of scientists, most of whom supported her ideas about "the beauty in the beasts" with their own research. Von Kreisler also describes meetings with other, less enlightened scientists who disparage animals, stating that what appears to be virtue on the part of animals is only self-interest in disguise. I can almost hear her standing up to these scientists with her own research and personal experience and making a very effective case. I would like to make one addition to the discussion. Yes, very often there is some possible advantage to the animal for acting in a virtuous way. In my opinion, that does not make the animal less virtuous! It simply demonstrates the wise and good provision of Mother Nature that when we do something for others, we also help ourselves. All life is, after all, ultimately one. Virtue, far from being only its own reward, rebounds to the benefit of all life. If animals realize this as much or more than we do, so much the better! Thank you, Kristin, for this lovely book.

There are few individuals as sensitive to suffering as Jeffrey Mousaieff Masson, fewer still with his literary talent; perhaps only he could have produced this book. A well-translated purview of the dark history and "origin" of gynecology as it is still practiced today ... a crime against women, rather than healthcare.

A must-read for those who believe that our companion animals can bring out the best in you,lift you up in the lowest time of your life, and love you unconditionally until their very last breath. This is one book I wish I have written for my lovable daughter dog, Wanda, who is patiently waiting for me at the gates of The Rainbow Bridge!

I loved Kristin Von Kreisler's two previous books, The Compassion of Animals and Beauty in the Beast, but For Bea is even better. What makes it so good is the feeling that the author is speaking directly and intimately from the heart, sharing a story that is one of the central stories of her life. Kristin and Beatrice (whose picture on the cover, by the way, is worth the price of the book) truly met not as person and Beagle, but as soul and soul. How I wish I could have met Beatrice! She sounds like a soul truly worth knowing. And with this beautiful book, I feel that I have known her, just a little bit, myself. I do recommend this book very highly to anyone who wants to know more about the mysterious ways of love.

This book is a must for anyone who loves beagles, or anyone who has taken in an animal in need and nursed that animal back to physical and emotional health! Dog lovers will fall for Von Kreisler's touching, amusing story of Bea's transformation from battered-and-broken lab animal to cherished pet. Well written and entertaining, this book made me laugh and cry. I've already recommended it to all my family, friends and fellow beagle rescuers!

Kaspar Hauser's life was somewhat different from that of the typical feral child (there's an oxymoron for you). Unlike, say, Victor of Aveyron, Kaspar was deliberately imprisoned for approximately twelve years, beginning from the time he was about 4. At about age 16, Kaspar was suddenly and inexplicably released and set loose to wander the streets of Nuremburg. Anselm Von Ritter Feuerbach took the boy in and treated him kindly even as he observed him closely, keeping a notebook on Kaspar. This notebook is here printed in English for the first time, translated by Jeffrey Masson, who gives a history of Kaspar's life after his release as well. At the age of 19, two men tried to murder Kaspar; a couple of years later, they tried again, stabbing him several times. He died three days later. Why was this done? Apparently the rapid progress Kaspar had made in learning to both speak and write German quite fluently and articulately, and especially the memories that were beginning to come to the surface, posed quite a threat to someone. Masson puts forward for an English speaking audience a theory commonly found in Hauserian scholarship: Kaspar was the crown prince of a small nation, switched at birth at the instigation of one Countess Louisa in favour of her brat. Naturally, both the reputations and positions of quite a few people depended on Kaspar's silence. Masson puts forward many facts to support this theory; it would be well-nigh impossible to doubt that this theory is correct, even though it sounds like one of Grimm's less cosy fairy tales. Intriguing though all this is, however, the fact of Kaspar's confinement looms over the book, making it impossible to get any real enjoyment out of reading it. The description of Kaspar's life in a tiny dungeon is disgusting and disturbing. If you are at all inclined to be emotional, or if your life is not happy right now, I'm not sure you will want to read this book--it can be very upsetting to think about (perhaps that's why it's out of print). But maybe not. On the other hand, those interested in psychology should definitely read this book whether they like it or not--it'll be useful. I would recommend this book very heartily to all if I myself had not been quite so upset by reading it; forget my comments and judge it for yourself.

Masson has gone back to original source material (and even discovered some documents long thought lost) to re-examine the story of Kaspar Hauser. With his background in psychology, he was able to analyze the story like no previous writer had, and come to some surprising revelations, not the least of which Kaspar may well have been a member of German royalty, and was quite likely imprisoned and killed for just that reason. Though I gave the book five stars, I do have some minor complaints: 1) Masson is a believer in Recovered Memory Syndrome, 2) he doesn't consider any physiological causes for Hauser's seeming lack of education and his subsequent steep learning curve (Charles Fort, oddly enough, is the only one to present convincing evidence that a bump on the head could have caused temporary amnesia, which then gradually receded as time went on), 3) he doesn't explain why Hauser was released from his imprisonment, especially after so many years, 4) Though he had asked a few pediatricians about the effects of long-term nutritional deficiences (Hauser supposedly subsisted on just bread and water), it is distressing that none of them could tell Masson anything specific (Just for the record, scurvy from Vitamin C deficiency, marasmus and hypoalbuminemic-type PEM (kwashiorkor) from too little protein and other nutrients, and rickets from Vitamin D deficiency, just to name some examples). Still, this book is worth it just for the Introduction alone, and is likely to remain the definitive work on this mysterious child.

Some books are meant to be page turners. When you buy one of those, you put an extra log on the fire, make some hot chocolate, and read till you fall asleep.

That plan of attack will not work with LOST PRINCE. You may as well try to read the complete works of Sigmund Freud in one sitting. Yet LOST PRINCE is as brilliant as it is disturbing. You may stop reading at the end of a chapter, but you will not stop thinking about this book.

The German language has turned Kaspar Hauser into a cliche of sorts. Someone who's vexing and exasperating, yet basically innocent and naive, is called a "Kaspar". German majors at most universities learn only the roughest information about him, generally in terms of his being an interesting case study for how people turn out when they are denied human contact in their formative years.

But Kaspar's story is so much more than that. It is child abuse, political intrigue, good vs. evil, and a murder mystery all rolled into one. When you finish this book, you still cannot tell the bad guys from the good. All you know is that Kaspar Hauser was treated like no human should ever have been treated, and that nothing he could have done would ever justify the inhumanity of the persons who placed him in that dark and cruel prison.

It is therefore a little eerie to realize that all this took place 101 years before Hitler, in a city called Nuremberg.

If you are not animal lover, you will be after reading this book. It is a gem!

These stories are warm and inspiring. My 12 year old daughter has read it a few times now, cover to cover. Great for anyone to read who loves and appreciates animals. This book really grabbed me.

I recently finished this remarkable book. I must say I listened to it (from a tape from the Blind Center) while working on a portrait of a dog for a friend. I have always believed in the compassion of animals, having several 'Animal Angels' in my own life. Kristin's stories of true compassion verify what every animal owner & lover knows in their own heart. One of the saddest comments, after asking prominent Scientists, were that animals performed the compassionate acts out of self interest. After all of the stories, as well as my own experiences, I can say thankfully ,that we are living in a time of changing thoughts. I am more than happy to recommend this book to all of my friends, and lovers of animals of all kinds.

I found this book very interesting to read. I was very interested to hear a psychoanalyst's account of his training and membership in the psychoanalytic society. However, I found no news in the book; I wouldnt expect a circle that holds views which are Darwinian to refrain from acting like our prehistoric ancestors.

Anyone even remotely associated with analysis, as either a patient, friend of a patient, or an analyst himself, should read this very informative and fascinating book. Clear and well-written, Masson does a wonderful job of exposing the clique of therapists who get rich by deceiving their patients, pretending to care and asserting knowledge they simply don't possess. A very engrossing book that explores a heretofore closed society.

Reading Masson's book, I was reminded time and again of the injustices and psychological abuse I experienced whilst undergoing Social Work training a number of years ago.

"Final Analysis", together with Masson's other treasures - "Against Therapy" and "Assault on Truth" provide, in my view, an accurate insight into the arrogance, self-righteousness and pretense to knowledge and care that often occurs both behind the scenes and quite openly in the world of Psychotherapy.

One of the better books I have read.

"Free and honest retrieval of painful memories cannot occur in the face of skepticism and fear of the truth. If the analyst is frightened of the real history of his own science, he will never be able to face the past of any of his patients...The time has come to cease from hiding from what is, after all, one of the great issues of human history."

Jeffery Moussaieff Masson
THE ASSAULT ON TRUTH
From the Conclusion

In the wake of the cultural shifts going on regarding our awareness of childhood trauma and sexual abuse throughout Western civilization--history and present day--one could easily be led to believe, particularly if you are not into psychology, that a book of this nature is not nearly as relevant as it might have been twenty years ago. I felt that when I saw it advertised and even read someone's review about it almost a year ago, and didn't buy it until recently. Now, after finishing it and being floored, I am reminded of one of Shopenhauer's famous maxims: there are three stage of an emerging truth; first it is ridiculed or ignored, second it is violently opposed...

...and third, it is accepted as self-evident.

The genius that is Freud's and his contribution to World civilization is clearly evident, but it is wrapped up and to a large degree tainted by the cult of the Oedipal complex he created at the dawn of the last century. Make no mistake, Jeffrety Masson proves that a comparison of Freud to Jim Jones or even Hitler is equally as valid as a comparison of him to Darwin, Galileo or Christ. He had a great deal invested in a scientific myth--and its secret, propagandistic granting of moral amnesty to the bourgeois Viennese scientific community and corrupt, secretly horrific aspects of its society. And with that foundational myth (that supported a power structure that has since been one of the most influential in the world: psychoanalysis), he took part in the prevention of the achievement of mental health that has indirectly shaped many of the horrors of the twentieth century.

When one looks into the past with the revisionist eyes of a society that is now aware--somewhat--of the destructive power of culture-sanctioned child abuse, you look at the growth of Nazism, Stalinism and Maoism, and the biographies of the men who led these revolts--specifically their childhoods...you look at the products of laissez faire capitalism and colonialism--that which itself produced the plantation slave trade and created the foundational myth of racial supremacy in America...you look at the worldwide international businesses of illegal drugs and forced prostitution--the consumers and producers of which are mostly abused children themselves...

...you look at how a courageous look at the role of child abuse on the human psyche creates personality--which creates public policy and nations--and how it could have prevented some or all of this from occuring, and instead of saying "Wow! Freud, you genius, what have you done..."

You say "Freud, my God, what have you done?"

This book is frightening.

Jeffrey Massons "Assault on Truth" is probably one of the most important books of the 20th century. He shows in detail how Freud betrayed his female patients and how he finally ended up in denying the evidence of the widespread existence of child sexual abuse. Massons book is a forceful attack against the freudian movement, who even today build their whole theory about child sexuality and the oedipus complex on Freuds betrayal in 1897. But it is also a good refutation of these witness psychologists who today falsely claims that Freud implanted false memories of sexual abuse in his patients. For everyone interested in topics such as the foundation of psychoanalysis or the debate about child sexual abuse - just read it!

A Note on Janet Malcolm: as evidenced in this book, Ms Malcolm actually creates composite quotations and with reference to her interviewing the author prior to initial publication, perhaps for the ensuing monetary gain she knew would thus be open to her, misrepresented (by altering the record of) the dialogue between author-interviewer prior to this book's initial release. Jeffrey Masson filed a libel suit against Janet Malcolm and The New Yorker (who published this journalist's two part article based on interviewing Masson, in 1984) and upon the matter's issues of honesty in quotation (Malcolm's of Masson) reaching the U.S. Supreme Court and then the Ninth circuit Court of Appeals, Jeffrey Masson won the case, but, curiously, the jury was deadlocked on damages. When a second trial took place -- this time without the New Yorker -- even more curiously perhaps, he lost. The facts and actuality of what occurred in regards this "unacceptable journalistic technique" are laid bare in this book, Malcolm's two-part article having appeared before the book's first release: setting the tone for the reviews it's author would receive, and in doing so, both misleading the public, and giving very upset and shaken reviewers the metaphorical ammunition they would need: to describe the author and ignore the contents of the book, to set Janet Malcolm up for life, and allow those in power (psychotherapists, psychiatrists), somewhat traumatised it seems evident, to side with Malcolm --a mutually lucrative enterprise serving also to deny the reader the truth. Just to finish on that, before I get started with my review, although I cannot speak for the person who placed the review prior to this when they describe a "moron", to clear confusion, I believe the individual being referred to is surnamed Webster.

I second the that reviewer's assertion: the history of psychical phenomena (including by Sigm. Freud), and especially this very book, has been consistently misunderstood, most often and most critically by those (and they are mostly "professionals" of one persuasion or another) who have something to gain (i.e. something to fear). It certainly seems those persons who have assertively misunderstood have done so deliberately, whether it be consciously, or unconsciously, or a blend of both.

The author doesn't intend to set out to invalidate the Oedipus complex, but to demonstrate the irrefutable suppression of the Seduction theory, and attempt to illuminate this act's historical significance on the later development of classical psychoanalysis.

Contrast this with the morally controversial but truthfully essential behaviour of certain "jaded" individuals: I am referring to a proposed forthcoming book the publication of which is being held over the head of the Library of Congress presently, in order to see they derestrict the Freud Archives in a "real, complete, and total" fashion: through demonstrating the subject of Sigmund Freud's aliquis ("paradigm") analysis of a case of unconsciously motivated forgetting (a parapraxis, Freudian slip) is none other than Freud himself. The Archives are now about 90% derestricted. Though Freud's cowardice has, since September 21, 1897, caused incalculable suffering to innumerable individuals by the depravity of psychotherapy and its power-/dominance-hungry practitioners, let's take a look at the man himself, for that's really all he was: just a man. Let us let ourselves learn more about him personally, his personal anguish and torment, rather than be so hasty in blaming Sigmund for the twentieth century's abuse of his personal, nineteenth century terror -- if we can do this, and dare to read this book, along with the author's others, dare to go against the tide, and stand up to form our own, individual opinion, some of us not so hungry to control the behaviour of another, may be in for a very pleasant surprise. After all, it is people increasingly trying to control people, that is precisely what is stripping us of our individuality: something Freud, despite his many serious flaws and prior to his abandonment of the seduction theory, had never wished for.

Do we not all dream at night? I agree both hold their own validity, particular to their own context.

Psychotherapy may be a deeply morally flawed practice (made so by the qualities of those people through this century who had shaped it, i.e. they were morally flawed, and carried Sigm.'s post-abandonment legacy), and Psychiatry equally as horrifically morally flawed (since Freud's 1913 alliance with a Dr. Eugene Bleuler, of the state "mental hospital" in Zurich, who had been using "techniques" derived from classical psychoanalytic theory there, and wrote Freud to inform him), but Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson wrote this book of truth, and he is also the man responsible for his books subsequent to this one, the writing of which he seems to have been led to by the unearthing of these actual atrocities. Tracing this influence in a personal way, I have also bought "When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals", co-authored by Susan McCarthy.

I extend on the suggestion this is not a book to avoid: the author's later ones aren't either.

If Jeffrey Masson can learn that we, as fallible human beings cannot heal our own sorrows and heartache, maybe we can too.

I loved this book, despite the fact that Masson sometimes seems to be projecting his own feelings onto his pets. This is not a scientific examination, but an astute psychologist's ruminations on the bond between human and canine. It should be required reading for all dog OWNERS as well as all dog lovers, as it would help people understand the psychology of dogs better; the neglect and abuse of dogs is far too common.

This was a wonderful book. I'm not a non-fiction reader by nature, but I absolutely loved every interesting, loving, thoughtful chapter. I found the many anecdotes so touching, and often found myself envying Masson's freedom to spend so much time with his dogs (and cats) every day. I enjoyed his writing so much that I plan on reading another of his books, "Why Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals."

If you love dogs (and/or truly love animals in general), and, like me, berate yourself for sometimes not appreciating our canine friends as much as you should, read this book. I believe people who gave it a bad review are letting their cynicism color their judgement. The fact remains that dogs love us in spite of our flawed human selves, and God bless them for it.

This book is wonderful! I've probably never read a better dog book! Don't believe those who say it is boring or exploiting. It truly tells about dogs' number one emotion; love. When I was through reading this book, and realizing how loyal and loving they are to kind people, I felt the need to treat our intelligent partners even better.

Masson's attack on the foundations of psychoanalytic therapy is a mixture of a little good and a whole lot of bad. The good has unfortunately been better stated elsewhere, and the bad is a rehash of stuff that was better left in the Seventies.

Today, it has been established with a great deal of scientific certainty that full-blown schizophrenia is an organic disease of the brain, not a behavioral problem. In other words, talk therapy for schizophrenia makes about as much sense as talk therapy for liver cancer. Schizophrenics need medication and cognitive therapy that helps them break habits that they have become accustomed to due to having organic dysfunctions (much in the same way an alcoholic with said liver would need not only a transplant but therapy to avoid relapsing into alcoholism).

Masson doesn't care about any of this and spends most of his book attacking the medicality of the psychiatric trade. Which is fine, but his resolutions are thin and inept: in place of existing therapies, he lamely suggests that we have leaderless self-help groups, a suggestion which makes about as much sense as teaching people to drive by putting four non-drivers in a car and having them all take turns at the wheel. (Never mind the damage to the car, the surroundings, the passengers, or passers-by.)

The few good bits in the book, like the correspondences between Freud and Fleiss, have been examined better by other writers. Masson brings nothing to the party except a good deal of presumptions, such as the notion that anyone who is in favor of mental health is also against the "problem" of pornography. It comes as little surprise to find that Masson is husband to Catherine Mackinnon, whose near-illiterate attacks on pornography would be a rich source for humor if they hadn't influenced so many thinkers and politicians.

In short, this is a dismal book with untenable conclusions, and a sprinkling of good notions lost in a morass of long-invalidated premises.

First of all, I like Massons book very much. His exposure of therapeutic abuse is excellent. Freud, Jung, Pearls, not to mention people like Rosen and Bettelheim, are thoroughly exposed. But when Masson claim that these abuses are an integrated part of the very method of psychotherapy he just can't prove it. Massons alternative to psychotherapy seems to be self-help groups where people talk to each other without "experts" involved. But those who have been a part of such groups surely know that one of the main things that are discussed there is how you can get the best therapist....
In short - Massons criticism is fine; his alternative is not an alternative at all. Unfortunately, in this world psychotherapy is necessary, whether Masson likes it or not....

Against Therapy is an elaborate critique of the concept and practice of "therapy." The greatest praise, in my view, goes to the fact that Masson has in this book, along with others that he's written, denounced several very serious issues with therapeutic practices, specially the harm and abuse that are carried out against defenseless human beings in many cases to a lethal point or one that condemns a human being to a life of sanctioned torture. Using very poignant historical examples, Masson clearly shows how terrible but sanctioned diagnoses and therapeutic practices have been used to torture people into submissive roles society ascribes to them, or to make their mental health seriously deteriorate as a result of their so-called "treatment." His examples are especially focused on how a patriarchal society uses a variety of violent techniques to punish, torture, and/or make women submissive. While all his examples and points are well taken, he elaborates more on the male/female power war to the exclusion of others.

Another point of praise, is that Masson has also given a big focus to the issue of sexual abuse of children and its gross denial in society. But while he does give examples of children that were grossly mistreated, he does not elaborate on how similar structural forms of oppression that women have faced from a patriarchal society are present in society's structure regarding adults v. children. He also highlights much more male abuse of female children and ignores other forms of sexual abuse, a format that does a disservice to other victims by continuing the silence about it. We know today that the number of male children abused is immense and has been continuously overlooked. We also know that issue of girls abused by women is still at a tip of the iceberg stage. But overall, his wonderful empathy with the deeply unjust suffering of so many children, women, and men is also another poignant mark of his work.

Masson goes further than just examining and denouncing barbaric practices, all carried out in the name of science or therapy or for the good of the patient, and usually carried out with total impunity, and he takes the next important step to ask if the fundamental premises and model of psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and psycotherapy are not where the roots of such a vast and disturbing problem lie. This is a tremendously important question to ask and he does a fine job in elaborating on various intrinsic power, greed, corruption, and oppressive social structure issues involved in making therapy relationships harmful. It's not only on the greatly abusive relationships level that he asks these questions, but also regarding how the very notion of "the therapist:" falsely constructed as one person who knows it all, who is "sane, without any problems," who is "adult," who is "ethical," v. the "patient" construct of being "crazy," more infantile, therefore incapable of knowing anything (specially about him or herself), or whose external reality where the root of many problems may lie is readily dismissed and the patient and the patient's internal world blamed for any and all suffering, problems, etc. Masson zeroes in to critique definitions of who is "crazy," and what is considered "crazy," and who has the power to create such definitions and stigmatize and torture people with them.

Masson also does a great job in describing how corrupt and collusive mental health institutions (and academia) are, a problem hardly ever tackled specially in the public light. His related book "Final Analysis" does a great job of exposing the corrupt psychoanalytic industry and further buttresses his points in "Against Therapy."

I disagree with his conclusion that all forms of therapy are to be thrown out the window as a solution to the mass scale abuse, lack of accountability, or quality in therapeutic practices. What are the people in need of help supposed to do? Who do they turn to? Masson's answer to "just have better friends" is really impractical and highly demeaning to millions of people facing serious problems. However, given that the mental health industry is so corrupt in terms of ethics and controlling even mild forms of incompetence, plus the greed and stupidity, or in seriously addressing in public any of these issues, even his drastic proposed solution is refreshing to read. It's inspiring to see his courage in breaking the collusive silence that so many academics and professionals prefer to engage in. I highly recommend his books for anyone in general, but specially for people considering or engaged in therapy or in becoming therapists, or those interested in having a less corrupt and abusive society.

In "When Elephants Weep", author Jeffrey Moussaief Masson attempts to demonstrate that humans are far from being the only animals to lead complex emotional lives. If someone wanted to make a case for animal rights, it would probably have a greater chance of success if it were based on animal intelligence, as that is much easier to prove and quantify than emotions. But there is already a body of literature on animal intelligence, and many researchers continue to pursue an understanding in that area. This is why Jeffrey Masson has written a book on animal emotions. It is a topic that is very much underrepresented in literature, probably because the idea of animal emotions is much vilified in the scientific community. The content of "When Elephants Weep" comprises, almost entirely, evidence of the existence of emotions -some primitive, some complex- in animals other than humans. Most of the evidence is anecdotal, although there are some examples of controlled studies as well. Most of the emotions that are discussed fit into these broad categories: fear, hope, love, sadness, grief, rage, compassion, shame, aesthetic appreciation, and a sense of justice. Apart from the evidence presented, the text contains a lot of criticism of the scientific community's staunch reluctance to acknowledge the existence of emotions in animals on the basis that any such idea would be anthropomorphic. But the fact is that the scientific community can no more prove the existence of emotions in humans than it can in animals. And it will not be able to do so until it possesses the technology to identify and detect the neuropathways responsible for emotions. Until then, we accept that humans have emotions based on their behavior and our own experience. The author believes it perfectly reasonable to acknowledge the emotional lives of animals for the same reasons. The quality of the writing itself in "When Elephants Weep" is not especially good, but I do recognize that it is very difficult to produce a pleasant and engaging writing style when one is simply cataloging a lot of data. And the author occasionally does seem to be imagining emotions where they could not possibly exist. But I give this book 4 stars and recommend it because it tackles an important subject that we read about all too little. And, despite its faults, readers will come away from this book having learned a lot about the lives of animals. If you need more encouragement, Dr. Jane Goodall has given the book high praise.

Mr. Masson wrote a book on a topic that desperately needed to be
studied and brought to the public and scientific eyes: the Emotional Lives of Animals. All pet lovers and people that work with animals know that animals feel and exhibit emotions. Mr Masson does a good job of making this point come across in a psuedo-scientific way. I say psuedo because, as of yet, there is no real scientific way of defining or examining emotions except through observations and comparisions to our own experiences and lives.
At times Mr Masson does seem to forget about the emotions of his readers and drags some messages on a bit too long. He doesn't really allow us, the readers, to become emotionally connected to his research and observations. This is the only reason I gave this book a 4 instead of a 5. It is a good book that anyone who wants to observe/study or be confident in the facts that they knew animals had emotions should read. Thank You Mr Masson.

Even if you don't really agree with all of the author's hypothesis about animals, it is still a good read. To those who DO care about animals, it won't give you that much information you didn't already know from the Discovery Channel or Nature on PBS. This book not only attacks speciesists (my word: those who discriminate against other species)but is an attack agianst the scientific meathod in general. In fact, that is the main theme of the book--scientists are elitists male stubborn snobs--the animals are just there to prove that point. Had he focused ENTIRELY on the animals and left his soapbox a little more often at home (were the attacks on Sea World REALLY necessary?), this book would have gotten a 10. Still, it is an important book in that it might help promote people to think for themselves and to be more concerned about animals as other beings, not just as "inhuman beasts"