Overview

Ever glanced at your cat and wondered if they were plotting something? Or passed a car and thought it seemed ‘friendly’, ‘surprised’ or ‘angry’ depending on the shape of its headlights? 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, humorous 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 an eye-opening journey through the strange world of anthropomorphism and explores what it reveals about this weird and wonderful bias within us all.

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9780861549825

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Reviews

'Everyone who is interested in both human and animal behavior will love this book. Justin Gregg uses interesting stories to explain anthropomorphism.'―Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation 'Going beyond a delightful explanation of why we dress our dogs in cute costumes, this is an engaging and timely investigation of how we interact with technology, politics and religion through a unique narrativizing lens – demonstrating that what makes us human is what we see as human-ish.'―Adam Aleksic, author of Algospeak 'Humanish is at once a riveting read and a breath of fresh air. Justin Gregg opens our senses and our hearts to nature’s whims and to the other beings with whom we share our one and only planet. Identifying with them is a win-win for all.""―Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals

Author Information

Dr Justin Gregg is a Senior Research Associate with the Dolphin Communication Project and an Adjunct Professor at St. Francis Xavier University where he lectures on animal behaviour and cognition. He is the author of If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal, a Waterstones and Times book of the year. He currently lives in rural Nova Scotia where he writes about science and contemplates the inner lives of the crows that live near his home.

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