A tendentious but enjoyable book for dog lovers.
Prolific animal-studies author Masson (The Face On Your Plate: The Truth About Food, 2009, etc.) examines the unique bond between dogs and humans.
Based upon evidence that the relationship has existed for at least 40,000 years, the author suggests that it played a major part in a process of “mutual domestication,” the simultaneous evolution of primitive humans to Homo sapiens and of wolves to canines. According to Stanford anthropologist Richard Klein, writes the author, humans experienced a “sociocultural big bang” around 50,000 years ago, when “language, culture, and the ability to innovate” were suddenly put on “fast-forward,” and Masson believes that the two species were drawn together by a shared unique capacity for love. Now approaching 70, the author lives in a New Zealand beach house with his wife, two young sons, three cats and Benjy, the golden lab to whom this book is dedicated and whose antics provide its framework. Unquestionably, dogs are an important part of our lives and have been for millennia. More disputable is Masson’s claim that their relationship to stone-age man as guard dogs, hunting companions or even perhaps a manageable source of food was less important compared to the “far more profound…effect dogs had on our ability to feel love, affection, and friendship.” Equally controversial is his suggestion that dogs are superior to chimpanzees, parrots and dolphins in understanding human language. The author is more even-handed in his consideration of the possibility that seeing-eye, narcotics-sniffing and rescue dogs may not understand the purpose of their actions they’ve been trained to perform, while acknowledging the benefits of their spontaneous companionship to the handicapped, the sick and the elderly.
A tendentious but enjoyable book for dog lovers.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-177109-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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