When Elephants Weep

The Emotional Lives of Animals

By: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Susan McCarthy

Narrated by: David Ackroyd

Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

This engaging and authoritative portrait of animals' emotional lives is as groundbreaking as Darwin's Origin of Species in the facts and insights it presents about the animal kingdom. You'll meet an Indian elephant known for his facial expressions, a shy gorilla who is proficient in sign language and loves to play house with dolls, and an African grey parrot who, when left at the veterinarian's, cried, "Come here! I love you. I'm sorry. I want to go back." Animal lovers know that their dogs, cats, and birds have complex emotional lives, and now scientists have begun to chip away at this traditional scientific taboo.

©1995 Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy (P)1995 Dove Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A masterpiece, the most comprehensive and compelling argument for animal sensibility that I've ever seen." (Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs)

Very thought and emotional provoking!

I laughed, I cried, I thought deeply about things that I never considered to think of before. Definitely one of my favorites!

Enter the mind of another being

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Humans tend to be arrogant about their supposed superiority but this book shows how wrong this is. Animals other than humans are not dim robotic shadows of humans but worlds unto themselves.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There isn't a character. The authors are describing the mental lives that other species live.

Have you listened to any of David Ackroyd’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think so but he did very well.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I did.

Any additional comments?

If you think "man shall govern the beasts" or whatever the Bible says Wrong. The BibLe written by humans. Don't think anyone witnessed GOD guiding someone. Other species on this planet are just as important and entitled to their lives.

Animal Rights

Not as objective as I expected and would have liked. I am an animal lover and a dog owner but this book was way too biased and sentimental for me.

Beautiful book

Animals and all sentient beings deserve to live their life in peace. Human beings are not in anyway superior to any other being. In fact humans have a very long way to go to come close to the evolutionary status of animals.

Beautiful discussion on all emotions...

The book is a simple, straight forward look on where humans have viewed other animals historically, proof to point to not support and support the view, and how as a whole, animals feel. This will be a "well duh" but beautiful book for animal lovers. This may or may not challenge your view if you view humans as "top of the food chain" or to have "dominion over all animals". But it worth the quick read and shows real thought to subject.

Great perspective, but one thing stood out...

This audio is not identical to text in the book and skips over many portions.

Moderate

The book reads like a journal. It is not well written and lacks the the consistency from a “scholarly” perspective

If you already know animals have emotions..,

Don’t bother with this book. Anyone who has a pet or has compassion, already knows that animals have feelings and that they feel pain. This book graphically and horrifically describes animal abuse trying to persuade scientist that animals actually do have feelings. I wish someone could put these “scientists” through the same torture they put these animals through. Only then could we learn if scientists have feelings of pain and suffering.