I enjoyed this book, it was written with such understanding of animals and their influence on human behaviour, and how essential they are to keeping us well balanced and healthy.

A lovely and not to difficult read into how domestic animals came to be. Lets itself down a bit with repetition.

I think it must be very hard for academics and professional scientists to write books for a general audience that are interesting and engaging. That's the best explanation I can come up with for why this book is so dull. The subject is one that I'm very interested in. It's not one that will have tons of technical jargon or obscure technical concepts I can't follow.

Even so, it was dull. Could it have used some humor? Yes. Could the author have related it back to himself more? Yes. But I suspect that the problem is more fundamental -- the difficulty of writing for a popular audience.

The author anthrozoologist John Bradshaw breaks this heavily detailed book down into 11 chapters that focus on the human race's relationship as evolving with animals/ pets.

It speaks to our reactions to pets; ancient, modern and imaginary. It also speaks to some instinctual and genetic characteristics we may exhibit with pets.

In many cases the book generalizes about dogs. I found the section on health benefits of dog ownership ascribed to green space keenly interesting. As was the detailing on inbreeding and hybrids as well as usage of animals in relationship to therapies. This read also provided a multi cultural section that addresses ancient times as well as using animals as a food source.

This book is a well rounded read bridging domestic and the wild animals and our bond with them.

Excellent! Fascinating,through.
Review scheduled for publication date.