I was nearly finished with this book – on page 168 of 204 – when I read the following: “All of my cows mooed, some more than others, and the females were generally more vocal than the males. It wasn't until the third season that I could say this with some confidence because it wasn't until then that I had enough males and females to observe. The boys were more physical, but the girls were more vocal. A BIT LIKE HUMANS, I GUESS.” (Emphasis added by me).

As women, many of you reading this review will understand what it is like to constantly be confronted with this sort of thing. Even in environments that are not overwhelmingly toxic these unconscious biases frequently pop up, and it’s incredibly old. It’s unfathomable that we are now in the 21st century and grown men – and sometimes women – still say things like this. That it was a supposed man of science in this case was just tiresome.

Multiple studies have actually been conducted to determine whether women are more vocal. And while the results vary somewhat across demographics, and context does play a part, the result of every single one of them was that men and women speak roughly equal numbers of words on any given day. As a matter of interest, would anyone care to guess which demographic, of all those tested, spoke the most throughout the day? I’ll save you the effort of guessing; it was middle-aged men. And would anyone like to hazard a guess as to which demographic the author falls into?

Glass houses, and all that.

My personal experience suggests that the assumption that men are more physical is just as inaccurate.

The book was fine, if dry. I expected a heartwarming tale of a man’s bond with an affectionate cow, and this wasn’t much of that. It was far more scientific. But to be fair it contained a lot of fascinating information on cows. It’s not only well-written, it’s interesting, and I was actually enjoying it until I got to this line that the author clearly felt was an offhand aside. I didn’t love the book, but I did like it, and with that one thoughtless moment my whole experience of the book was soured.

Which will probably be absolutely unimportant to both the publisher and the author.

To be clear I’m not offended by this sentence; I’m exhausted by it. I am not accusing the author of misogyny. I know little about him except that he is a neuroscientist who appears to like animals and is definitely a proponent for the ethical treatment of animals, and their use as therapy companions, both of which actually count for a lot in my book (no pun intended). While I think the author could stand to think before he “speaks”, I don’t think he’s a terrible person or a terrible scientist. But because of page 168 I was curious enough to look into him, and I found some details that were particularly interesting under the circumstances.

Author Gregory Berns authored another book on iconoclasts in which he investigated people who departed from traditional ways of doing things to reach significant levels of success in their field. He argues that they were able to do this by overcoming the natural fear of failure and barriers in perception, and by having higher than average social skills, social intelligence, and social networking skills. Now, I haven’t read the book and don’t plan to. But in full transparency, I will admit that I find the theory questionable. And highly ironic under the circumstances.

It’s hardly unusual for scientists to have incomplete or entrenched views of the world or even their own fields, so none of this is surprising. But it absolutely is tedious, not to mention prosaic. Is it really that difficult to write a book about cows without allowing latent sexism to creep in? Isn’t it far past time for us to take responsibility for ensuring that we confront and overcome these biases?

If you want to learn about cows, this book is a pretty decent way to do it. But maybe skip page 168. If you’re lucky maybe they’ll even edit that sentence out of the final version and it won’t ruin your experience of the book.

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and am leaving a voluntary review.

I adored Cowpuppy and the awareness of cows that it brought. They're such smarter animals than we give them credit for and learning more about how they feel, communicate, and live was an enriching experience.

I LOVE animals and have recently taken an interest in cows since becoming vegan and also after becoming more involved with a local farm animal sanctuary. I also love science, and biology in particular. I expected to love Cowpuppy by Gregory Berns, but it just got way too into the nitty gritty of cow brains and it didn't hold my interest. I was hoping it would be more narrative nonfiction, but it's really not. It's very slow-going and not what I was expecting.