Reviews

The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death and Happiness by Mark Rowlands

afonsob's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

The story of a philosopher and his pet wolf, literally. Not many books give me chills when I finish them. The author tells the story of his and Brenin’s (the wolf) life together, from the moment he saw an ad for wolf pups on the classifieds page of an Alabama paper to about 10 years later, after Brenin’s death. While telling us about the challenges and joys of having a pet wolf and being an anti-social drunkard (by his own admission), the author explores several topics in philosophy, including animal rights, the nature of friendship and love, the meaning of life through an existentialist lens, and the meaning of death, all in an effort to understand this non-human animal he’s come to love more than anything else in life. It’s a very moving read. The author makes us feel like we are living his and Brenin’s life with them which makes Brenin’s death feel more intense one thousandfold. I’ll change the rating to 5 stars in a few months if I still think about this book then.

poachedeggs's review against another edition

4.0

An accessible 'beginner's philosophy'-type book (much better than Sophie's World), revolving around the life and times of a wonderful wolf, Brenin, with his owner, Mark Rowlands himself.

Quite unlike schmaltzy books about animals that romanticise man's relationship with their pets and encourage you to run out to get a dog/hamster/rabbit/iguana immediately, Rowlands's memoir actually makes its reader feel quite unequal to the task of managing the intense relationship between a human and an animal that the latter deserves in any domesticated situation.

I was quite uncomfortable with the man=ape=simian argument, but I need to think through that a lot more...

I wonder if I am going to surprise myself one of these days by becoming vegetarian.

[The edition I read, which is published by Granta, is pretty awful though. The copy editor had not spotted a few glaring errors - e.g. 'gave him a wide birth' and 'I did not have clue' (argh!). The phrase 'consisted in' was also used several times, which threw me off - is this particular to the U.K.? I can't trust internet sources nowadays.)

hannasandmann's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

2.5

This book depicted the connection between the author and the wolf beautifully and the philosophical insights were super interesting.

But here is the reason for major point deduction:
I was especially looking forward to reading this book and seeing the merge of philosophy and biology/ecology. However, that was not what happened. Biological statements were just dropped as facts and reletavised with the usual "some studies say this and some say that" without any citations, which is a detrimental way of dealing with science. Unfortunately, this makes the author look not just a little arrogant. 
Also,

the way Mark Rowlands acquired the wolf is deeply problematic in my eyes

but he reletavises that as well, which is a pity, because adressing it properly would not have diminished the value of the book in the slightest. 

kaayleigh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective

3.0

pgfreire's review against another edition

5.0

Loved every bit of it. The story of a young philosopher and what he learned from his wolf: the social contract and our primate origins. Kind of reminds me of Desmond Morris and how looking at animals helps us understand ourselves.

blueyorkie's review against another edition

3.0

This work is a charming love story between a young philosophy professor and a wolf. This teacher will learn a lot from his wolf, and through their lives report, the author engages in a philosophical reflection. There are heartbreaking pages at the end of the book when the old wolf is first very ill, and his master has forced him to sting him; this book will appeal to anyone who enjoys philosophical thinking and loves animals.

kommatator's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident

shanas's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

cjcurtis's review against another edition

2.0

I'm vacillating between two and three stars on this one, but I think I'll end up with two. There were times, especially in the first half of the book, when Rowland's philosophical musings seemed insightful and original, and his anecdotes about his wolf were interesting and seemed to have a point. But the further along I got, the less focused the book felt. More importantly, I quickly tired of hearing about how crappy "simians" (apes and people) are compared to wolves. Rowland makes valid points, but avoids -- more and more conspicuously -- taking note of almost anything good about humanity. Later in the book, he admits to being a "misanthrope," so I guess that explains the antipathy, but it also explains what is wrong with the book: all of his thinking boils down to a distaste for people, coupled (sometimes rather awkwardly) with an almost blind adoration for wolves (and a sort of condescending indulgence of dogs). That's his prerogative, but a book can only be so good when that's all it has to go on. By the end of this one, it seems pretty clear that Rowland has realized he doesn't have much of a point to make, and the writing gets more and more repetitive as he attempts to delay the ending long enough to find one.

So, for people who love wolves and/or dislike humans, it probably serves well as a sort of affirmation of the reader's feelings. For anyone interested in the "Philosopher" part of the title, I think you are bound for disappointment.

hubirdy97's review against another edition

4.0

Rowlands meditates on the relationship he formed and nurtured with a wolf he bought - Brenin - when he was living in the United States, from which he draws many philosophical lessons on life (and it’s impossible to remember all of them unless you study it in detail, but surely reason enough to reread it and internalise his philosophical musings). My favourite of which would be his references to Nietzsche and our simian inability to appreciate the completeness of every moment in itself because of our capacity to consider the past and project into the future - both of these, therefore, influencing how we undergo and experience the present. He also makes a compelling argument about humility and how humans are not all that superior to animals by considering different types of intelligence. All in all, this was a cogent and enthralling read which I definitely will come back to again.