Scan barcode
A review by 11corvus11
Sentient: What Animals Reveal About Our Senses by Jackie Higgins
Did not finish book.
The callousness with which she discussed dissection and dismembering of each species without even mentioning the death that occurs between life and study harms the central thesis. How can you argue that other animals are so advanced and magnificent while also telling the reader they are merely objects to be taken apart? This is common in science books but this one is especially noticeable in how it discusses vivisection as if the animal just magically transformed into a happy clump of data.
I tried to push through but gave up when we got to the abuse and killing of owls. If you want to teach humans how wonderous other animals are, maybe consider the actual experiences and desires of the individual animals you're discussing, not just what pieces of their dead bodies look like under a microscope or how they act when their senses are mutilated and robbed from them. The only thing this book uses other animals to tell us about humans is to show how cruel we can be.
I tried to push through but gave up when we got to the abuse and killing of owls. If you want to teach humans how wonderous other animals are, maybe consider the actual experiences and desires of the individual animals you're discussing, not just what pieces of their dead bodies look like under a microscope or how they act when their senses are mutilated and robbed from them. The only thing this book uses other animals to tell us about humans is to show how cruel we can be.