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Beastly

A New History of Animals and Us

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Beastly

By: Keggie Carew
Narrated by: Pippa Haywood
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES, WATERSTONES AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE
A NEX BIG IDEA CLUB MUST READ

In a Polish forest a young woman befriends a boar. An Englishman sets up home with two beavers in Saskatchewan. A zoologist watches a fish make a conscious decision. Darwin finds the evidence for evolution in the backyards of pigeon fanciers. The entire population of Croatia anxiously awaits the arrival of a single stork.

Animals have shaped our lives, our land, our civilisation, and they will shape our future. Yet as our impact on the world and the animals we share it with increases, there has never been a greater urgency to understand this foundational relationship.

Beastly is the 40,000-year story of animals and humans as it has never been captured before, seen eye-to-eye and claw-to-hand through those humans who have stepped into the myriad worlds of our animal relatives. Our relationship with animals has always been paradoxical, but the greatest paradox may yet be this: diversity of life can heal ecosystems. Animals – if given the chance – could save us.

 Animals Biological Sciences Environment Outdoors & Nature Science Conservation Ecosystem
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Critic reviews

"A dazzling examination of our contradictory attitudes towards the creatures with whom we share the planet . . . [A] fantastic, heartfelt history of human-animal relations"
"[A] heartfelt account of the environmental catastrophe . . . Beastly is a clarion call for the humbler notion that every bit of nature matters"
"A positive, information-packed read about reconnecting with our wild world"
"Gorgeous, joyous, sobering. Carew has a jaunty, alluring style of writing, a caustic sense of humour and a gift when it comes to delivering hefty information with lightness and wit . . . This book is the product of years of rigorous work and boundless devotion"
"Reading Beastly is a little like padding, barefoot, through a forest . . . Heartfelt"
"What a wonderful and unexpected book. The very opposite of beastly: heavenly and amazing, powerful and affecting, a beloved and very fine teller of tales reminds us how small we are in the face of a nature that we neither understand nor wish to respect or, in any real sense, live with" (PHILIPPE SANDS)
"A brilliant and insightful selection of revealing stories about our complicated relationship with other animals, told with Carew's uniquely smart and stylish verve. A hugely enjoyable, thought-provoking book" (GAIA VINCE)
"Many stories linger after reading Beastly: a polyphony in which tale after tale accumulates . . . The book is exhilaratingly busy with ideas . . . A cunningly structured book"
"Full of necessary rage, joy and passion: BEASTLY should be mandatory reading for all humans" (CLAIRE FULLER)
"

Emblazoned on the imagination, written with empathy and enrapturement . . . It is a wonderful book and what it does well is to make you snort and honk in laughter, woop at animal tenacity and make you cry for our aching
world — summoning your snivelling, animal, mammal self

"
All stars
Most relevant
A wide ranging journey through the story of the interactions between humans and animals.
A fantastic and sometimes uncomfortable listen that highlights the best and worst of us.

Sometimes shocking and always interesting.

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A fascinating, freewheeling and polemical romp through humans’ relationship with nature. Packed with fascinating vignettes (e.g Stellers Seacow and a leopard’s river crossing). But I found the lack of structure a little frustrating at times and some of the material eg relating to Darwin is a bit too well worn.

Fascinating, Freewheeling and Polemical

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I enjoyed and learned from every chapter.
Pippa Haywood reading performance enhanced the content. Highly recommended.

Best book of my year

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I enjoyed hearing this book enormously. I intend to replay it, possibly several times more.

superb book

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she knows exactly what is wrong with the world and our relationship with nature. 10/10 no notes

Sad at times but inspirational overall

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