Genre Archive : non-fiction
(Genres are usual for categorising stuff but apart from that they mean very little to me, so you might not agree with what I have listed where)
Clever dog
illus. by Jo van Kampen. I’ll admit that I’ve watched a fair amount of Cesar Milan and his dog whispering, […]
Posted on 27 April 2014 | By Fence | 2 responses
What makes this book so great
My first non-fiction book of 2014! And it is a book all about books. The best sort of book I […]
Posted on 10 April 2014 | By Fence | 3 responses
Rin Tin Tin
The life and legend of the world’s most famous dog While serving during World War I serviceman Lee Duncan came […]
Posted on 21 April 2012 | By Fence
The good, the bad and the multiplex
As a film critic Mark Kermode watches films. A lot of films. A whole lot of films, and he often […]
Posted on 22 January 2012 | By Fence
Obedience to authority
In the 1960s Stanley Milgram and his associates carried out a number of experiments on obedience. They were set-up a […]
Posted on 19 January 2012 | By Fence | 4 responses
Grave’s end
In 1982 Elaine Mercado and her family moved from an apartment into what they hoped would be their dream home. […]
Posted on 10 December 2011 | By Fence | 1 response
The Islandman
Translated from the Irish (An tOileánach) by Robin Flower Tomás Ó Criomhthain, or, if you’d prefer an anglicised version, Thomas […]
Posted on 1 December 2011 | By Fence
In defence of dogs
I watch The Dog Whisperer, and while I enjoy it I’m often put off by Milan’s insistence that the dog […]
Posted on 28 September 2011 | By Fence | 2 responses
The dogs of war
Received free from NetGalley. I’m a sucker for an animal story, especially a dog story, so although I thought this […]
Posted on 11 September 2011 | By Fence | 3 responses
The lost art of reading
It is strange, I’ve often come across media stories on the “decline” of reading as a result of modern technology. […]
Posted on 16 August 2011 | By Fence | 7 responses
The moral animal
What does the theory of evolution have to do with morals? Can it explain why we feel guilt or love? Or why men cheat?
Evolutionary psychology is an attempt to use evolution to explain why people are the way they are. The theory posits that the many many cultures have many items in common, these commanalities cannot be explained by conicidence alone, there must be some reason that humankind has developed these cultural norms. Wright, and other evolutionary psychologists would argue that as human beings evolved certain psychological traits were more conducive to an increase in descendents and therefore became the norm.
Posted on 9 August 2011 | By Fence | 1 response
The chimps of Fauna Sanctuary
A true story of resilience and recovery
In Fauna Sanctuary Gloria Grow rescues animals. There are dogs, horses, swans, a donkey, and of course the chimpanzees. Most were retired from research facilities where they were the subjects of medical research into Hepatitis, HIV, and the like. There are a few who were circus chimps. Some of them started life as pets, cute little chimps to dress up and play with, until they grew too big and strong and dangerous. Anyone who heard of Travis and his attack on Charla Nash knows that a chimp is not to be taken lightly. And yet people continue to try and keep them as domestic pets.
In this book Westoll spent a year working in the Fauna Sanctuary. He gets to know not only the people who work there but also the chimpanzees themselves, and their horrific lives spent as test subjects, being knocked out, biopsied, infected, and isolated.
