Given how much time I spend trying to communicate with my animals, What Sheep Think About the Weather appeared to be the ideal book for me. The blurb promises ideas and techniques to understand animals better, to see things from their point of view. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the advance copy, and to Amelia Thomas for writing it. It was published on Thursday.
What Sheep Think About the Weather
by Amelia Thomas
Are animals trying to tell us something—and have we been too distracted to notice?
It started with a hummingbird dive-bombing Amelia Thomas over her morning coffee, and a pair of piglets who just wouldn’t stay put. Soon Amelia, journalist and new farmer, begins to question the communications of the creatures all around her pigs, her dogs, the pheasant family inhabiting her wood, her ‘difficult’ big red even the earwigs in the farm’s dark, damp corners. Are they all just animals reacting instinctually to the world around them—or are they trying to communicate something deeper?
Driven by lifelong curiosity, Amelia embarks on a journey to uncover what animals truly seek to say to humans. On the way, along with ground-breaking chimps and circumspect octopuses, she’ll meet an extraordinary cast of experts, from animal behaviorists and anthrozoologists to trackers and psychologists, and even explore the surprising insights of pet psychics, A.I. researchers, and animal mindfulness practitioners. Each perspective offers a new layer of understanding about the subtle, complex ways animals connect with us—and will deepen our appreciation for every creature with whom we share our planet.
In What Sheep Think About the Weather, Amelia chronicles her sometimes difficult discoveries with humor, heart, and awe. More than just a memoir, this book is a call to listen—not only to the animals we love but to the untamed world around us. What if the answers to some of humanity’s greatest questions have been whispered to us all along?
My Review
I’ve embarked on several books this year where a journalist delves deeper into things that interest her – plants, meteorites, and another I’ve forgotten. This was just as well researched, slightly more credible than one, and less repetitive than another, and more inspirational than any of them.
The author has swapped city life for a small holding. Along with the many animals that she brought with her, there are a raft of local inhabitants to study. So Ms Thomas takes us with her on her journey to understand what they are trying to say to us, and how we can communicate with them.
What a rich research field! There seem to be thousands of scientists studying every type of animal you can think of. This stretches back not only to the days of Natural Philosophy (1700s) but to the Greek and Roman historians. The exploration of the subject starts with a philosophical discussion of the semantics: what does ‘talk’ mean when communicating with animals? Among the many animal communications considered are cockroaches, earwigs (definitely have differing personalities between individuals), prairie dogs, octopuses, cetaceans, parrots, pigs, and of course, dogs.
guinea pigs
It is engagingly written, not least because of the way the author applies the lessons learnt from her discussions with the scientists. This made me realise that at one point, I probably did understand quite well what my guinea pigs were trying to communicate. I may have got worse because I don’t sit and watch them like I used to watch Fred and George. Also, I make more assumptions instead of really listening to what they are trying to tell me. This is one of the lessons learnt from the book: animals do not communicate in exactly the same ways as others in their own species. Similar, but the messages may be different. Personality plays a part. As does emptying your mind to really listen, to be one with your surroundings.
This is an excellent account of communication for a layman, with something to engage anyone who hopes to understand the animals in their lives more effectively.
And the final 10% are the references and index. Full marks.
Sounds interesting. I’m not a pet person, but interact with enough of them to know that dogs, at least, communicate a lot (cats seem pretty indifferent to the people around them, but they do communicate clearly when they want food). All of us who backpack in bear country pay attention to the things their body language might communicate (even if we never get close enough to one to know). Ditto the large ungulates. I never thought about earwigs having personalities, though!