Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good
Animal pain and stress, once controversial, are now acknowledged by legislation in many countries, but there is no formal recognition of animals' ability to feel pleasure. Pleasurable Kingdom is the first book for lay-readers to present new evidence that animals — like humans — enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival and the avoidance of pain.

Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to baboons feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe proposes that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society... MORE

The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, & Recommendations

Click here for a PDF file of the entire book.

The Use of Animals in Higher Education is well-researched and annotated and international in scope, with a primary focus on the US. It addresses secondary education as strongly as higher education, with quite a focus on elementary education as well.

After reading it, one is left wondering how the practice of dissection, in particular, has survived in our schools for this long. Every possible justification for dissection is held up, examined and found to be fatally flawed. Objections to dissection are also detailed, some that many may have never considered before, such as the dangers of formaldehyde exposure. The author points out that one school, at least, is now well aware of that danger: Mt. Saint Mary College, New York was fined $20,000 for various violations of OSHA standards, including exposing employees to formaldehyde and infectious substances.

Of course, the primary objections to dissection remain: 1) the way animals are obtained and how they are killed, the lack of educational justification for these deaths and, in the case of wildlife, the impact on the environment; and 2) the effect that dissection has on the students' values and reverence for life, their attitudes toward biological studies and their career choices.

For me, the most poignant section was that describing "procurement and animal suffering." The description of the animal suffering at Carolina Biological Supply Company was particularly disturbing and disheartening. Replacements for dissection are now plentiful, as the author makes clear, and being used successfully. Studies comparing student achievement show that students using these replacements score as high or higher than those learning via dissection, with only one dissenting study.

Also powerful is a look at the sociological issues, especially germane when schools need to be doing all that they can to send the message that compassion and kindness matter in today's world. It is time to get rid of the "die section" at schools.

Dissection is not the sole focus of this book. Also addressed are replacement alternatives to the use of live animals in education. The author cites the successful use of alternatives in all levels of education, including veterinary schools and medical schools. Many readers will be surprised to learn that about half of all the 126 U.S. medical schools — including such prestigious institutions as Mayo, Harvard, Columbia, and Yale — now have no live-animal laboratories.

There is also good information in the book regarding the use of animals in elementary and secondary education, including a look at science fairs and laws and policies.

–as reviewed by Patty Finch, Amazon.com