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"Graceful prose makes this an excellent introduction to the examination of animal minds." "...a passionate and persuasive argument for vegetarianism on both humanitarian and environmental grounds." "Jonathan Balcombe is a rare being, a scientist who has escaped the narrow orthodoxies of institutional science, an intelligent human being who is more than ready to recognize intelligences of other kinds, an intuitive and empathetic observer who nevertheless does not abandon the highest standards of intellectual inquiry." "If you care at all about animals, this book is a must-read. Balcombe's previous book has already become a classic, and this one will astonish and fascinate you, and will leave you a wiser and more compassionate person. I wish I could have read this book twenty years ago. It would have changed my life. Maybe it will change yours." "A fascinating and dazzling array of accounts of animal thought and feeling drawn from both science and careful naturalistic observations. Balcombe is incapable of writing a boring paragraph. A wonderful book that I recommend to everyone with any interest in animals or their well-being." "Alive with gems, both blunt and persuasive, Second Nature will topple any illusion that we humans are the king of the species hill. Dr. Balcombe's well-researched book makes the case that we are all important players in the great orchestra of life and that when humans stop looking down on all the other musicians just because their instrument isn't the same one we play, the result will be sweet music indeed." "Second Nature's rich treatment of animal awareness, cognition, emotion, and perception, and virtue provides the foundation for Balcombe's powerful core argument — that we humans can do better, that we must do better, by the other inhabitants of Planet Earth."
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