About Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals

Does living with a pet really make people happier and healthier? What do we make of the fact that in 1933 the Nazi party enacted the world’s most progressive animal protection legislation? Why can a puppy be regarded as a family member in Kansas, a pariah in Kenya, and lunch in South Korea? Who enjoyed a better quality of life—the chicken on a dinner plate or the rooster who dies in a Saturday-night cockfight? What can we really learn from experiments on mice? 

Drawing on more than two decades of research in the emerging field of anthrozoology, the new science of human–animal relations, Hal Herzog offers surprising answers to these and other questions related to the moral conundrums we face day in and day out regarding the creatures with whom we share our world.

Alternately poignant, challenging, and laugh-out-loud funny, this enlightening and provocative book will forever change the way we look at our relationships with other creatures and, ultimately, how we see ourselves.

“A fascinating, thoughtful, and thoroughly enjoyable exploration of a major dimension of human experience.”

– Steven Pinker, Harvard University, author of How the Mind Works

“Reminiscent of Freakonomics… an agreeable guide to popular avenues of inquiry into anthrozoology.”

The New Yorker

“An instant classic…A smart and provocative book that is also a quick and enjoyable read.”

– Arnold Arluke, author of Beauty and the Beast

“Herzog does for our relationships with animals what Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma did for our relationship with food…This book is a joy to read.”

– Sam Gosling, author of Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

“Everybody who is interested in the ethics of the relationships between humans and animals should read this book.”

– Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make Us Human

“A page turner that puts Herzog in the same class as Malcolm Gladwell.”

BookPage