What Sheep Think About the Weather: How to Listen to What Animals Are Trying to Say

In this wide-ranging exploration, journalist and farmer Thomas (The Zoo on the Road to Nablus) sets out to discover how humans can better listen to animals. While some human-animal communications seem obvious—a dog wags its tail when it’s ready for a walk, a cat meows to be let inside or out—Thomas seeks to go deeper, wondering “what more do they say to us that we’re missing, and how can we learn to understand?” She looks to biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers, and animal trainers, as well as the dogs, horses, and piglets that roam her family farm in Nova Scotia. Readers learn about the intricacies of birdsong, variations in pig calls, and the many gestures chimpanzees use to communicate, as well as how to best play with a dog, train a falcon, and calm a horse (calm yourself first). Thomas’s passion and concern for animals comes through in vivid scenes and poignant prose that reveals the importance of understanding animals on their own terms (“I’ve learned that just as every tiny being is its own feeling, speaking someone, we are all simultaneously part of a greater uncut cloth”). It’s an inspiring display of empathy. (Nov.)