Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good

by Jonathan Balcombe

Dr. Balcombe convincingly argues that animals are individual beings with a wide range of emotions and feeling. If he is correct ? and I believe he is ? it follows that we must grapple with the ethical consequences of his important insights.
?Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO, The Humane Society of the United States

Pleasurable Kingdom is a love affair with our fellow beings. Balcombe tempts us to consider, more open-mindedly than ever before, the experiences of animals in more ways than traditional science has yet acknowledged, perhaps even imagined.
?Professor Jaak Panksepp, Author, Affective Neuroscience

I predicted, in When Elephants Weep, that in ten years better scientists would write better books about the depth of feelings in animals. Well, that time has come, and here is that book.
?Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Author, When Elephants Weep

This impressive book takes the reader on a journey of scientific knowledge and understanding into the inner lives of others, from mice to monkeys and fish to fowl ? even insects and worms ? that inspires respect and appreciation for all creatures great and small. Dr. Balcombe's book should be a standard text for students of biology and behaviour. All who care for animals will be informed and inspired.
?Michael W. Fox, Veterinarian, columnist, author

For centuries humanity has justified our extermination of fishes with the myth that they do not have feelings or intelligence. Jonathan Balcombe exposes this myth and presents fishes, with other animals, as sensitive, social, feeling, marvelous sentient beings.
?Captain Paul Watson, founder of Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

In Pleasurable Kingdom, Balcombe draws together an extraordinary amount of information to help us to appreciate that we are not the only species that can, if all goes well, live joyful lives.
?Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, USA


Abstract
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.

Contents
Why Animal Pleasure
Survival of the Happiest: The Adaptive Basis for Pleasure
Forbidden Pleasures: Our Reluctance to Acknowledge Animal Pleasure
Feeling Smart: The Intelligence of Pleasure
What Animal Pleasure
Play: Fun for Its Own Sake
Food: The Pleasures of Sustenance
Sex: Procreation and Recreation
Touch: Making Contact with Pleasure
Love: The Ripening Warmth of Intimacy
Other Pleasures: Esthetics, Humor and Beyond
From Flies to Fish: At the Margins of Pleasure
From Animal Pleasure
Feeling Good, Doing Good: Implications of a Pleasurable Kingdom

Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good
(Macmillan, May 2006) ISBN: 1403986010

Source: Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good
Author: Jonathan Balcombe

Link: Do animals have emotions? Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle
Link: New Book Explores Animal Emotions


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