On Animals
Written by Susan Orlean
Narrated by Susan Orlean
4/5
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About this audiobook
“Magnificent.” —The New York Times * “Beguiling, observant, and howlingly funny.” —San Francisco Chronicle * “Spectacular.” —Star Tribune (Minneapolis) * “Full of astonishments.” —The Boston Globe
Susan Orlean—the beloved New Yorker staff writer hailed as “a national treasure” by The Washington Post and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Library Book—gathers a lifetime of musings, meditations, and in-depth profiles about animals.
“How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she’s been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career.
These stories consider a range of creatures—the household pets we dote on, the animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, the creatures who could eat us for dinner, the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with who are central to human life. In her own backyard, Orlean discovers the delights of keeping chickens. In a different backyard, in New Jersey, she meets a woman who has twenty-three pet tigers—something none of her neighbors knew about until one of the tigers escapes. In Iceland, the world’s most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free; in Morocco, the world’s hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic. We meet a show dog and a lost dog and a pigeon who knows exactly how to get home.
Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by Orlean’s stylish prose and precise research, these stories celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.
Editor's Note
Animal-human connections…
Orlean has taken readers on deep dives into the intriguing worlds of everything from orchids to libraries to Saturday nights. Now she turns her curious gaze on animals. As long as we’ve shared the planet with animals, they’ve been our dinner, our companions, our employees, and more. In this fascinating collection, the treasured raconteur travels from backyards to the backcountry uncovering compelling animal-human connections.
Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. She lives with her family and her animals in Los Angeles and may be reached at SusanOrlean.com and on Twitter @SusanOrlean.
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Reviews for On Animals
58 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Someone should tell this author not to read her own books - terrible! I quit listening just because her voice was so irritating! Please no more!
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A love letter to animals. A collection of essays related to animals and their role in the lives of humans. Susan Orlean is a brilliant journalist and a great writer. She incorporates her own experiences and observations with historically relevant information. I enjoyed the audiobook narration very much. The book reads like a documentary. Highly recommend for animals lovers
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Terrible reading voice... super blecch. Very, very difficult to get through as a result. The snide audio delivery full of vocal fry was a huge disservice to animals everywhere.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Could not listen to her voice, so sorry to say.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the book for you if you love animals. Not only pets but all kinds of animals
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I absolutely loved this book! As a reluctant animal lover, this book hit all the right notes.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loved the stories! Most so humourous & liked Susan's voice. I also liked the insight into New England life.