Book Description
A delightful treasury of observations and insights into the lives of all sorts of creatures -- from jackdaws and water-shrews to dogs, cats and even wolves -- this is a wonderfully written introduction to the world of our furred and feathered friends! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Reader's review
I had the very good fortune to meet Konrad Lorenz at Duke University in 1961. He was arguably the best student of animal behaviour in the 20th century and along with his students led his field to new heights. The book has popular appeal is highly instructive and is filled with humour. If nothing else everybody - and I mean everybody! - should read the chapter on laughing at (really with) animals. May he rest in peace.

A charming book...humourous, yet to the point
Konrad Lorenz, though I've never heard of him, captivated me from the first page. He relates himself to King Solomon, who talked to animals through the use of a magic ring. From there on, he goes to explain animals and their behaviour, how it has affected him, and the passion and joy they can bring into one's life.
His description of animal behaviour is also not solely for scientists. In fact, it is Lorenz's language that is the most astounding. He is able to convey all the complex ideas of animals behaviour into simple terms which all readers can understand.
This is a great book for everyone, willed with passion by a man who loved who and what he was.

A charming book...humourous, yet to the point
Konrad Lorenz, though I've never heard of him, captivated me from the first page. He relates himself to King Solomon, who talked to animals through the use of a magic ring. From there on, he goes to explain animals and their behaviour, how it has affected him, and the passion and joy they can bring into one's life.
His description of animal behaviour is also not solely for scientists. In fact, it is Lorenz's language that is the most astounding. He is able to convey all the complex ideas of animals behaviour into simple terms which all readers can understand.
This is a great book for everyone, filled with passion by a man who loved who and what he was.

A beautiful book for all who love nature
Confession - I'd never heard of Konrad Lorenz (even though he won the Nobel Prize in 1973), and I don't usually read books by Naturalists.

I was driving between business meetings during the day, when I happened to tune in to BBC Radio 4 (same as National Public Radio in the USA), and by accident caught a book reading of Chapter 10 regarding Dogs. Then on another day I caught Chapter 11 on Birds. Captivated, I actually pulled over so that I could hear the whole chapter & find out what the book was and who the Author was.

Then I ordered the book as a treat to myself for Christmas.

Fantastic!With some abridging 'on the fly', this book could even be read to/by a younger audience say down to 8 years old, who would enjoy, laugh & cry at some of the stories contained herein.

I wish my science teacher had read this to me when I was 8, rather than do some silly experiments with boring pond life (Chapter 2 would have taught me more about Pond Life)!

A must have book for everyone, anyone.
A rare 5 stars for this one, simply delightful, a joy to read. Lorenz is so full of love for his craft, yes I say craft because that is the way he treats his study of animal behaviour. Not an average scientist but rather somehow he has that rare ability to both love his work and be able to write about it to a lay audience with wonderful wit, charm, wisdom and grace. He's a little like Adolf Portmann except with more humour but the same love.

I mentioned that he writes this book for lay readers, not scientists, and unlike the contemporary crowd, who often write in a more condescending way he manages to get across the animals and their complex behaviour without ever at any stage making the reader think himself inadequate to the task. He writes as a human being experiencing the wonders of the natural world and does not artificially reduce it to ashes and leache the life out of it as others do. Here he actually makes people want to become naturalists or biologists. There is no finer writer in the sciences.

In the book, a little tome of 190 pages, he discusses a whole range of animals he studies notably, often from his own home where he keeps an entire managerie of ducks, geese, jackdaws, parrots, dogs, hamsters, water shrews etc etc. The whole house is alive with the raucous cries and crazy comings and goings of his companions. He gives much to the reader such as how to manage an aquarium properly, how to look after animals correctly so their lives are well lived and the book is chocka-block full of animal tales. The kind of tales myths and legends are grown from. I mean that the tales are often so remarkable, e.g. the intelligence shown by his pet raven or the story of two men carrying a canoe followed by several goslings, a large red dog and some ducklings. Its droll and humouress and full of joy. And, in it all the way through are his wondrous drawings portraying everything he tells of in the book.

A must have book for everyone, anyone. ... Read more

Book Description
In this wonderful book, the famous scientist and best-selling author, Konrad Lorenz, "the man who talked with animals," enlightens and entertains us with his illustrated account of the unique relationship between humans and their pets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

dad of the ethology
Sometimes people think they know everything about animal behavior just because they are behaviorist. I am an animal behaviorist and worked for 5 years. Trust me you will learn so many things about dogs in this book. Konrad Lorenz is the dad of the ethology, he learned so much just by observing his own dogs all his life. In this book, he is telling you stories, you will meet Stacy the most intelligent dog in his life, Wolf the most feared in the dogs' world, you will learn what happens when too dogs meet each other, the difference between wolf and jackal, how men meet dog at the very beginning....
In every case, you will never be disappointed by Konrad Lorenz.

It could easily have been titled Man's Best Friend
I found the book hugely entertaining and thought provoking, so much so I have embarked on my own scientific investigations with the family pet. I had already come across Konrad Lorenz and his famous work on geese whilst at University. I was intrigued at the thought of reviewing some of his insights in a more readable fashion, and from the first page onwards I was thoroughly entranced. Definitely an "Everyman" book.

Great book every dog lover/owner should have and read
Mr. "Kelley" hasn't read or understood the book and certainly doesn't know much about dogs or training. If he'd checked he might have noticed the first edition was in 1953 and based on research/observations going back to the 1920's. Dogs as 'pets' are a new concept. Until fairly recently dogs were strong, aggressive working animals used for herding, hunting, police, military use. I suggest Mr. "Kelley" look at training manuals from those days.He will see that trainers used a lead with a three foot length of dowling rod attached to hold the dog off of them during training. Not because the dog was vicious, simply because it was known and accepted that they were attempting to train a big tough carnivore (not a lap dog) and it only made sense to take reasonable precautions.I've talked to breeders and trainers who've had to separate some big (150+) pound males by beating them apart with shovels. Extreme? Well, the fire hose didn't work and that was a last resort. It managed to distract the dogs long enough to separate them. It turned out someone had brought a female in season into an area that was clearly marked as off limits to intact females. A cursory look at my copy (Penguin Books reprint 1988) shows two "beatings": p22:". . .a dingo . . .his manner changed entirely when he was about one and a half years olf: he still accepted every form of punishment, even a beating, without resistance, but, as soon as the business was over, he shook himself, gave a friendly wag of his tail and ran off, inviting me to chase him." p. 100: ". . . activities were thus to be interpreted: 'Dear Master, Please do not be cross, but, for the moment I much regret to say, I am quite unable to let go of this dirty dog, even if you should think fit to punish me later with a wacking or---as God forbid---at this instant with a bucket of cold water'" In the first instance it doesn't appear the Dingo was terribly impressed with the 'beating' and in the second, it was entirely hypothetical, used to described the meaning behind a dogs body language. However on page 70 he describes his disgust with a person carrying a whip to use on his dog and on page 77 when his 6 year old daughter is caught between two dogs fighting he merely separated the dogs to rescue his daughter. No 'beatings' and the dogs weren't killed as they probably would be in these more "enlightened" times. IF Mr. Kelley had read this book he would have seen that Konrad Lorenz had a tremendous amount of sympathy and love for all animals.True, many of his ideas, especially about evolution, are dated. But all science is provisional and old ideas are superceded with new information. Lorenz's observations, compassion and love for all animals and especially dogs has not been superceded. Suggested reading: Adam's Task by Vicki Hearne Bandit: Dossier of a Dangerous Dog by Vicki Hearne King Solomon's Ring by Konrad Lorenz The Canine Good Citizen: Every Dog Can Be One, Second Edition by Jack Volhard and Wendy Volhard Kinship with all life by J. Allen Boone The Body language and emotion of dogs by Myrna M. Milani DVM The Domestic Dog: it's evolution, behavior and interactions with people edited by James Serpell Behavior Problems in Dogs by William E. Campbell

My oldtime favorite
As a huge doglover I read this book when I was 14 year old, and I loved it. Its an easy read, entertaining, educational, and encouraging to read more about animal behaviour. I recommend it for anybody who would love to learn basics in dog behaviour.

Mean Beats Dog - A Nazi's View of Dog Training
There are some very interesting observations here about dogs. And I mean just plain old, everyday descriptions of behavior, sans interpretative input. Two intact males meet on a street corner, for instance, and there's instant tension. They sniff and circle, and the tension seems to build. Then they inexplicably turn their backs on one another, go to opposite corners, and leave their "mark". An excellent example of urine-marking as a way of reducing internal stress, nothing more. And although Lorenz doesn't categorize it as I have, his description tells it all. I really enjoyed several such narrative passages, but quickly grew weary of his silly, fantasy-like theories of the dog's origins. And frankly, after he kept mentioning, in a very sanguine manner, how he'd routinely beat his dog for minor infractions, I had to quit reading.(Ever since the time I broke a lamp with an original hardcover copy of HOW TO BE YOUR DOG'S BEST FRIEND by the Monks of New Skete, my dog gets nervous if I start throwing books around.)

Oh, and nowhere does Lorenz mention his Nazi Party days, or his gung-ho attitude about wanting to help Adolph Hitler wipe out all Jews, Poles, and Gypsies, from the face of the earth, which is just one of many Lorenzian ideas about biology that have been discredited in the last sixty years or so (his second biggest is the myth of the alpha dog). But I digress. This book is supposed to be only about canine behavior, training, and origins--not eugenics.

One star. (I'd give it less, just for all the casual beatings, but Amazon doesn't allow it.) ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
Hugely controversial on publication, this is an insightful and characteristically entertaining survey of animal behavior and the evolution of aggression throughout the animal world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

vast amount of thinking and experience went into it
A lifetime of thinking, research, and observation clearly went into creating this marvelous book.I like it when someone clearly cares about what he's doing, engrosses himself in his work, possibly to the point of obsession.This may well describe Lorenz and this classic book, who defends Darwin and to some degree Freud, among others.Not just about his first hand observations of animals and his interpretation of their behavior, the book extends its scope to include philosophy and history, especially the evolutionary underpinnings of human history.It is rich in detail and very well written.A must read for anyone who cares about the past and future of living things on this planet.Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

We are the missing link
For K. Lorenz, `conflict is the father of all things', and aggression is one of the four big conflicting drives in living beings, together with hunger, sex (love) and flight (fear, escape).
Like everything else in life, aggression was molded by natural selection and mutation. It is the fighting instinct which is directed against members of one's own species (`like avoids like'). Its essential function is the preservation of the species as a whole. It provides for a balanced distribution of living beings of the same species over the available environment, selection of the strongest by rival fights and defense of the young. It is always favorable for the species if the strongest take possession of, mark (by song, scent, sound, color) and defend a territory and conquer the desired females.
Aggression is a dangerous, because spontaneous, instinct and can become very harmful. Therefore evolution provided for innate behavior - the interaction of all drives - canalization in personal bonds (recognition, friendship, love), in communication (rites, appeasement gestures), in prohibitions (taboos). One example: when a female chimpanzee entered a new room, she presented her behind to every ... chair.
And what about man? Why do reasonable beings behave so unreasonably? Because we are still subject to all the laws of instinctive behavior.Our pride, arrogance and overestimation prohibit us to learn from animals. We are worse than rats. Explosive population rise stops automatically in rat colonies and after a wholesale slaughter enough individual rats survive to propagate the species. This would not be the case for the human race if the H-bomb is used.
But there is a glimmer of hope: we should consider ourselves as the missing link between animals and the real human beings to come. Education, science and peace should provide for a `human' transition.

This is by any standard a very important and actual book. A picture of all the animals considered would, however, have been helpful.
Like the works of R. Dawkins, this book a must read for all those wanting to understand human behavior.

Still relevant today
Very in depth and detailed book.You can tell two things from reading this.

1. That Konrad Lorenz loved what he did and did it with a passionunlikely to be exceeded by anyone.

2. That he didn't miss much of anything.

This is not my field so keep in mind this review is for the amateur like me.The book bogs down a little in places due to the detail the author emphasizes.This attention to detail is, of course, also what makes the book so good.It is the little details and observing every little movement and action then using the information gathered through those thousands of hours of close scrutiny to form conclusions as to why animals behave the way they do that makes this work a time tested masterpiece.My warning would be to be ready for this level of detail and you will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of the world around you and our own nature.The difficulty of the book is far exceeded by the rewards gained.

Original title and a few words
According to my copy, this book was originally published in Austria under the title: Das Sogenannte Bose: Der Naturgeschichte der Aggression. The English translation is copyright Konrad Lorenz (1966). I strongly recommend this book as being as relevant now as it was then ('63-'66). It is an excellent book about why a dog is a man's best friend and not another man. The dogs understand. We don't.

On Aggression
This is the best known book by the Nobel Prize winning researcher Konrad Lorenz.Although some of his ideas may have become superceded by the Richard Dawkin's school of Ethology/SocioBiology (Dawkins wrote the excellent "The Selfish Gene", "The Extended Phenotype", "The Blind Watchmaker", and "River Out Of Eden" among others), they both collaborated with the renowned Nobel Prize winner, Niko(laas) Tinbergen.Essential reading for understanding species behavior and interaction.

Lorenz became active in the Green Party as an environmental advocate. For those interested primarily with his views on human ecology and civilization, a good follow up book to this is "Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins"(1974). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great book(Nobel Prize not revoked)
A great book by a great writer. however Konrad Lorenz Nobel Prize was never revoked. The prize can not be revoked. (www.aftenposten.no/english/world/article327396.ece) This is an urban legend.

Absolutely brilliant
I have been a great admirer of Konrad Lorenz's works for many years and this book is one of his finest.

Some of his works are written more for the lay audience and are full of wonderful animal stories.Some are more scientific-- and when tranlated from the rigorous scientific German in which they were written-- are not quick and easy reads.That said, the reader who is willing to engage with the great intellect on display here will be greatly rewarded.

PS:Regarding the prior review, I did not know his Nobel was revoked.What was the reason?

Essential! Order this book so it gets back in print soon!
Konrad Lorenz hasn't recieved the praise his mind deserves. All political leanings aside--he had a nobel prize awarded and revoked--he is a brilliant thinker with essential theories on zoology and the meaning of life. This book outlines some of his early work with animal behavior. His work with ducks and geese and imprinting is phenomenal. It's amazing how thorough this man studied so many different creatures. And what's more is he never interfered with their habitats, he only observed what they would do without human tampering. In some ways he was an early conservationist and environmentalist.

To understand the implications of animal behavior for our own lives and what it means to the way we think, act and are, you must read this book. Lorenz should be up there right under Darwin in importance.

Unfortunately, this book is hard to find. I have a very old copy that I am lucky to find. Here I see it says that it's out of print. Please order this book. You will not be let down. And meanwhile you will help create demand for a book that should be on the shelves of all the bookstores both cyber and corporeal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Soap writers have nothing on Lorenz!
This book is a piece of academic research, and at times it is hard to follow if you do not have the scientific background necessary.However, there are sections in this book more entertaining that network TV.When you read about the disagreements, battles, breakups, infidelities and romances that take place in a community of Greylag geese, you'd think you are reading a script for a new daytime soap opera.Konrad Lorenz could have easily moonlighted as a Hollywood writer.In addition to the hilarious antics of the geese, I finished the book with certainly more knowledge than before,and with a sense of admiration for these animals and the humans who painstakingly observed them. ... Read more

Book Description
edited from the author's posthumous works by Agnes von Cranach

Here Am I Where Are You?: The Behavior of the Greylag Goose was thought to be Konrad Lorenz's last book. However, in 1991 the "Russian Manuscript" was discovered in an attic, and its subsequent publication in German has become a scientific sensation. Written under the most extreme conditions in Soviet prison camps, the "Russian Manuscript" was the first outline of a large-scale work on behavioral science. This translation contains a synopsis of all the ideas that made Lorenz famous as the founder of ethology, the study of comparative animal behavior. ... Read more

Product Description
Konrad Z. Lorenz presents a volume of new facts and penetrating observations, with a style of distinction and charm, but in addition has contributed in no small degree to the basic principles and theories of animal mind and behavior. ... Read more