"Weaving decades of field observations with exciting new discoveries about the brain, Carl Safina's landmark book offers an intimate view of animal behavior to challenge the fixed boundary between humans and nonhuman animals. In Beyond Words, readers travel to Amboseli National Park in the threatened landscape of Kenya and witness struggling elephant families work out how to survive poaching and drought, then to Yellowstone National Park to observe wolves sort out the aftermath of one pack's personal tragedy, and finally plunge into the astonishingly peaceful society of killer whales living in the crystalline waters of the Pacific Northwest. Beyond Words brings forth powerful and illuminating insight into the unique personalities of animals through extraordinary stories of animal joy, grief, jealousy, anger, and love. The similarity between human and nonhuman consciousness, self-awareness, and empathy calls us to re-evaluate how we interact with animals" -- provided by publisher.

"A John Macrae Book."

Into the mine field -- Trumpets of elephants. The big question ; The same basic plan ; Distinctly human? ; Deep and ancient circuits ; We are family ; Motherhood happens ; Do elephants love their babies? ; Elephant empathy ; Good grief ; I don't know how you say good-bye ; I say hello ; Holding back, letting go ; Troubled minds ; Ebony and ivory ; Where baby elephants come from -- Howls of wolves. Into the Pleistocene ; A perfect wolf ; Packing and unpacking ; The wolf named Six ; A shattering of promises ; In a time of truce ; Magnificent outcasts ; Where the wolf birds lead us ; Wolf music ; The hunter is a lonely heart ; A will to live ; Domestic servants ; Two ends of the same leash -- Whines and pet peeves. Never mind theory ; Sex, lies, and humiliated seabirds ; conceit and deceit ; Chuckles and wacky ideas ; Mirror, mirror ; And speaking of neurons ; People of an ancient nation -- Killer wails. Sea rex ; A more complex killer ; Just very sexual ; Inner visions ; Diverse minds ; Intelligent in what way? ; The social brain ; Woo-woo ; Helping in mind ; Do not disturb ; To have and to hold ; Expect personality ; A vision true and mighty -- Final scratch.