If you have ever looked at a Japanese silk screen print or sculpture and wondered what the cranes, monkeys or bears mean…this book is for you! I found this beautiful book in an art gallery and decided that, despite the hefty price-tag, I simply had to own it! This elegant coffee table book charts the artistic symbolism of animals in northern Asia with a particular focus on Japan and China. Each page is translated and in both Japanese and English.
Tag Archives: animal cruelty
Book Review: The Secret Language of Animals by Janine M Benyus
An exquisite reference guide to the behaviour of animals, written without clinical distance but instead a warm, familial, empathic understanding of our sentient non-human cousins. Five stars.
Poignant Thought: The Wild Cows on the Island of Swona
In the mid-20th Century, on the remote island of Swona in Scotland, the Rosie family kept animals including a herd of cows. As the decades wore on, their children moved away and the elderly stalwarts of the family stayed on and eventually died there. Moving of the cattle from the island would have been tooContinue reading “Poignant Thought: The Wild Cows on the Island of Swona”
Book Review: Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flynn
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Publisher: William Collins Books Genre: Non-fiction, anthropology, environmental science, natural history, animal rights. What happens when humans foresake and ruin landscapes? They are never truly abandoned. Instead they are engulfed by the non-human world and they become teeming with many other foresaken wild lifeforms. The weeds, plants, insects, birds and large mammals moveContinue reading “Book Review: Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flynn”
Comforting Thought: A cat represents our shared humanity during the worst of times
A cat represents our shared humanity during the worst of times Readers of this blog will remember I reviewed the biographical book about the doomed Karluk and her crew in the enthralling book ‘The Ice Master’ by Jennifer Niven. That book briefly mentions but doesn’t highlight the plight of the plucky feline on board namedContinue reading “Comforting Thought: A cat represents our shared humanity during the worst of times”
Comforting Thought: Take a donkey’s kiss
Donkey kisses have to be taken. They are not given. But they are soft as cotton wool. They come with liquid brown eyes that look at you with mischief. Eyes that, inspite of it all forgive the wrongs done to them by human ignorance. So gently, and with great care, take a donkey kiss. AndContinue reading “Comforting Thought: Take a donkey’s kiss”
The activist’s call to action: Believing that people are essentially good…you are compelled to act and resist
If you are an optimist about the capabilities of other people to overcome corruption, evil and injustice in this world, then this also means that you believe resistance and fighting back are worthwhile. This imposes an obligation to act. What makes us so eager to believe in our own corruption? Why does the veneer theoryContinue reading “The activist’s call to action: Believing that people are essentially good…you are compelled to act and resist”
Book Review: Animals Make Us Human: Edited by Leah Kaminsky and Meg Keneally
Genre: Non-fiction, nature, animals Publisher: Penguin Life Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 The Christmas/New Year of 2019/2020 bush fires scorched through enormous swathes of land across the whole of Australia and killed many millions of native animals. Afterwards, there was a huge outpouring of collective grief from people not only in Australia, but throughout theContinue reading “Book Review: Animals Make Us Human: Edited by Leah Kaminsky and Meg Keneally”
Change-Makers in Their Own Words: Cheche Winnie
Kenyan conservationist and activist Cheche Winnie believes that humans are the custodians of nature. Hence it is our duty to protect nature not destroy it. Her work in conservation, education and awareness is essential to conserving the native animals and the landscape in Kenya. She is one of many brave and bold Kenyans who areContinue reading “Change-Makers in Their Own Words: Cheche Winnie”
Anna Breytenbach: Inspirational Animal Communicator
Anna Breytenbach has the unusual ability to be able to communicate with animals. This may sound ridiculous, and if so I encourage you to watch this video with an open mind and heart and come to your own conclusions. Regardless of your opinion, this is still a touching and remarkable story of courage. Any attemptsContinue reading “Anna Breytenbach: Inspirational Animal Communicator”
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