This is the third de Waal book I've read, following "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?". Though de Waal says in an afterword he intended the latter to be about cognition and this one to be about emotion, there is a large overlap, even in the examples, studies and anecdotes used. Of the two, "Are We Smart Enough" is the superior book; the emotional inner life of animals is - as he admits repeatedly - less testable, and is dependent on the former cognitive ability of animals, which is testable. As a companion piece to "Are We Smart Enough" this is like a dessert to the main dish, sweet but less substantial. ( )

Wonderfully written book about animal emotions. The main focus is on apes, but lots about other animals as well. He has a good way of labeling some things as not quite facts but as well-supported scientific conjectures. ( )

Hands down one of the best books I have ever read about animals and our direct relationship to them. Highly recommended, very readable and well done. ( )

I found this an uneven read. Initially it seemed just a series of stories about the research into animal and primate behaviour and the exploration of animal emotions. It was clunky and dry at times and hard to see if there was a coherent thread and then it settled in the end into a somewhat complicated discussion of emotions versus feelings and what is free will and sentience and finally a plea for improved animal welfare and not eating meat or perhaps less of it? Since I read most of this with my cat sleeping on my lap, I did go with him on animal emotions in some places but the details of experiments were just too much and not interesting enough for me as a non social scientist. It was just uneven, and that seems a shame since I think he is quite passionate about the point he is trying to make, though that point got lost in more than a few places.

Got about half way through. Maybe I have evolved more than most ( :-) ), but the author conclusions and observations seem so obvious. Animals have thoughts and feelings. And they act on them. The examples were interesting, but got repetitive. I wanted to read all about Mama!! ( )