What It's Like to Be a Dog: And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience - Softcover

Named one of the "TEN BEST SCIENCE BOOKS OF 2017" by Smithsonian

Named one of the "Best Books of 2017" by The Bark

"Groundbreaking research that shows that dog emotions are similar to people's. Training dogs to voluntarily lie still in the MRI brain scanner was a brilliant way to explore the workings of their brains. Dog lovers and neuroscientists should both read this important book."--Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translationand Animals Make us Human

"In this big-hearted book, Gregory Berns applies cutting-edge science to questions that have never been so timely: How do other animals perceive their worlds? How do they experience emotions? How does their language work? What It's Like to Be a Dog is a delightful, illuminating look at the minds and lives of our fellow creatures."--Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean: A Journey Into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins

"One of the most delightful things about What It's Like to Be a Dog is the attention Berns pays to each dog's individual quirks."--New Yorker

"Berns mixes personal stories of dogs and dog lovers with elegant scientific experiments that show the surprising complexity behind many canine daily behaviours: a fun, fascinating and illuminating read."--New Scientist

"This truly fascinating book shows a profound respect for animals, and one that is broadening our understanding of what it's like to be a dog."--The Bark

"Berns also peeks into the gray matter of dolphins, sea lions, and Tasmanian devils, bolstering his contention that both four-footed and sea-dwelling mammals think and feel much as we do, a sentiment animal lovers and fans of books by Jane Goodall, E. O. Wilson, and Jeffrey Moussaieff Mason will heartily embrace."--Booklist

"The author explains that his purpose in writing this book is 'to raise awareness of the mental lives of the animals with whom we share the planet.' In that, he succeeds. An impressive overview of modern neurology and the still-unanswered issues raised by our treatment of our fellow living creatures."--Kirkus Reviews

"A fascinating journey towards an understanding of what dogs--and their mammalian cousins--might be thinking about us."--John Bradshaw, author of the New York Timesbestsellers Dog Sense and Cat Sense and the forthcoming The Animals Among Us

"Dog lovers and neuroscientists should both read this important book." --Dr. Temple Grandin
What is it like to be a dog? A bat? Or a dolphin? To find out, neuroscientist and bestselling author Gregory Berns and his team did something nobody had ever attempted: they trained dogs to go into an MRI scanner--completely awake--so they could figure out what they think and feel. And dogs were just the beginning. In What It's Like to Be a Dog, Berns takes us into the minds of wild animals: sea lions who can learn to dance, dolphins who can see with sound, and even the now extinct Tasmanian tiger. Berns's latest scientific breakthroughs prove definitively that animals have feelings very much like we do--a revelation that forces us to reconsider how we think about and treat animals. Written with insight, empathy, and humor, What It's Like to Be a Dog is the new manifesto for animal liberation of the twenty-first century.