Top 5 books about dogs, chosen by Jules Howard

Wonderdog author and zoologist Jules Howard chooses five books dog lovers should read.

1 Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz

Many authors write non-fiction science about animals in a detached way. Not Horowitz. With eloquence and skill, she writes about dogs as if they are people, while remaining a champion of science and an authority on all things canine.

2 A Dog’s World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World without Humans by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce

I love creative approaches to science writing and this book – an imagining of what would happen to dogs if humans disappeared – delivers it all: fresh perspectives, top-drawer science and an original, thought-provoking hook.

3 In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding by John Bradshaw

I still cannot believe that Bradshaw managed to cram so many facts and research findings about dog science into this book, yet somehow kept it so readable. 

4 Sirius by Olaf Stapledon

This 1944 classic is the story of a sheepdog afforded a human-like brain through hormone therapy. The premise might sound comic book, but in Stapledon’s hands it becomes a masterpiece about acceptance, grief, love and what it is to be human.

5 Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morell

This book first awakened me to the fact that dogs were helping scientists unlock big questions about animal consciousness and cognition. Quite simply, [my book] Wonderdog would not exist without it. 

You can buy Wonderdog: How the Science of Dogs Changed the Science of Life from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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