Our Symphony with Animals by Aysha Akhtar is about how we relate with animals and how that affects us.

Our Symphony with Animals is a very well written and interesting look at our relationship with animals and how they benefit our lives. I enjoyed this book and it made me very thankful for all the animals that I've loved.

This is a beautiful book that ALL should read, but animal lovers especially will enjoy this book. The bonds we share, and how our lives are intertwined with both domestic and wild animals.

“Our Symphony with Animals” is a scholarly, yet interesting, and readable book about our relationships with animals, both good and bad. The author holds nothing back and part of the book is difficult to read if you really care about animals. Intertwined with the factual and real-world information about how animals play a big part in our lives Is the story of the author’s abuse and the abuse of her beloved dog at the hands of another. Animals enrich our lives and it is our duty to enrich their’s and overcoming our own horror stories seems to be the main theme of this book. It is a well written, thought-provoking book full of facts and lessons that we could all stand to learn. Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy, I am glad I read this book.

Emotionally flaying, insightful, disarming, re-affirming. That, to begin, describes what we have here: A magnificent work of how we (that is, humans) connect with animals, how our empathy affects how we interact with anything non-human, how our rationalizations blind us to our empathy (and the resulting hypocrisies), more stark connections between animal abuse and more violent offenses, supportive chapters regarding the homeless and their pets, and progressions in obtaining more legal ground in defending all animals (not just domesticated ones).

Dr. Akhtar’s story starts out with an unexpected twist, but hang on. She’ll take you on a journey that probes some of the deepest parts of our connection with animals great and small, one that leads to hanging out with a blind pig at a sanctuary in one instance, and sitting across from a serial killer in another.

Absent here is a series of observations equating to a bunch of animal rights lovers high-giving each other and poo-pooing on anyone craving a hamburger; this is a fascinating (and often uncomfortable) examination of our perception of animals and how they fit into society, for better or worse. Akhtar aims to proclaim that, deep down, we’re not as okay with the current arrangement of animal treatment as we say we are. You probably feel it often, tugging at your heart and banging around in your head: That [insert animal here] deserves better. The quick pass by a dog on a chain in the yard. A cat hunkering against a building, trying to keep out of sight. Call it a call-to-arms if you like; it may also just be an eye-opener. The author’s here to validate those feelings.

It’s a bulldozer of a book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pegasus Books for the advance read.