3.5 stars. There is some amazing and important information here. Many sections were very interesting, if you can stick with it. Unfortunately it gets a bit lost in the disorganized format; the way it’s written, coupled with the extremely depressing content, creates a major slog to get through.

The same core content arranged differently could have been 5⭐️

A lot of interesting animal facts here, the audiobook narrator personally grated on me a lot though. The book also just felt endless but it might have been due to that. It also talked about so many different things that it was hard to let anything stick in particular.

“Beastly” by Keggie Carew is a thought-provoking exploration of our relationship with animals throughout history. Carew delves into the tangled web of human-centric views, from Aristotle’s hierarchical scala naturae to modern scientific revelations about animal consciousness. With wit and insight, she exposes the environmental consequences of our misguided beliefs.

“Beastly” challenges our assumptions, urging us to reimagine our kinship with animals. It’s a wake-up call to protect our planet and its inhabitants.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

Beastly is a captivating and insightful exploration of the long and complex relationship between humans and animals, from the dawn of civilization to the present day. The author, Keggie Carew, is an award-winning writer and a passionate advocate for animal rights. She draws on her own experiences, as well as stories from history, science, literature, and art, to reveal how animals have shaped our minds, our lives, our land, and our civilization.

Carew challenges the common assumption that humans are superior to animals and that nature exists to serve us. She argues that this view is based on a flawed philosophy called scala naturae, which was popularized by Aristotle and later adopted by many cultures. She shows how this philosophy has led to the exploitation, oppression, and destruction of animals throughout history, as well as the loss of biodiversity and ecological balance.

Carew also celebrates the diversity and intelligence of animal life, from the smallest insects to the largest whales. She shares fascinating anecdotes about how humans have interacted with animals in various ways: as companions, as helpers, as sources of food, clothing, medicine, entertainment, inspiration, and more. She also examines how animals have influenced human culture: in myths, legends, religions, art forms such as music and literature.

Beastly is a gorgeously written book that combines personal narrative with rigorous research. It is a thrilling journey into the splendor and genius of animals and the long story of our relationship with them as humans. It is also a timely reminder that we are part of nature and that we depend on it for our survival. Beastly is not only a book about animals; it is also a book about ourselves.

I found this to be a delightful listen. I love animals and found the narratives in this collection challenge and expanded my perspective as a human thinking about my place in the broader world. I would recommend this for anyone and think this would be a good way to ease into nonfiction for the first time!

Yes, I would recommend this but with caution. If you feel a strong connection to nature and animals, this is a bruising read. Maybe it's because I have read many books on the loss of biodiversity/ how the food industry/ human greed has destroyed the vast amount of biodiversity and it's just a war of attrition, but this brought back the helpless hatred I felt for my own species throughout my childhood. At times this is brutal - so battering that it feels utterly hopeless. So go in when you're in a good mental state. That said, there were wonderful flickers of Eden-esque joy here too. Also do not expect a well organised popular science book. This is often rambling, largely annecdotal and possibly veers too much towards 'humans are evil'. Honestly it's both worse and better than that. Humans are thoughtless, indifferent and willfully ignorant. That said, while I applaud the author's determination to obfuscate nothing no matter how unpleasant, hope is far more likely to move us than dispair is. Anyway this was not what I expected and if you expect a light look at how animals have influenced, buckle in for a tour of the abatoir of human history. It's good, it's honest and it's snarky at times. But it's also horrible.

4.5/5 stars

I really loved this book, especially the audiobook version. Keggie Carew speaks not to the scientists or people that think you can only look at animals through a rational and objective lens. Instead this book is for nature lovers; the people that are told they are too emotional about animals and nature during debates with the sceptics. This book doesn’t pretend to be purely scientific by any means, but takes us on a deeply passionate journey through humans relationship with the flora and fauna around us. It tells a damning story of the way we have treated the non-human inhabitants that we share earth with.

This book reminds me of nonfiction in the style of Mary Roach. Instead of an impersonal look at science and history, Carew litters her story with its personal anecdotes and feelings. These added an unmistakably personal touch to the book, which made it feel like you were chatting to a friend more than a one-way dialogue. The tales of travel and experiences that Carew explored were extremely interesting and insightful. Carew is definitely on my list of people that I would like to sit next to at a dinner party.

This book kind of had the feeling of a magnum opus. It felt like the culmination or spilling over of a lifetime love for nature, scientific research and unique experiences. While covering such a broad history of experiences and jumping between topics, this book still felt well-crafted, intentional and informative. Carew paints her passion while issuing scathing critique of human disregard for animal life. This book really does take you on a journey with the author. If you are anything like me then you will experience the whole range of human emotions from tears to laughter before you have completed the novel.

About The Narration:
Pippa’s reading was passionate, captivating and well paced. Listening to this book feels somewhere between sitting in on a favourite lecturer and joining a lively conversation at the campfire.

About The Book:
An insightful and humbling look at the vast impact humans have had on the animal kingdom over the last 40,000 years. A well researched and wide ranging book that connects the actions of humans to the plight of the animal kingdom in an accessible and memorable way that encourages conversation and self-reflection. I found the topics and writing to be very well done and encourage others to give this book a read.

💕You might like this book if:
🔹 you enjoy learning about history and how human’s have changed the world’s ecology
🔹 you are an animal lover / advocate
🔹 you are open to looking at the negative impacts of our actions / choices

Beastly, by Keggie Carew is a lively and informative ramble through the history of our relationship to the wild animals of our planet. The relationship is problematic to be sure and Carew reaches far back, even into the story of Genesis, from which some of our ideas about how animals should be treated first arose. As we travel through time we are introduced to the role that people such as Descartes, Linneaus, and of course Darwin played in formalizing and structuring that thinking. There are heroes such as Rachel Carson who understood the devastating impact that DDT was having on bird populations and villains like Harry Harlow whose heartless studies on motherless monkeys help illustrate that the way we have gone about experiments with animals brings to light as much or more about the character and characteristics of those who do the testing as it does the subjects of the test. While much of the book is difficult reading because of the size and scale of the devastation we have sown in the animal world, in the end Carew does attempt to save our own hope for the future from complete extinction. There are valuable ideas in the closing chapters if those in power who can pass new legislation around the world would just listen and she highlights some of the positive impacts that private citizens have had on animal populations by allowing landholdings to revert back into their natural states. Throughout the book there are also personal anecdotes and some humorous descriptions of interactions with animals that treat us to a laugh or two when we need it the most. Narrator Pippa Haywood does a wonderful job as narrator and reads with such attention and enthusiasm that without knowing better, one might think she were the author herself. Thank you to NetGalley for providing the early preview.

Let me just say that I enjoyed this book so much from the common sense to the facts about apes wolves elephants and so much more this book is long and it took me three different settings to finish it but OMG I am glad I did I loved the narrator the stories the comparisons to people it was just so good they dispelled nyths told stories in all in the aim of educating the Lesnar on our history with the animals. There is so much to love about this book and I could go on and on but just know if you’re contemplating reading this book it is so worth getting. It’s not just dry academic facts about animals but funny stories, serious stories, origin stories it’s just full of just awesome goodness. A definite five star read for adults and children alike. I want to think the publisher and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

How much time do you have to be extremely depressed, and at times slightly confused by time jumps and personal stories with names of people you’re obviously unaware of but are personally relevant to the author? If your answer is 16 hours and 38 minutes, then have I got a book for you!

When I saw this cover on NetGalley, I immediately wanted to read it. What I expected from the cover and description was not at all what I got.

I listened to the audio book. Perhaps the book is laid out more clearly, but the audiobook was an absolute jumble of antidotes, quotes, and references to previous texts. As a result, it feels much more like an encyclopedia of anecdotes with someone else interrupting and trying to relate with things that, at times, are a tenuous link at best.

The book is overly poetic, and yet it lacks flow somehow. It is much less about our relationships with animals and more about brutality. It makes this book very hard to stomach for those that care, yet also inaccessible for those that should care.

Gave up at 36%

This is perfecton. It is relaxing, interesting, and just beautiful. I learned so much. It was enthralling.
The narrator is the best. I mean that literally. She is amazing. I could listen to this ten times in a row.

The contents of this book were very interesting and yet felt entirely too long.

There were side tangents that were probably not needed and the story overall could've been tightened up.

The information was good and I'd read another book by this author.

I struggled between 3 and 4 stars.

There a ton of fascinating stories and anecdotes in here and the writer clearly tells smaller stories we’ll but it’s covered in a lot of anger and buried in way too much information. There’s weird chapters going over religions, there doesn’t seem to be a logical progression in content flow and overall it really could have done with some structural editing.

It’s a tough review of how humans have exploited the animals around us for thousands of years.

Listen up, Humanity. Here's your call to action. Time to make a change. In fact, way past time to make a change. Keggie Carew is delivering her passionate message. It is a voice in the wilderness that rang true in my ears.

Since that first bright morning Genesis talks about - no, it would be much much earlier - the first time there was a humanish creature contemplating exactly what to do with that non-humanish creature - that was the day it all started. The day we imposed our will to dominate, and this book invites you to sit awhile and listen. The author moves fast, so wear your running shoes, and bring a thick-skinned slicker, because she's going to deliver many stripes to your humanness, and your family's penchant for abusing the earth. All well and truly deserved. She's shaking your shoulders and boxing your ears - why???? To get your attention, that's why!!!

The topic of this book is ANIMALS and how we've paid back their many known and unknown generosities. Don't let your defensiveness deprive you of a message you've needed for a very long time. Just settle in. The author does a very neat job of good cop/bad cop all by herself.

From topic to creature to extinction to remedy to love to selfish willfulness to tragedy to resolve to wonder to creature to death to life to creature. to them. to you. to me. to us. for me, by that last page it felt very, very Shakespearean.

I will be thinking about this book for a long time, and in my world of e-books and audiobooks, this is one I want a hard copy to read Bible-like before sleeping - so my resolve to DO something to help the survivors of our eons long massacres can continue for our children, and their kits, cubs, chicks, larva, calves, whelps, hatchlings. . .Beastly presents opportunity for much long thinking. . .and in-for-the-long-haul thoughts. And hopefully, you do it right in the middle of the big beautiful outside that is our Earth.

*A sincere thank you to Keggie Carew, Abrams Press, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and listen.* #Beastly #NetGalley

From the description, I thought I had a good idea of what to expect from the book. And there was plenty about, as the subtitle says, us and animals. A lot about domestication and plenty of info about nature in general. However, the book turned way too preachy for my taste. I am not blind to the fact that we do not treat animals very kindly and in some cases atrociously. But being bombarded with gory images of mistreatment of pigs especially wasn't what I bargained for. I guess I should've known from the main title that there would be some discussion of the dark side of human/animal relations, but I truly thought "Beastly" was indicating it was about beasts, not their mistreatment. Even the cover shows flamingos in what almost looks like a heart pose.

The other aspect that I didn't like was that the book didn't seem very organized. It didn't go chronologically or by species, but seemed pretty random to me.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I love learning about nature and the role humans help and hurt species. This book was eye opening and very well written. I didn't put this down and thoroughly enjoyed the authors points

Beastly is a celebration of animals and a warning for people. Listening to the horrors humans have inflicted upon animals, from the early kidnappimg of animals for zoos to the diseegard for their feelings in experiments, made me weep. I continued listening and a small ray of light shown in the darkness. Activist lobbying for the wealthfare of animals. Especially those in zoos like Pony Pony alone in a concrete enclosure who never made it to sanctuary and died enroute after she loss the will to live. As well as those championing for the wealfare of and connecting with animals. This book provides an insight into animals and our long relationship with them.
The one thing I did not like was the preachy tone that infiltrated throughout that drew a line as animals good and people bad.