On Animals

By: Susan Orlean

Narrated by: Susan Orlean

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Magnificent.” —The New York Times * “Beguiling, observant, and howlingly funny.” —San Francisco Chronicle * “Spectacular.” —Star Tribune (Minneapolis) * “Full of astonishments.” —The Boston Globe

Susan Orlean—the beloved New Yorker staff writer hailed as “a national treasure” by The Washington Post and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Library Book—gathers a lifetime of musings, meditations, and in-depth profiles about animals.

“How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she’s been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career.

These stories consider a range of creatures—the household pets we dote on, the animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, the creatures who could eat us for dinner, the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with who are central to human life. In her own backyard, Orlean discovers the delights of keeping chickens. In a different backyard, in New Jersey, she meets a woman who has twenty-three pet tigers—something none of her neighbors knew about until one of the tigers escapes. In Iceland, the world’s most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free; in Morocco, the world’s hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic. We meet a show dog and a lost dog and a pigeon who knows exactly how to get home.

Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by Orlean’s stylish prose and precise research, these stories celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.

Critic reviews

"Orlean has a flattened, nasal voice that is nonetheless engaging. She reads clearly at an unrushed pace with a downbeat delivery that suits the book’s funny situations and quirky, occasionally bizarre, characters. The woman with tigers in rural New Jersey is definitely bizarre, while the owners of the show dog are a tad quirky. As for Orlean herself, she is thrilled when the post office calls to say, 'You have a package here, and it’s clucking.'"

Love Susan Orlean Writing

I am a super fan of Ms. Orlean. I love the way she tells a story. Although I didn’t find this book as compelling as The Library Book or The Orchid Thief, I still loved it. I would read anything she writes! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys her writing style.

The author has a real Heart felt dedication to all animals everywhere

Susan loves all animals that much comes through in her writings. But she fell down sadly in her story of Free Willy, Keiko. This adorable loving creature is a clear victim of misguided sentimentally. He should never have been captured, he never should have been released into the wild without the skills to survive. Condemned to a a lonely death without the milk of human contact that he clearly had been trained to prefer and needed.

Susan took a rather cowardly exit from keiko’s story and left the reader “shrouded” in confusion. Susan’s loyalty to the misguided sentimentalist verses the needed care of the animal itself is baffling and troubling. Her soft handling of the ending effectively illustrates the desire to help animals so we feel better about ourselves, and makes for cocktail party “do gooder” pable. Real hard decisions be damned.

Unchecked Well intentioned animal lovers can do as much harm as anyone to the object of their affection. We should love and help others where they are, not where we want them to be.

A disappointing no accountability ending to a sweet gentile giant who deserved more mature truly loving handling, versus silly harmful publicity seeking “isn’t life just a fairytale” sentimental motivation.

Great listen

I did speed it up to 1.35x I truly enjoyed hearing about all the animals. I'm glad she called the big game creeps out. And the lion chapter was sad but a very good listen

What a delightful book!

Susan Orleans writes beautifully, with elegance, lightness and wit. She pairs great empathy and understanding towards animals and human nature with a quirky and good natured outlook. Her humor is subtle and intelligent.
I savored and enjoyed every word, often laughing out loud.
I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

On Animals by Susan Orlean

A complete delight, exploring many of our animals and the often fraught relationships with their humans