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The bestselling book that asks what dogs know and how they think,
now in paperback.
The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a
cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds,
each other, and that other quirky animal, the human.
Horowitz introduces the reader to dogs' perceptual and cognitive
abilities and then draws a picture of what it might be like to "be
"a dog. What's it like to be able to smell not just every bit of
open food in the house but also to smell sadness in humans, or even
the passage of time? How does a tiny dog manage to play
successfully with a Great Dane? What is it like to hear the bodily
vibrations of insects or the hum of a fluorescent light? Why must a
person on a bicycle be chased? What's it like to use your mouth as
a hand? In short, what is it like for a dog to experience life from
two feet off the ground, amidst the smells of the sidewalk, gazing
at our ankles or knees?
"
Inside of a Dog "explains these things and much more. The answers
can be surprising--once we set aside our natural inclination to
anthropomorphize dogs. "Inside of a Dog "also contains
up-to-the-minute research--on dogs' detection of disease, the
secrets of their tails, and their skill at reading our
attention--that Horowitz puts into useful context. Although not a
formal training guide, "Inside of a Dog "has practical application
for dog lovers interested in understanding why their dogs do what
they do. With a light touch and the weight of science behind her,
Alexandra Horowitz examines the animal we think we know best but
may actually understand the least. This book is as close as you can
get to knowing about dogs without being a dog yourself.
From the author of the #1 "New York Times" bestseller "Inside of a
Dog," this "elegant and entertaining" ("The Boston Globe")
explanation of how humans perceive their environments "does more
than open our eyes...opens our hearts and minds, too, gently
awakening us to a world--in fact, many worlds--we've been missing"
("USA TODAY").
Alexandra Horowitz" "shows us how to see the spectacle of the
ordinary--to practice, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it, "the
observation of trifles." Structured around a series of eleven walks
the author takes, mostly in her Manhattan neighborhood, "On
Looking" features experts on a diverse range of subjects, including
an urban sociologist, the well-known artist Maira Kalman, a
geologist, a physician, and a sound designer. Horowitz also walks
with a child and a dog to see the world as they perceive it. "What
"they see, "how "they see it, and why most of us do "not "see the
same things reveal the startling power of human attention and the
cognitive aspects of what it means to be an expert observer.
Page by page, Horowitz shows how much more there is to see--if only
we would really look. Trained as a cognitive scientist, she
discovers a feast of fascinating detail, all explained with her
generous humor and self-deprecating tone. So turn off the phone and
other electronic devices and "be "in the real world--where
strangers communicate by geometry as they walk toward one another,
where sounds reveal shadows, where posture can display humility,
and the underside of a leaf unveils a Lilliputian universe--where,
indeed, there are worlds within worlds within worlds.
As an unabashed dog lover, Alexandra Horowitz is naturally curious
about what her dog thinks and what she knows. As a cognitive
scientist she is intent on understanding the minds of animals who
cannot say what they know or feel. This is a fresh look at the
world of dogs -- from the dog's point of view. The book introduces
the reader to the science of the dog -- their perceptual and
cognitive abilities -- and uses that introduction to draw a picture
of what it might be like to bea dog. It answers questions no other
dog book can -- such as: What is a dog's sense of time? Does she
miss me? Want friends? Know when she's been bad? Horowitz's
journey, and the insights she uncovered from studying her own dog,
Pumpernickel, allowed her to understand her dog better, and
appreciate her more through that understanding. The reader will be
able to do the same with their own dog. Inside of a Dogwill allow
dog owners to look at their pets' behaviour in a different, and
revealing light, enabling them to understand their dogs and enjoy
their relationship even more.
"What Mr. Rogers was to children, Alexandra Horowitz is to dogs: a
wise and patient observer who seeks to intimately know a
creature... Her chapters, packed with close observations about
canine cognition and behavior, are mini-mood lifters." -NPR,
Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air What is it like to be a puppy? Author
of the classic Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz tries to find
out, spending a year scrutinizing her puppy's daily existence and
poring over the science of early dog development Few of us meet our
dogs at Day One. The dog who will, eventually, become an integral
part of our family, our constant companion and best friend, is born
without us into a family of her own. A puppy's critical early
development into the dog we come to know is usually missed
entirely. Dog researcher Alexandra Horowitz aimed to change that
with her family's new pup, Quiddity (Quid). In this scientific
memoir, she charts Quid's growth from wee grub to boisterous
sprite, from her birth to her first birthday. Horowitz follows
Quid's first weeks with her mother and ten roly-poly littermates,
and then each week after the puppy joins her household of three
humans, two large dogs, and a wary cat. She documents the social
and cognitive milestones that so many of us miss in our puppies'
lives, when caught up in the housetraining and behavioral training
that easily overwhelms the first months of a dog's life with a new
family. In focusing on training a dog to behave, we mostly miss the
radical development of a puppy into themselves-through the
equivalent of infancy, childhood, young adolescence, and
teenager-hood. By slowing down to observe Quid from week to week,
The Year of the Puppy makes new sense of a dog's behavior in a way
that is missed when the focus is only on training. Horowitz keeps a
lens on the puppy's point of view-how they (begin to) see and smell
the world, make meaning of it, and become an individual
personality. She's there when the puppies first open their eyes,
first start to recognize one another and learn about cats, sheep,
and people; she sees them from their first play bows to puberty.
Horowitz also draws from the ample research in the fields of dog
and human development to draw analogies between a dog's first year
and the growing child-and to note where they diverge. The Year of
the Puppy is indispensable for anyone navigating their way through
the frustrating, amusing, and ultimately delightful first year of a
puppy's life.
In this book Alexandra Horowitz examines what's called the
'dog-human bond': examining all aspects of the complexity of this
unique interspecies pairing. From her position as a dog scientist,
she uses the science of dogs and dog-human interaction to ground a
consideration of the various ways that dogs, as a species, reflect
us, and how they reflect (sometimes badly, sometimes well) on us.
And she goes beyond the cognitive science to consider the culture,
laws, and human dynamics that reveal and restrict this bond between
two disparate species. Horowitz shows that when each person makes
the decision to breed, own, or adopt a dog, we enter into a
relationship that will change us. It changes the course of our
days: dogs need to be walked, fed, attended to. It can change the
course of our lives: dogs weave their way into our lives with their
constant silent presence by our sides. There are still many (often
non-'scientific') questions that remain unanswered about dogs:
about their minds, yes, but especially about living with dogs in
our society, and how we can best treat them now and in the future.
This books addresses those questions. It is intended for the
curious dog owner and science-lover alike, who wants to read good,
intelligent thinking on dogs, not overly sentimental but not
without heart.
Alexandra Horowitz's runaway bestseller Inside of a Dog began a
movement among dog owners to not just quietly accept and enjoy the
presence of the pooch at their sides, but to wonder at that dog,
and let him show us how he sees the world, and what he knows. What
the dog sees and knows comes mostly through his nose, and the
information that every dog has about the world based on smell is
unthinkably rich. It is rich in a way we humans once knew something
about, once even acted on, but have since neglected. By smelling,
tapping into this sensory resource that we have but that we largely
ignore, the dog has become an informant. To a dog, there is no such
thing as 'fresh air.' Every gulp of air is full of information. In
Being a Dog, Horowitz, a research scientist in the field of dog
cognition, explores what the nose knows as never done before by
taking an imaginative leap into what it is like to be a dog. Under
the tutelage of her family dogs, Finnegan and Upton, Horowitz sets
off on a quest to make sense of scents, combining a personal
journey of smelling with a tour through the cutting edge and
improbable science behind the olfactory abilities of the dog. From
revealing the spectacular biology of the dog nose, to following a
tracking dog being put through his paces and trying herself to
become a better smeller, Horowitz covers the topic of noses - both
canine and human - from surprising, novel, and always fascinating
angles. As we come to understand how rich, complex, and exciting
the world around us appears to the canine nose, Horowitz changes
our perspective on dogs forever. Readers will finish this book
feeling that they have glimpsed or sensed or smelled into the
fourth dimension, literally breaking free of their human
constraints and understanding smell as never before; that they
have, for however fleetingly, been a dog.
This book highlights the state of the field in the new, provocative
line of research into the cognition and behavior of the domestic
dog. Eleven chapters from leading researchers describe innovative
methods from comparative psychology, ethology and behavioral
biology, which are combined to create a more comprehensive picture
of the behavior of Canis familiaris than ever before. Each of the
book’s three parts highlights one of the perspectives relevant to
providing a full understanding of the dog. Part I covers the
perceptual abilities of dogs and the effect of interbreeding. Part
II includes observational and experimental results from studies of
social cognition – such as learning and social referencing –
and physical cognition in canids, while Part III summarizes the
work in the field to date, reviewing various conceptual and
methodological approaches and testing anthropomorphisms with regard
to dogs. The final chapter discusses the practical application of
behavioral and cognitive results to promote animal welfare. This
volume reflects a modern shift in science toward considering and
studying domestic dogs for their own sake, not only insofar as they
reflect back on human beings.
This book highlights the state of the field in the new, provocative
line of research into the cognition and behavior of the domestic
dog. Eleven chapters from leading researchers describe innovative
methods from comparative psychology, ethology and behavioral
biology, which are combined to create a more comprehensive picture
of the behavior of Canis familiaris than ever before. Each of the
book's three parts highlights one of the perspectives relevant to
providing a full understanding of the dog. Part I covers the
perceptual abilities of dogs and the effect of interbreeding. Part
II includes observational and experimental results from studies of
social cognition - such as learning and social referencing - and
physical cognition in canids, while Part III summarizes the work in
the field to date, reviewing various conceptual and methodological
approaches and testing anthropomorphisms with regard to dogs. The
final chapter discusses the practical application of behavioral and
cognitive results to promote animal welfare. This volume reflects a
modern shift in science toward considering and studying domestic
dogs for their own sake, not only insofar as they reflect back on
human beings.
Much more than a word list, the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus
is a browsable source of inspiration as well as an authoritative
guide to selecting and using vocabulary. This essential guide for
writers provides real-life example sentences and a careful
selection of the most relevant synonyms, as well as new usage
notes, hints for choosing between similar words, a Word Finder
section organized by subject, and a comprehensive language guide.
The text is also peppered with thought-provoking reflections on
favorite (and not-so-favorite) words by noted contemporary writers,
including Joshua Ferris, Francine Prose, David Foster Wallace,
Zadie Smith, and Simon Winchester, many newly commissioned for this
edition.
The third edition revises and updates this innovative reference,
adding hundreds of new words, senses, and phrases to its more than
300,000 synonyms and 10,000 antonyms. New features in this edition
include over 200 literary and humorous quotations highlighting
notable usages of words, and a revised graphical word toolkit
feature showing common word combinations based on evidence in the
Oxford Corpus. There is also a new introduction by noted language
commentator Ben Zimmer.
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