The Unexpected Truth About Animals

They’re not what you think…

The Unexpected Truth About Animals by Lucy Cooke is a wonderful read. If you love animals, you will love this book. And I think you do love animals, because you are here reading words on my little vegan website.

This book had me so captivated I read bits out loud to anyone in earshot. I stayed up late to finish chapters. I devoured it in days.

Although it’s hard to read about the barbaric experiments conducted in years gone by (skip the bat chapter if you don’t want to cry your eyes out over what one ‘scientist’ did to bats while trying to figure out how they fly) the book is a beautiful ode to creatures both popular and beloved (chimpanzee, penguin) and misunderstood, yet fascinating (hyena, vulture).

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but within these pages lies a fascinating fact about how we came to have nautical sonar, which stops vessels crashing into unseen icebergs and the like. It came too late for the Titanic, but it came because of the Titanic. And bats. It’s such a good anecdote, I’ve been telling it a LOT since reading this book. ‘Did you know…’ I say. Read the book and join me at the facts table.

Also, everything we think we know about pandas is catastrophically wrong.

A ten out of ten from me. You can buy it on Amazon here (if you must) Waterstones here (better) or from all good bookshops out on the streets of the real world (best yet). Or listen to the audiobook here if that’s how you roll.