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Being a Beast: Charles Foster Paperback – 4 Aug. 2016
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LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2016
Charles Foster wanted to know what it was like to be a beast: a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox, a swift. What it was really like. And through knowing what it was like he wanted to get down and grapple with the beast in us all.
So he tried it out; he lived life as a badger for six weeks, sleeping in a dirt hole and eating earthworms, he came face to face with shrimps as he lived like an otter and he spent hours curled up in a back garden in East London and rooting in bins like an urban fox.
A passionate naturalist, Foster realises that every creature creates a different world in its brain and lives in that world. As humans, we share sensory outputs, lights, smells and sound, but trying to explore what it is actually like to live in another of these worlds, belonging to another species, is a fascinating and unique neuro-scientific challenge. For Foster it is also a literary challenge. Looking at what science can tell us about what happens in a fox's or badger's brain when it picks up a scent, he then uses this to imagine their world for us, to write it through their eyes or rather through the eyes of Charles the beast.
An intimate look at the life of animals, neuroscience, psychology, nature writing, memoir and more, it is a journey of extraordinary thrills and surprises, containing wonderful moments of humour and joy, but also providing important lessons for all of us who share life on this precious planet.
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherProfile Books
- Publication date4 Aug. 2016
- Dimensions12.9 x 1.6 x 19.8 cm
- ISBN-101781255350
- ISBN-13978-1781255353
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Review
Gleefully lascivious in its physical curiosity, Being a Beast advocates for our highest animality by expanding our sensory intelligence. A flabbergasting, thunderstriking, stupendous, brilliant book -- Jay Griffiths
Thrilling, brilliant, bonkers... a strange kind of masterpiece: the song of a satyr, perhaps, or nature writing as extreme sport. ― Financial Times
Charles Foster's chronicle of the sensory lives of beasts and his own forays into self re-wilding is like nothing you have ever read. Deeply serious and at times laugh-out-loud funny, this is an extraordinary book. -- Caspar Henderson
Unimaginably different from any book you have ever read - an exploration of our deep kinship with animals that is thought-provoking, funny and full of adventure all at once, brilliantly written, and sparkling with ideas -- Iain McGilchrist
Foster is funny and profound and his empathic mission shows our kinship with other species -- Patrick Barkham ― Guardian
Extraordinary... very funny... Foster is well read and writes beautifully. ― The Sunday Times
A wild and whimsical memoir. ― The Times
Takes nature writing to new levels... his work is a triumph. -- Kate Green ― Country Life
Very funny... hones senses long neglected... Mr Foster is the real thing, going truly feral and in the process discovering a whole new world. It is not a midlife crisis so much as a lifelong passion. ― Economist Published On: 2016-02-27
Funny, exuberant and courageous, nudging closer and closer to how it might feel to enter the non-human world. ― Guardian, readers' BOTY 2016
Book Description
From the Back Cover
Charles Foster wanted to know what it was like to be a beast: a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox, a swift. What it was really like. And through knowing what it was like he wanted to get down and grapple with the beast in us all.
So he tried it out
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Profile Books; Main edition (4 Aug. 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1781255350
- ISBN-13 : 978-1781255353
- Dimensions : 12.9 x 1.6 x 19.8 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 181,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 76 in Religious Nature & Existence of God
- 1,013 in Psychologist Biographies
- 1,112 in Environmental Conservation
- Customer reviews:
About the author
I'm a writer based in Oxford, UK and a remote part of the southern Peloponnese. I'm a Fellow of Exeter College, University of Oxford, and my academic research is concerned mainly with questions of identity, personhood and authenticity. Most of my books are presumptuous and more or less unsuccessful attempts to work out what we are doing on this extraordinary planet. Those attempts have generated books on anthropology, natural history, evolutionary biology, the physiology of spiritual experience, pilgrimage, archaeology, theology and ethics, as well as travel books.
I'm a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Linnean Society, and have particular passions for waves, foxes, mountains, deer, deserts and the Byzantine world.
I have a very long-suffering wife, Mary, and six wondrous, wild children: Lizzie, Sally, Tom, James, Rachel and Jonny
My website is www.charlesfoster.co.uk. It would be great if you could drop by there. If you'd like to email me to tell me how badly I've got things wrong in my books, I'm at tweedpipe@aol.com
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book thought-provoking and interesting. They appreciate the humor, writing style, and down-to-earth author. However, some feel the pacing is poor and the book lacks nature insights. There are also complaints about the value for money, with some finding it a waste of money.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book thought-provoking and interesting. They appreciate the brilliant concepts and writing style. The book is described as philosophical, humorous, and enlightening.
"I really enjoyed this this book: the subject, the problems it explores (rather than resolves), the humour, the sharpness and the prose...." Read more
"...This is a philosophical, whimsical journey. Not about being a beast but understanding ourselves being beastlike...." Read more
"This book is interesting in terms of understanding the different ways in which people try to reconnect with nature...." Read more
"Madly brilliant. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Thought provoking, insightful, profound, absolutely barking and very, very funny at times..." Read more
Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it interesting and gripping.
"...: the subject, the problems it explores (rather than resolves), the humour, the sharpness and the prose...." Read more
"...The book has elements of humour and some interesting passages about Foster and parenting which I enjoyed...." Read more
"...provoking, insightful, profound, absolutely barking and very, very funny at times. I made my husband read it as well. He concurs...." Read more
"A stunniing, mad, brilliant piece of writing about trying to enter the skin of animals. Every sentence contains a new thought or a good joke...." Read more
Customers appreciate the writing style. They find it brilliant and sharp, with a down-to-earth approach.
"...it explores (rather than resolves), the humour, the sharpness and the prose. How can you describe the perceptions of a badger in human language?..." Read more
"...Shot through with some brilliant concepts and pieces of writing.For example: 'The life of small animals is written in Morse: dots and dashes...." Read more
"A stunniing, mad, brilliant piece of writing about trying to enter the skin of animals. Every sentence contains a new thought or a good joke...." Read more
"...He experiences being a beast to some extent. His writing style is a mixture of poetic prose, science and humour, a bit chaotic." Read more
Customers find the book's pacing slow and the attempt to understand nature disappointing. They also mention that parts of the book are pretentious and the author's dislike for cats is unappealing.
"Surprised by the negative critiques... This is only 'not a nature book' in the way Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is not a motorcycle..." Read more
"...He's also very clever, but I found some parts of the book rather pretentious and his loathing of cats put me off a little...." Read more
"Interesting but misleading, feels like a poor attempt to understand nature..." Read more
Customers find the book a waste of money. They say it's awful and indifferent.
"All about the author and a me me me I I I book. Very indifferent. Many similar books much better." Read more
"Gave up about 20 pages in. Awful." Read more
"A waste of money for me" Read more
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 July 2016I really enjoyed this this book: the subject, the problems it explores (rather than resolves), the humour, the sharpness and the prose. How can you describe the perceptions of a badger in human language? How can you escape your human understanding of the world?
Being a beast is inevitably a reflection on what it is to be a human (indeed one particular human being, Charles Foster). That's kind of the point: we can't escape ourselves. It doesn't set out to be a natural-history book, so shouldn't be criticised for not being one. It is also the only book I've read that honestly attempts to describe what happens to human physiology and mind during a hunt. And Foster does have both a factual and bizarrely specialised knowledge of the animals he studied. Read it with these expectations and you'll love the journey. I guarantee you will never see otters in the same way again. Or earthworms.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 June 2017Surprised by the negative critiques... This is only 'not a nature book' in the way Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is not a motorcycle maintenance book. This is a philosophical, whimsical journey. Not about being a beast but understanding ourselves being beastlike. It is obvious from the outset that the author is only touching on the real-world experiences which are perhaps misleadingly used to sell this read. Real time observation is supplemented with a mix of general knowledge, educated guesswork, supposition and research. The end result is lovely and enriching and should be read with the humour in which it is written. You are never told what to think, simply offered the opportunity to join the writers perspective and maybe change or confirm yours along the way. Well worth a try. Just don't expect an autobiography of a chap living like a beast.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2017Oh Lordy, this is a strange little book.
Foster does attempt pretty much what it says on the tin, he wanted to really know and understand what consists life for badgers, foxes, deer and swifts.
He lived down a hole for weeks, eating earthworms and moving on all fours to keep his "snout" at the badger level. He swam in Devon rivers at night, though he was never enamoured of the life of an otter. He scavenged the fox`s city dustbins with some relish, and had bloodhounds hunting him in the guise of a red deer. Most dauntingly, he followed the migration of swifts, which never, in their relatively long lives, land on solid ground, but spend a life on the wing.
Bringing a more intimate view of nature writing than is the norm, this brings together the disciplines of neuroscience, psychology, memoir and natural history. Foster is for real, going truly feral to find his answers. Unsettling and disturbing, this is no purely philosophical excercise but is a deep meditation of our relationship to the beast in all of usA Fast-paced Comedy Crime Fantasy (unhuman Book 1), well that is what the blurb told me prior to reading. Calling it such, comedy crime fantasy, just gives scope for it to fall between three stools rather than the usual two. In this case however, it just falls.
Set in the Cotswolds it tells the tale of Andy Caplet, a reporter, soon to be ex reporter, and his association with the dark and mysterious Inspector of the title. Caplet is soon to find out that not all the inhabitants of the town are human and he has a ghoulish encounter in a graveyard followed on by a fire and a series of accidents that have him dossing down in Hobbe`s spare room. Andy is such a wimp that even the housekeeper, Mrs Goodfellow, scares him every time she approaches, she does collect teeth however and claims to have some taken from a vampire. She also makes the most delicious meals known to man and beast though, so Andy decides to stick with it.
The horror of his situation nearly unravels his mind, particularly when Hobbes, who he has a growing admiration and respect for, reveals some of his true nature. The methods used to start unravelling a case which seems to relate to the original Dracula, Vlad Tepes, and the Order of The Dragon, can be as brutal as Hobbes nature. When Hobbes goes missing it is time for Andy to step up to the plate, and with assistance from Hobbes friends the human looking troll and the binge drinking dwarf, armed with a leg of lamb and the huge dog, Dregs, he must face the blood lust and human sacrifice that threatens his progress to save Hobbes.
This book is full of comical disasters, word play, puns and comical misunderstandings that are incredibly heavy handed and largely unfunny. Rebus can be funnier than this and with better crime. 313 laborious pages, the first in a series of four books, but alas !, for me the last in a series of four.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 June 2018This book is interesting in terms of understanding the different ways in which people try to reconnect with nature. However I found this approach to be frustrating, the book sees Foster try out various different living conditions of various animals but seems to miss the idea of 'being a beast'. He lives as a human in an animal space which does not allow him to experience living as that animal. I found it to be more an account of how he invades these spaces rather than trying to understand the animal themselves. It would have been a lot better if Foster had focused on how the different animals live as 'beasts' and then discover how to live as a beastly/wild human. I was under the impression the book would see him try to understanding the beastly nature of the various species. The book has elements of humour and some interesting passages about Foster and parenting which I enjoyed. It is not like other nature writing I have read, and that is a good thing. Overall it's just not for me as I felt it was too human-centric.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 February 2016Madly brilliant. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Thought provoking, insightful, profound, absolutely barking and very, very funny at times. I made my husband read it as well. He concurs.
Shot through with some brilliant concepts and pieces of writing.For example: 'The life of small animals is written in Morse: dots and dashes. They dash between the dots. They pause trembling between the dashes - so more of a semicolon than a dot.'
Wonderful.
What is it like - well nothing I have ever read before and I absolutely recommend you read it. Oh and having just read this fear it is frighteningly gushy and want to add - I have never met Charles Foster, am not related to him etc etc.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2016All about the author and a me me me I I I book. Very indifferent. Many similar books much better.
Top reviews from other countries
- MJReviewed in the United States on 3 November 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book.
I heard this author interviewed in KPR and knew I wanted to read his book. It is simply wonderful. I am a Master Naturalist and took this book to one of our meetings and read some portions to our members. They all loved it as well. This is well written and most certainly presents a different way of viewing the animal world. A great read! Gave me lots to think about and that is always a good thing.
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EvaReviewed in France on 21 September 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Un livre surprenant
Foster t’emmène en forêt avec lui et t’apprends beaucoup sur les animaux et aussi sur nous. Ce livre est truffé de faits intéressants mais te fait aussi rêver et philosopher.... je recommande !
- EmEnzReviewed in Australia on 13 December 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars An astounding read.
This book took my breath away. The author's approach to dealing with the beasts described in the book was startling to say the least. At first l thought he was a touch crazy, but l
- anonymReviewed in Germany on 4 November 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book
Charles Foster is an academic and a brillant writer. He combines facts (about the animal world) with storytellig (about his experiences trying to live like different animals, badger, fox, otter, deer...) in a genuine way that is both informative and entertaining and also very personal. To everybody who is wondering what makes living beings being alive (and humans human) the book is highly recommended.
- MarloweReviewed in the United States on 23 May 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary.
I usually don’t buy books or stories with animals because some animal always gets hurt or killed. And I think there’s something like that in the section on red deer (haven’t gotten that far) so I may have to skip that part. But what I have read so far is the most extraordinary book I’ve ever read. It’s intelligent and witty and LOL. Try it.