Kingdom of Play
- Auteur: David Toomey (Verenigde Staten)
- Soort boek: dierenboek, natuurboek
- Taal: Engels
- Uitgever: Scribner Books
- Verschijnt: 19 maart 2024
- Omvang: 304 pagina’s
- Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook / luisterboek
- Prijs: $29,00 / $14,99
- Boek bestellen bij: Bol / Libris
Flaptekst boek over dierengedrag van David Toomey
In Kingdom of Play, critically acclaimed science writer David Toomey takes us on a fast-paced and entertaining tour of playful animals and the scientists who study them. From octopuses on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to meerkats in the Kalahari Desert to brown bears on Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, we follow adventurous researchers as they design and conduct experiments seeking answers to new, intriguing questions: When did play first appear in animals? How does play develop the brain, and how did it evolve? Are the songs and aerial acrobatics of birds the beginning of avian culture? Is fairness in dog play the foundation of canine ethics? And does play direct and possibly accelerate evolution?
Monkeys belly-flop, dolphins tail-walk, elephants mud-slide, crows dive-bomb, and octopuses bounce balls. These activities are various, but all are play, and as Toomey explains, animal play can be seen as a distinct behavior—one that is ongoing and open-ended, purposeless and provisional—rather like natural selection. Through a close examination of both natural selection and play, Toomey argues that life itself is fundamentally playful.
A globe-spanning journey and a scientific detective story filled with lively animal anecdotes, Kingdom of Play is an illuminating—and yes, playful—look at a little-known aspect of the animal kingdom.
David Toomey Kingdom of Play recensie
De redactie besteed hier aandacht aan de boekbespreking en recensie van Kingdom of Play, het nieuwe boek van de Amerikaanse auteur David Toomey.
- “Wry…In the end, the belief that animals are no less complex and mysterious than humans prevails in Kingdom of Play. Toomey understands that if we always reduce play to some form of utility, we are returning animals to the status of automatons. As the book winds down, his own enjoyment of the subject comes to the fore.” (The Atlantic)
- “Delightful . . . Toomey makes a compelling case that not only does play offer advantages in natural selection and serve as a potential generator of animal evolution, but the innovation it sparks may even help primates like us influence our own evolution.” (Scientific American)