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Title: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home : And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 0-609-80533-9 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: I'm Convinced
Comment: First let me say, parts of the book are rather dry. Perhaps that's the scientist doing his best to provide adequate proof. I found myself wanting to say, come on already... I accept your arguent, give me some more stories.
With that said, I did enjoy the book and find Sheldrake's proof more than adequate. Many animals are sensitive in ways we don't understand.
There was a story, from the book, of someone who was going to commit suicide by overdose. When they went to open the bottle, their springer spaniel jumped in their lap, bearing it's teeth and growling fiercly. The person was so shaken that they put the pills away, at which point, the springer jumped back in the lap and happily lapped at their owners face.
I knew of a young girl who was walking home, down a deserted street, when a sedan approached with a man demanding that she get in the car. She began to walk faster... the car sped up... the demands became angrier... The car stopped, and a man got out and came towards her... She said the only preyer she could think of at the time. "God, please help me." Suddenly two dogs appeared and began barking at the man. Shaken, but not disuaded, he reached for the girl, and a beagle juped up and bit his wrist. That was enough, the man got back into the car and it sped off.
It has been over 6 years since that incident and the girl still goes to the farmhouse near where this happened to visit Molly and Dolly.
By the way, that was not their names when all of this happened... You see, no one had ever seen these two dogs before... before that fateful night when a young girls prayer was answered... by two dogs who appeared from nowhere.
This story was related by Paul Harvey on his program *The Rest of the Story* December 8, 1999
Have you ever found yourself staring at someone and they turn and look directly at you. How do they do that? How do pigeons find their way home from hundreds of miles away? How do some dogs react when their owner merely has the thought of coming home?
Good questions.
This book doesn't provide all the answers, but it establishes the reality which is a significant step.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fun and Informative
Comment: Sheldrake has spent a lifetime studying animals but looks outside the box of conventional wisdom in this engaging book about family pets. He suggests that the animals we know best, the cats and dogs who live in our homes, can teach us the most. He looks closely at several categories of oft-reported -but sometimes disregarded- types of animal behavior: predicting when their owners will return home, empathy, telepathy, sense of direction, and premonitions. Using replicable and rigorous experimental methods he demonstrates that something indeed is going on here, something they can not be easily described by conventional explanations. Sheldrake posits psychic connections that he calls "morphic bonds" exist among some creatures, including bees in a hive and schools of fish, and may well exist between some animals and the humans closest to them. Sheldrake clearly explains that such bonds do not occur among all pets or even among the same pets in all situations, but they definitely do seem to exist.
This is a fun book for animal-lovers, full of engaging anecdotes about dogs, cats, horses, and birds who enjoy strong emotional bonds with their owners that allow them to accomplish seemingly-unbelievable feats. But it is also an eye-opening book, for Sheldrake has applied some scientific techniques to both debunk fraudulent claims and to confirm those that have no conventional explanation. His "morphic bonds" are persuasive, especially to those who have lived closely with animals and observed their behavior in close quarters.
Rating: 1
Summary: shoddy science
Comment: What a disappointment. Some of the "science" here wouldn't pass muster in a high school science fair. The main problem is that he fails to adequately control for other variables, so that his results may easily be tainted by other factors. For instance, he has the owners themselves record the observations of their pets. What proud owner, consciously or subconsciously, wouldn't want their Fido or Fluffy to be a star performer?
The sampling size is small and, he admits, skewed towards those whose pets show positive results. Some incidents seem to be the result of sheer coincidence (Ruggles, pg. 106-7), or the result of the dog's actions triggering thoughts in the owner (pg. 124). There is also association by innuendo, where Sheldrake discusses cases where other factors cannot be ruled out, then presents a case or two which "proves" psychic ability. He also doesn't deal with instances where pets had a reaction not associated with any definitive behavior by the owner. Not only that, he presents cases where the pet responds to when the owner starts home, cases where the pet responds to when the owner *thinks* of going home, and cases where the pet responds to when the owner is approaching home. With so many choices, it's no wonder he gets quite a few hits.
Mitchell and Rickard's LIVING WONDERS demolishes the myth of canine loyalty after death, and Budiansky's THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS states that other researchers were unable to replicate Sheldrake's amazing results. I like pets just as much as anyone else, though I don't feel the need to glorify them with powers that their small brains are incapable of possessing.
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Title: The Sense of Being Stared At : And Other Aspects of the Extended Mind by RUPERT SHELDRAKE ISBN: 060960807X Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness by Rupert Sheldrake, Terence McKenna, Ralph Abraham, Jean Houston ISBN: 0892819774 Publisher: Park Street Pr Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance & the Habits of Nature by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 089281537X Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science (2nd Edition with Update on Results) by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 0892819898 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: A New Science of Life by Rupert Sheldrake ISBN: 0892815353 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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