The Others: How Animals Made Us Human
Paul Shepard was an ecologist with a Yale Ph.D. who spent more than 40 years studying human evolution. WithThe Others: How Animals Made Us HumanShepard, who died in 1996, wrote a masterful book about the relationship we've always had with animals. The idea behind the book, that humans have always depended on animals, and that the dependence has greatly affected what we are, seems simple at first. But Shepard combined prodigious scholarship with eloquent writing to produce a very entertaining and informative look at that special relationship. Among the topics covered inThe Othersare the role animals have played in myth and folklore, the uses to which humans have put animals, and even the role of animals in the cartoons ofGary Larson.