What A Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcombe
From All-Creatures.org Book, CD and Video Review Guide

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Author: Jonathan Balcombe
Reviewed by: Various People

What a Fish Knows
By Jonathan Balcombe
Available from Amazon

Reviews:

What a Fish Knows is the best book on fish I have ever read. Sprinkled throughout with engrossing anecdotes and humor, Jonathan Balcombe’s inspiring treatise takes the reader on a fascinating and deeply moving journey into the lives of fish, showing them to be sentient individuals with personalities, minds, and relationships, not primitive, dimwitted, and unfeeling creatures who feel no pain when chased, caught, and killed. Balcombe’s eloquent, persuasive, highly readable tour de force has a single, luminous message: fish deserve more respect, care, and protection.
- Chris Palmer, author of Shooting in the Wild and Confessions of a Wildlife Filmmaker

I thought I knew a lot about fish. Then I read What a Fish Knows. And now I know a lot about fish! Stunning in the way it reveals so many astonishing things about the fish who populate planet Earth in their trillions, this book is sure to “deepen” your appreciation for our fin-bearing co-voyagers, the bright strangers whose world we share.
- Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel

Fishes are greatly misunderstood and grievously maligned. Now, in What a Fish Knows, Jonathan Balcombe uses the latest science to provide a comprehensive picture of just who fishes are. You will learn that fishes have distinct personalities, experience a wide range of emotions, form intricate social relationships, and are wonderful parents. Indeed, this forward-looking and long overdue book is an integral part of reconnecting with the fascinating animals with whom we share our magnificent planet.
- Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence

What a Fish Knows draws on the latest science to present a fresh look at these remarkable creatures in all their breathtaking diversity and beauty. Fishes conduct elaborate courtship rituals and develop lifelong bonds with shoalmates. They also plan, hunt cooperatively, use tools, curry favor, deceive one another, and punish wrongdoers. We may imagine that fishes lead simple, fleeting lives―a mode of existence that boils down to a place on the food chain, rote spawning, and lots of aimless swimming. But, as author Jonathan Balcombe demonstrates, the truth is far richer and more complex, worthy of the grandest social novel.
- Jane Velez-Mitchell, JaneUnChained.com

About the Author:

Jonathan Balcombe was born in England, raised in New Zealand and Canada, and has lived in the United States since 1987.

He has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology (the study of animal behavior) from the University of Tennessee, where he studied communication in bats. He has published over 50 scientific papers on animal behavior and animal protection.

Formerly Department Chair for Animal Studies with the Humane Society University, and Senior Research Scientist with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Jonathan is currently Director of Animal Sentience with the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, in Washington, DC.

In his spare time Jonathan enjoys biking, baking, birdwatching, piano, painting, and trying to understand the squirrels on his deck.

For more, visit Jonathan's website.

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