I loved this book. Understandably, it comes with a lot of warnings. This book is morbid, emotional, gory, and sometimes kinda gross. There were a few spots where I had to set the book down and take a break because the contents were too intense or upsetting. That said, the experience was lovely. It made me really sit with some uncomfortable thoughts and let them reverberate in my brain for a bit. There were ideas in this book that I found familiar, comforting, and even hopeful, but that I’d never put into words myself. A few sentences were a little more complex or academic than I’m used to, so I had to rewind and go over them again to make sure I understood, but most of the text is a smooth read with a fair and steady pace. If you have even a casual interest in animal psychology or thanatology, I’d definitely pick this one up.

 "Scientists have been trying for a long time to find a characteristic that will definitively separate us from the other species. So far, all candidates have fallen. Neither the use of tools, nor culture, morality, or rationality are exclusive of human beings. Nor is a concept of death. We're not a unique species. We're just another animal."

I hadnt realized when I picked this up that it was more philosophy argument than popular science, but I still learned a lot! My one critique of this book is in the production, namely that the included photographs showing animal behavior were often too dark to make out much.

like many other reviewers, i did not know this was a philosophy book before reading it. however (despite disliking philosophy) i enjoyed this. it was informative while broadening my view of how animals may (or may not) understand death

A disclaimer to those who are considering reading this book: THIS IS AN ACADEMIC BOOK, specifically a PHILOSOPHY BOOK. It is NOT creative non-fiction, or a cute fun quick read that you can do in a couple hours. It requires your mind to be constantly engaged in order to get the full picture of what the author is doing.

That said, I found it to be much more accessible than a lot of other philosophical writing. I don't normally read philosophy papers for pleasure, let alone books, but I understood this book and even enjoyed it very much. So as the philosophy book that it was advertised as, I am giving it the full 5 stars. 

It made me think about what death is really supposed to mean, or what it means for someone or something to understand death. Monsó argues that non-human animals can have a concept of death, going against what most other philosophers and scientists throughout history have said. She carefully lays out an argument that incorporates many concepts that I have only just been introduced to, such as "anthropectomy." I appreciate her not presupposing knowledge of basic vocabulary on the reader, like anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism. Her biggest, and I'd argue most brilliant, move is introducing the idea of a "minimal concept of death," which is the minimum amount that a creature should understand in order for us to say that it has some understanding of death. Her process of getting to the minimal concept of death was so fascinating! But honestly, I just really enjoyed reading every chapter in this book! 

HOWEVER, if you're not used to reading academic books like these, where the author lays out an actual argument, giving sub-arguments and evidence for each premise or claim, defining terms multiple times in different ways, then this book may not be for you. But if you DO have experience with reading this kind of thing and this topic interests you, then I'd say that this may be an even enjoyable read for you. If you're interested in philosophical writing, I'd say that this is an example of philosophy done well. At least, in my humble opinion. I'm sure other philosophers could find things to argue against or places where she argues poorly. But I found this whole book rather enlightening! 

One of my favorite book covers of the year, but that's about all the nice things I have to say! This leaned more into a philosophy and morality exploration, and only brief overviews of the animals themselves. So maybe this was just mismarketed? I'm not sure.

Some people might find this dry. It’s a philosophy book about science. But I thought the author did a good job of explaining things. Since it’s about death, it can be sad at times. But it’s a fascinating look at animal (and human) behavior. Do animals understand death? Do humans disregard any form of intelligence or emotion that doesn’t look exactly like ours?