I think I've said before but I don't really read new books. I tend to go for proven classics and tend to go for fiction. However, I am also a sucker for bookshop purchases. I was in one of Dublin's well known establishments when I spotted not one but three books in the top ten section. I was unsure about picking up The Secret Life of Cows but I perused the foreword by Alan Bennett and it piqued my curiosity.
In the book, Rosamund Young goes into the personalities and the family history of her cows, telling various stories about them that, she argues, show their personality and intelligence. She argues that people see personalities in other domesticated creatures like dogs and cats but hardly ever apply this belief to farm animals like chickens, sheep, pigs and lambs. An argument that has won me over. If the book was just about this, it might just be a quirky distraction but she uses her argument to further argue that we should take personality (and individuality) into account when raising these animals. It is an excellent argument against factory farming and over-reliance on medication. It is also a case for maintaining our hedge rows and how the loss of any part of nature disrupts the whole. The book is fun, quirky and educational and it is worth your time.
Writing lesson: there is more to animals than you think
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