Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide

First sentence in author Charles Foster’s Prologue: “I want to know what it is like to be a wild thing.”Unfortunately, if that is the goal this book fails at almost every level. It offers few useful insight into how animals “think” or whether or whether or not (or how) humans can come to any kind of realistic understanding of what it is like to be an animal in the wild.The basic premise seems to come from the wife of one of Foster’s friends. She is a (good) witch and apparently spends part of her time as an animal (transitioning back and forth with the help of hallucinogenics). According to Foster (and the witch) prehistoric shamans spent a lot of their time as animals so that the whole idea of becoming an animal is possible and maybe even easy if one knows how.Foster starts with a badger, an animal that lives underground and subsists mostly on earthworms. Like all wild badgers he rents a backhoe and digs a trench, carving out his underground hole with a shovel. He eats a few worms but has homemade lasagna delivered by a friend. Some deliveries include chorizo and updates on world news. Apparently badgers follow the news avidly and what badger doesn’t like pork sausage? Foster’s justification for the catered diet is that if a badger came upon a tray of lasagna (or a piece of chorizo) it would certainly eat it, so lasagna is OK if someone happens to leave some along the trail to his burrow. Deep questions are pondered without resolution: do badgers use adjectives? (p. 54). Maybe. Maybe not. The badger experiment fails.So does the deer experiment. After stalking and shooting a few and imagining what it is like to be chased down by dogs have a bullet enter your body with fatal consequences, Foster decides he can’t become a deer because he is a predator and deer are prey. No common ground there. Can’t become an otter because they live in the river and are most naturally active at night. Foster tries but eventually retreats (in his wet suit) to the Staghunters’ Inn for several pints and some games of pool. Can’t become a Swift because they fly and never land on the ground their entire life. Foster can’t fly. Can’t become an urban fox because most of them are run over by cars within their first two years. Too dangerous to emulate plus the local constabulary is concerned about him, having not bathed or changed clothes in weeks, hiding in the shrubs at night and spying on things passing by. Like people, for example. Etc, etc, etc.The writing? Extravagantly over the top. Here is an actual sentence from p. 141 (Foster is in a pub eyeballing some women and listening in on their conversation): “And so it went on: bums and then breasts tingled; shapeless pants were mockingly electrified; the fend shui of mantelpiece junk from Benidorm was evaluated. It cackled into the night as I bought narcotic beer I hadn’t thought I’d need, and tried to knuckle down to Greenmantle.” A lot of writing in the book is like this and even if you enjoy reading it the best that can be said is that the quality of the writing far exceeds the quality of the content. And don’t get me started on his metaphors. Even Foster knows they are bad, quoting his friend Burt; “I used to like metaphors until I met you.” (p.64)If there are any insights to be had (and here I am trying to say something nice because right now I am feeling real bad for the Brits over the Brexit thing) I would say that Foster exposes us to a deeper understanding of smells in the wild, especially the smells of plants. One example: pp. 49-50 which combines some good writing with some good insights into the subtlety of smells and their importance to animals. There, I feel better having said something nice. (But for the most part the book stinks as bad as the animal poop he obsesses over.)If you buy this book, skip the content and select something to read from the Bibliography. If you haven’t purchased this book yet I would recommend as an alternative Frans de Waal’s latest book Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (2016), a wonderfully rich exploration of the Umwelt of a variety of insects, mammals and birds. Or just spend some time outdoors watching whatever wildlife you can find (birds in the daytime, feral cats at night, domestic dogs in the park at any hour). If you do this for a while you will have a better understanding of animal behavior than you get from Foster’s book. Plus you will have saved 20 buck$.

This book is quite strange, which I expected and sought out. Many of the descriptions of Foster's experiences and his thoughts on those experiences are nimbly written and very interesting.On the other hand, Foster spends substantial chunks of the book wallowing around inside his own head. Sometimes this feels relevant and worthwhile, but more often it just seems self-indulgent. I found it a chore to read many of these parts. Maybe I should have accepted the book as a traditional memoir with a running theme of "being a beast," rather than a more focused exploration of that topic. But I don't think that's what the book sells itself as, and I don't think it's as interesting or novel a project as really focusing on the relationship between human and animal experience.I was torn on whether to give this book three or four stars. I usually purely enjoy reading, and I can't honestly say I enjoyed reading most of this book. But it made me think, and there were enough bits that were funny or profound or lovely that I feel glad I read it in retrospect, and have therefore rounded up.

This book made me feel uncomfortable in ways that I did not predict. At times I wanted to throw it down and run away. Somehow I read all the way through and I’m not sure if that was a good thing. However, the feelings this book gave me are hard to come by and I’m grateful for the chance to stay with something that was at times beyond my comprehension. The quote, “whatever is human is not alien to me” comes to mind. Charles Foster manages to take the world of beasts and bring them to the human and bridge the gap between to make the reader connect to them.

If this author wasn't tenured at Oxford and Cambridge, he'd be considered a nutcase. But the worst thing that happens to him is being ordered to stop lying on the sidewalk when he was watching London foxes but trying to keep out of their way.Reading this is a fun and fabulous learning experience, and you don't have to live in a badger set or swim with newts or eat a diet of earthworms to have the reading experience!

Reading is a fine way to be transported to a different state of mind and Being a Beast transports via the prose and the subjects to an entirely new state of mind. One I've brushed up against but thank god that the author has had the courage to annunciate.

I really didn't enjoy this. It was difficult to accept any "naturalist" observations from a person who makes no attempt to hide his contempt for so many animals in the kingdom. He also doesn't have any respect for the natural environment and minimizing his presence while out and doing his "experiments", which were basically comprised of rolling around on the ground, being a disturbance, and pooping everywhere. I didn't find his antics charming. I mean, he put a badger skull on a stick thinking that would demonstrate empathy for being a badger!Every single word was dripping with condescension and elitism and disrespect towards animals, and not once did I see him resist anthropomorphizing animals or fighting his childish biases. I found no evidence of him doing actual, extensive scientific research about animals, and only random, shallow trivia about animals to suit his silly narrative.What a waste of writing talent, because occasionally, he did have some nice observations and turns of phrases. However, ultimately this book was not what it purports to be - a sincere attempt to empathize with animals. Disappointing.

Pretty dry. Could have been made more reader friendly, more entertaining rather than scholarly. Lost interest after plodding through a couple chapters.

Weird but good.

Surprised by the negative critiques... This is only 'not a nature book' in the way Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is not a motorcycle maintenance book. This is a philosophical, whimsical journey. Not about being a beast but understanding ourselves being beastlike. It is obvious from the outset that the author is only touching on the real-world experiences which are perhaps misleadingly used to sell this read. Real time observation is supplemented with a mix of general knowledge, educated guesswork, supposition and research. The end result is lovely and enriching and should be read with the humour in which it is written. You are never told what to think, simply offered the opportunity to join the writers perspective and maybe change or confirm yours along the way. Well worth a try. Just don't expect an autobiography of a chap living like a beast.

This book is interesting in terms of understanding the different ways in which people try to reconnect with nature. However I found this approach to be frustrating, the book sees Foster try out various different living conditions of various animals but seems to miss the idea of 'being a beast'. He lives as a human in an animal space which does not allow him to experience living as that animal. I found it to be more an account of how he invades these spaces rather than trying to understand the animal themselves. It would have been a lot better if Foster had focused on how the different animals live as 'beasts' and then discover how to live as a beastly/wild human. I was under the impression the book would see him try to understanding the beastly nature of the various species. The book has elements of humour and some interesting passages about Foster and parenting which I enjoyed. It is not like other nature writing I have read, and that is a good thing. Overall it's just not for me as I felt it was too human-centric.

This was an odd book and as other reviewers have noted, Fosters views seem a little at odds with the whole concept of the book i.e. being an environmentally orientated pseudo-study yet simultaneously harbouring some kind of god complex coupled with something akin to bloodlust. I don’t wish to be critical of the author and ultimately the way that certain views came across were perhaps unintentional but to the outside reader like myself they stood out as being rather brutal and cold. On the positive side, the book has a blend of natural science and the authors experience in these field studies which both were fascinating to read and provided a great insight into the lives of mammals however, you do have to do some serious wading through lengthy passages of directionless musings. Personally, I found myself wondering more about the author than the content of the book upon completion. It was an ok read yet it had the potential to be so much more.

Just when I thought was beginning to understand the horse, I will have to think again! I loved this book and it gave me lots of philosophical questions as well as the comfort of much physiological research. I will now have to read Charles Foster's other books. How did we let him leave Cambridge for Ox***d !

This is a very erudite book so have a dictionary handy but it left an indelible impression on me which is to treat animals kindly because they share much with us humans.