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Elizabeth Marshall Thomas & Sy Montgomery

Tamed & Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

Drawing on their years of experience among animals around the world, best friends and coauthors Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and Sy Montgomery explore the minds, lives, intelligences, and mysteries of creatures domestic and wild—and the human connection with the rest of animate creation. Citing the latest scientific research and sharing their personal observations of lions, octopuses, dogs, rats, slugs, sharks, and others, these two nationally bestselling authors challenge the notion of human superiority. They argue for a different worldview: one that places humankind back among the wondrous array of all the world’s living creatures, each with his or her own astounding abilities, with capacities for not only instinct but also insight, learning, and culture.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas has spent a lifetime observing other creatures and other cultures from her own backyard in Peterborough to the African savannah. In her 13 acclaimed books, she has chronicled the daily lives of hunter-gatherers, lions, tigers, cats, dogs, wolves, deer, and elephants—and imagined the lives of prehistoric humans in two acclaimed novels. Her most recent book, The Hidden Life of Life, was published this spring. She was elected five times to the Peterborough Board of Selectmen, on which she served for 15 years.

For her books, articles and documentaries, Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Zaire and handled a wild tarantula in French Guyana. She’s scuba dived with octopuses and great white sharks and hiked into cloud forests and deserts after animals as diverse as tree kangaroos and snow leopards. She is the author of 24 books on animals for adults and children, including the National Book Award finalist, The Soul of an Octopus. She is married to author Howard Mansfield and lives in Hancock.