Charles Foster. Being a Beast: Foster recounts a unique investigation that forcefully challenges orthodox thinking about human nature. In five first-person experiments he first studies an animal’s physiology and then adopts its way of living within its own natural space. These experiments go far beyond most people’s comfort zones, effectively bridging the gap between human and animal life. Foster discovers that natural limits to personal autonomy are surprisingly elastic; that personal identity is indeed something real and best confirmed by trying to erase it; and that we can overcome solipsism to know and connect with other minds – animals perhaps more easily than humans. Despite affirming shamanism, Foster forgoes sentimentality towards animals while making a powerful case for wilderness protection and biodiversity that shatters the boundaries we typically draw around ourselves. [recommended by Steve Robinson, Brandon University]