‘The world is now dominated by an animal that doesn’t think it’s an animal. And the future is being imagined by an animal that doesn’t want to be one.

The last day of February and I’m calling it: Book of The Year.

Through a series of lenses, Melanie Challenger reappraises how we regard ourselves, ideologically, psychologically and morally. How a ‘civil war’ rages within as we struggle to reconcile our relationship to our animal selves. How our human ‘exceptionalism’ continues to triumph over our visceral bodies; regarded by many of us as an ‘elaborate walking stick’. And the repercussions for us personally, and for our species? No more clues.

The breath-taking scope e.g. harnessing the very latest in all areas of science and contemporary cultural events (Covid putting 7 billion of us on the naughty step) is deployed in such a lucid style. Even I could follow the ‘gnarly’ intricacies of bioethics. When we allow (?) a surrogate chimp to birth a human child will it be called a ‘humanzee’? Why does Saudi Arabia feel entitled to accord robots citizenship but not women? And what do the experiences of dicephaic vs craniopgus twins (Google it, darling) tell us about private ownership of conscious experience?

I humbly predict a bull run by psychotherapists and clinical psychologists working with somatic psychology and trauma, looking at you Arielle Schwartz. Or relationship counselling James Earl.  ‘Animal’ also dovetails with recent work of Tim Spector and the microbial influence of our gut on emotion. It’s a ‘left brain’ challenge to conventional ways of thinking about that old Cartesian dance: am ‘I’ a body or do ‘I’ have a body?‘

But, as it’s a Sunday, I’m going to bang on about the implications for climate change. Compared to the top-down techno evangelism of Bill Gate's ‘How To Avoid A Climate Disaster’, Melanie asks us to re-evaluate our ‘selves’ from the ground up. With humility (as in ‘Hummus’ from the earth). To reconsider those species we share the planet with. ‘Share’ in this context being ironic - we’re effectively a ‘new Ice Age’ as far as most of the 8 million species of animals are concerned.

A secular revision of our relationship to ‘our-selves’ via the environment we (mostly deny) we co-create is implored. Not via some ‘nature knows best ‘Rousseau type flowery way but via empirical science. Whatever it is that turns the water of neurochemicals into the wine of consciousness we’re a long way from finding out. Till then,  let’s take a moment to revise our relationship to our animal selves for the sake of all the Earths animal species, including our -selves.