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  Birds, Bats and Minds. Tales of a Revolutionary Scientist: Donald R. Griffin. Volume One

  Carolyn A. Ristau

  In this three-volume biography, we revisit the life and accomplishments of the revolutionary scientist, Donald R. Griffin. He encountered a lifetime of initial hostile resistance to his ideas and studies; now they are largely accepted. He and a colleague discovered the phenomenon of echolocation used by bats to navigate and capture insects, proposed that birds navigate guided by such cues as the sun and stars, and suggested that animals are likely aware, thinking and feeling beings. Forty interviews with his colleagues and friends help us understand the young emerging scientist and the mature researcher. We learn about his and others’ research up to the present times. We gain insights into his thinking and the rigors and delights of fieldwork. Efforts to promote animal well-being intrinsically depend upon the insights from his groundbreaking ideas.

  The first volume describes the young Griffin as a child enthusiastically exploring nature near his Cape Cod home; keeping “scientific “journals of his animal observations; and as a teenager enticing others to join him in banding thousands of birds for his migration studies. He creates a very local scientific society with its own “professional" publication about nature in Cape Cod.. As a teenager, he has his first publication in a bona fide professional scientific journal. The reserved New England culture and tales of his impressive ancestors all influence the young Griffin.

  As Harvard undergraduates, he and his friend, Robert Galambos, make the stupendous discovery that bats emit ultrasonic sounds and start their quest to discover why? Later, war-related studies at Harvard allow Griffin to learn about radar and instrumentation that become essential to his future echolocation research.

  His first faculty position at Cornell and then at Harvard provide improved finances to support his wife and growing family and to continue his work on avian navigation and bat sonar. To track the birds, he learns to fly. To his astonishment, he discovers that bats use echolocation to find and capture tiny insects, not just to navigate. However, there are few believers in these discoveries. Following the path of von Humboldt in Venezuela, he discovers birds that echolocate. He becomes embroiled in controversy: not only about bats’ echolocation abilities, but also, for lack of definitive evidence, his resistance to accepting animals’ magnetic sensing. But the field of echolocation blossoms. His many musings and discoveries find further verification in modern research.

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  Birds, Bats and Minds. Tales of a Revolutionary Scientist: Donald R. Griffin. Volume Three

  Carolyn A. Ristau

  In this three-volume biography, we revisit the life and accomplishments of the revolutionary scientist, Donald R. Griffin. He encountered a lifetime of initial hostile resistance to his ideas and studies; now they are largely accepted. He and a colleague discovered the phenomenon of echolocation used by bats to navigate and capture insects, proposed that birds navigate guided by such cues as the sun and stars, and suggested that animals are likely aware, thinking and feeling beings. Forty interviews with his colleagues and friends help us understand the young emerging scientist and the mature researcher. We learn about his and others’ research up to the present times. We gain insights into his thinking and the rigors and delights of fieldwork. Efforts to promote animal well-being intrinsically depend upon the insights from his groundbreaking ideas.

  Volume three of the Griffin biography emphasizes his daring proposition that animals are likely to be aware, think, and have feelings. He is castigated as setting back science, but he amasses an enormous array of supportive evidence discussed in several of his books. Philosophers examine related issues. Griffin also tackles the possibility of human echolocation, the mysteries of bats' “terminal buzz,” beaver social behavior, and the “near sound” acoustics of honeybee communication. With Katy Payne, he plans studies of elephants’ social behavior to assess what it is like to be an elephant and to guide optimal protective measures. The influence of several women in his life is described, noting their accomplishments, intelligence and independence. We obsereve the struggles of some women scientists and Griffins’ support of many. During his “retirement” from Rockefeller University and move back to Cape Cod and the Harvard Field Station, he writes several books about the new field he had founded, “Cognitive Ethology,” and actively conducts research. Finally, Volume three includes a compilation of statements about Griffin’s life and work from friends, colleagues and the media that may be summarized as Griffin being an intensely curious man, a remarkable intellect, a revolutionary scientist, and a most admirable human being, The volume has extensive Appendices, includine a timeline, a list of publications, and a glossary of terms.

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  Birds, Bats and Minds. Tales of a Revolutionary Scientist: Donald R. Griffin. Volume Two

  Carolyn A. Ristau

  In this three-volume biography, we revisit the life and accomplishments of the revolutionary scientist, Donald R. Griffin. He encountered a lifetime of initial hostile resistance to his ideas and studies; now they are largely accepted. He and a colleague discovered the phenomenon of echolocation used by bats to navigate and capture insects, proposed that birds navigate guided by such cues as the sun and stars, and suggested that animals are likely aware, thinking and feeling beings. Forty interviews with his colleagues and friends help us understand the young emerging scientist and the mature researcher. We learn about his and others’ research up to the present times. We gain insights into his thinking and the rigors and delights of fieldwork. Efforts to promote animal well-being intrinsically depend upon the insights from his groundbreaking ideas.

  In Volume two, Griffin leaves the hostile environment at Harvard to accept an invitation to establish a new institute of animal behavior studies at the Rockefeller University (RU), and helps establish a field station. He entices the ornithologist Peter Marler to join him. During his studies of puzzling fishing bats at the tropical research station in Trinidad, Griffin meets and later marries the noted marine scientist Jocelyn Crane, who manages the station with famed naturalist William Beebe. Griffin pursues ground-breaking research with bats and, using radar tracking, of migrating birds across the sea. Detailed descriptions are provided of the findings regarding bats and their use of echolocating signals. The innovative work of numerous RU animal behavior researchers is described as is the harsh and strenuous work of field research and the thrill and joy in the scientists’ discoveries.

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  Happiness – Concept, Measurement and Promotion

  Yew Kwang NG

  While interests in issues pertaining to happiness have been long-standing, we have witnessed recently an increasing focus by both scholars and members of the general public. ‘Subjective well-being (SWB) is an extremely active area of research with about 170,000 articles and books published on the topic in the past 15 years’ (Diener et al. 2018, Abstract). Not only psychologists (e.g. Kahneman et al. 1999, Diener et al. 2010, 2018) and sociologists (e.g. Veenhoven 1984, 1993, 2010, 2017), but also economists have made substantial investigations.1 After about 2–3 decades of gestation since the first publication on happiness issues by an economist (Easterlin 1974), contributions from economists has mushroomed over the last two decades or so.2 I published a paper (Ng 1978) four years after Easterlin and continue to maintain interest until now. In this book, I hope to show how an individual and a society/country may increase happiness. Despite the fact that happiness has a genetic element (Lykken & Tellegen 1996, Lyubomirsky & Layous 2013, Minkov & Bond 2017), it can be increased (Lyubomirsky 2005, Carrillo et al. 2020);3 one may even learn or be trained to be happier (e.g. Loveday et al. 2018, Rowland & Curry 2018, Ruch et al. 2018, Liu et al. 2020). At least for myself, my happiness has increased by many times since its low (but still positive) during my early thirties. I hope that many readers may learn from this book to achieve the same or even larger successes. My advice is not just based on my personal experience, but also on the research findings of many researchers from whom I have learned enormously. I believe that this book is useful not only for an individual wishing to increase happiness, or for a government willing to do good for the people, but also for a happiness researcher and an economist if she wants her economics to contribute to social welfare. (On the other hand, the concern for the danger of a paternalistic government should also be kept in mind; see, e.g. Frey 2018).

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  Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change

  Kathrin Herrmann (ed.) and Kimberley Jayne (ed.)

  Animal experimentation has been one of the most controversial areas of animal use, mainly due to the intentional harms inflicted upon animals for the sake of hoped-for benefits in humans. Despite this rationale for continued animal experimentation, shortcomings of this practice have become increasingly more apparent and well-documented. However, these limitations are not yet widely known or appreciated, and there is a danger that they may simply be ignored. The 51 experts who have contributed to Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change critically review current animal use in science, present new and innovative non-animal approaches to address urgent scientific questions, and offer a roadmap towards an animal-free world of science.

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  Mangy Curs and Stoned Horses: Animal Control in the District of Columbia from the Beginnings to About 1940

  Hayden M. Wetzel

  Mangy Curs describes: the efforts of the DC government to corral stray animals (farm animals and pets) from streets and parks (police and the pound service); issues of cruelty to animals in public places (Humane Society); sheltering strays, mostly dogs and cats (Animal Rescue League, others); and collection of dead animals from the streets (contractors, city crew). It is the only study on this subject ever written.

  The text runs about 260 pages (with illustrations) and a further 100 pages of appendixes (complete list of DC laws/regulations/ court decisions regarding animals, 40 pages of statistics, plus anecdotes and miscellaneous side topics such as pet stores, letters to the police about animals, protecting animals during wartime raids). The text is laden with amusing anecdotes (taking up Pres. Grant’s cow, furious mobs of hog owners attacking the pound wagon) and contemporary observations (“A dog is as dirty as a boy”).

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  Animal Welfare in the Asia-Pacific Region

  Erich Yahner

  An annotated bibliography of relevant materials published between 1997 and 2019.

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  Attitudes Toward Animal Research and Experimentation

  Erich Yahner

  An annotated bibliography of relevant materials published between 1981 and 2019.

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  Humane Education

  Erich Yahner

  An annotated bibliography of relevant materials published between 1991 and 2019.

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  Prison Dog-Training Programs

  Erich Yahner

  An annotated bibliography of relevant materials published between 1987 and 2019.

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  Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief

  Kristin Andrews, Gary L. Comstock, G.K.D. Crozier, Sue Donaldson, Andrew Fenton, Tyler M. John, Cassie Meré Johnson, L. Syd M. Johnson, Robert C. Jones, Will Kymlicka, Letitia Meynell, Nathan Nobis, and David Peña-Guzman

  In Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief, a group of renowned philosophers considers these questions. Carefully and clearly, they examine the four lines of reasoning the courts have used to deny chimpanzee personhood: species, contract, community, and capacities. None of these, they argue, merits disqualifying chimpanzees from personhood. The authors conclude that when judges face the choice between seeing Kiko and Tommy as things and seeing them as persons—the only options under current law—they should conclude that Kiko and Tommy are persons who should therefore be protected from unlawful confinement "in keeping with the best philosophical standards of rational judgment and ethical standards of justice."

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  Prodigal Pets: A History of Animal Sheltering in America and the Origin of the No Kill Movement

  Susan K. Houser

  In 224 pages, this book traces the history of animal sheltering in the United States of America and its gradual transition from 1990 onwards into support for the "no-kill" goal in which less than 10% of animals entering shelters are euthanized. The includes extensive reporting identifying trends in animal shelter intakes and outcomes. All sources are carefully cited.