There's a tiny amount of domesticated wolf in all of us. The relationship between canids and humans goes back nearly 40,000 years, when dogs split away from wolves. With our dogs, we have traveled the ancient track from hunter-gatherers to modern humans. However, this track now seems to offer an uncertain future for humankind and society.
Learning from Dogs shows how and why now, more than ever, we humans need to learn from our dogs. At times the book relates personal stories through autobiography, diary, and blog entries. Other times it reinforces a point with speculative and imaginative fictional narrative. Throughout the book, there is a foundation about the history of wolves, dogs, and humans, as the author injects factual research to assist us to more fully understand the importance of this unique relationship.
With just the right blend of humor, story-telling, perception, compassion, and insight, the author shares his unusual perspective and how he came to share what he’s learned through a lifetime of observation and interaction with dogs.
Readers who love dogs, or any animals, will connect with this book and become more fully aware of why our animal friends are valuable to learn from to help us heal the challenges of the 21st century. Occasionally launching into intellectual tangents that will provide intrigue and inspiration for the heart and soul, the book ultimately returns to the central thesis: “What we can (and should) learn from dogs.”
Pat Shipman, retired adjunct professor of anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University, and the author of The Animal Connection and The invaders; How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction, described the book as, "both wise and thoughtful. It also includes some of the best writing about the intimate and special relationship between dogs and humans I have ever read."
The author is a child of the post-war era in Great Britain having been born in London just six months before the end of World War II. After a rather shaky attempt at being educated, including two years studying for a diploma in electrical engineering, his first job was as a commercial apprentice at the British Aircraft Corporation in Hertfordshire, England. The author then joined the sales team at British Visqueen, part of ICI Plastics Division, then traveled out to Australia in 1968 to join the sales team at ICI's Inorganic Chemicals Division in Sydney. A chance meeting with a professional photographer opened up the opportunity of the author working as a freelance journalist for the Finish magazine Koti Posti resulting in the author spending a year in the Australian outback writing articles about Finns engaged in a variety of fascinating lives, before returning to Europe in 1970. Back in England, the author was employed as a field salesman by IBM's Office Products division. Then some eight years later, the author formed his own business, becoming the eight Commodore PC dealer and later becoming an IBM PC dealer. The author's company also became famous for producing and globally distributing a British-made word processing program: Wordcraft. The author has acted successfully as a sales and marketing consultant for small and large organisations and has been a visiting teacher at both English and French business schools. In 2007, the author met his present wife and fellow-born Londoner, Jean, who for many years had been rescuing homeless dogs from the streets of San Carlos, Mexico where she then lived. The author subsequently moved out with Pharaoh, his German Shepherd dog, to be with Jean, and in 2010 the author and his wife, and 14 dogs and 5 cats, moved to the USA eventually settling in Southern Oregon close to the small town of Merlin. In July, 2009 Paul started writing a blog under the same name as this book, a blog that the author still maintains on a daily basis.
