Bats Sing, Mice Giggle; The Surprising Science of Animal's Inner Lives is an uneven collection of random animal behaviour facts grouped into themed chapters, rather than a cohesive book on animal behaviour.

I found this book to be rather frustrating and annoying. All the information presented in the book has the potential to be interesting, but a lot of the topics were only covered in passing, with little depth and the reader would really like to know more. On occasion, some of the topics would just break off. The writing style was also somewhat erratic, with some sections reading like a kiddies book, while other sections read more like a standard popular science book. Apparently, no editor went anywhere near this book!

While the book is interesting, it would probably work better as a bathroom reader or when you only have time for short sections at a go, otherwise the lists of animal facts would become rather boring. ( )

A solid, well-organized and very readable popular overview of current findings in the study of animal behaviour. I'm giving it four stars for inclusivity and clarity, but I was frequently annoyed by the obviously 'catchy' chapter titles and similar choices in presentation, meant to catch us simple-minded laity. But who cares - possibly the best aspect of it is the 'further reading' at the end, so if you want to know more about tool, linguistic capabilities, or whatever grabs your special interest you can read on. The basic point the authors are making also shines through: We're not all that special, get used to it. Other animals reason, grieve, feel emotional and physical pain, love, tease, lie..... just about everything we do and claim we do uniquely ..... some other animal also does and often more perceptively and usually with more grace than our own clumsy and self-justifying cruel selves.... OK they don't say it that harshly, that's me speaking, but it's evident between the lines.

I see that a number of reviewers below admit disappointment, but I don't think the book ever pretended it was going to go into any depth about anything, it truly is an overview. **** ( )

I was looking forward to this book, but ended up frustrated. The authors included a lot of sentence-long summaries of papers and abstracts but didn't reference them in the text. I wanted to know more about what they wrote about and see which papers they referenced, but couldn't. It was almost as if they were selling these great, human-animal bond-changing ideas to the public but were afraid to show that there was real research and work behind it. (Perhaps because they are researchers who work with animals to better human life instead of study and better animal lives? I'm not sure.) It seemed like they couldn't decide who their audience was - the general public or animal scientists looking for a read? The book ended up irritating both sides of me. I couldn't even finish the book because I just didn't trust the authors. What a shame, because the writing was decent and the presentation of facts was enthusiastic. ( )

I have been a zoo veterinarian and private practice now for over 43 years. I love animals and I also love this book. It talks about amazing attributes that animals possess discovered with research. Our ability to measure many subtle energies that exist in our world has helped us discover explanations for how animals do amazing things. I believe each individual within a species is different and each species has unique characteristics differing from other species. Recent science is reported in this book. It is filled with really neat observations and many hypotheses about how these animals interact with the environment. It is hard to put down as the stories are really interesting to me. I now understand why basic zoological research can help us develop many useful tools for humans. If we understand animals better we will benefit by learning how they do the things they do. Energy fields are being discovered by quantum physics and the animals seem to use these energy fields as a matter of routine while humans argue about their existence. There are many references to the studies but I will take the authors word for what they think right now and hope to learn more as science continues to reveal this world stranger than fiction. I believe there is much potential for medical science in learning from animals. ( )

I was disappointed in this book. With a title so playful as Bat's Sing, Mice Giggle, The Surprising Science of Animals' Inner Lives, I was expecting a more "heartwarming" approach to teaching the reader the science of these mysterious phenomenons. It was just too heavy handed on the science side and too dry on the emotional side for me. I enjoy science and discovering new things, but I am not a scientist, and I was expecting a more "readable" book for the average animal/nature lover. ( )