Weaving decades of field observations with exciting new discoveries about the brain, Carl Safina’s book offers an intimate view of animal behavior to challenge the fixed boundary between humans and non-human animals. In Beyond Words, readers travel to Amboseli National Park in the threatened landscape of Kenya and witness struggling elephant families work out how to survive poaching and drought, then to Yellowstone National Park to observe wolves sort out the aftermath of one pack’s personal tragedy, and finally plunge into the astonishingly peaceful society of killer whales living in the crystalline waters of the Pacific Northwest. Beyond Words brings forth powerful and illuminating insight into the unique personalities of animals through extraordinary stories of animal joy, grief, jealousy, anger, and love. The similarity between human and non-human consciousness, self-awareness, and empathy calls readers to re-evaluate how they interact with animals.