Perfect Harmony -- Human Animal Companions

Author: (American) Carl Sagan, translated by Chen Huiwen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Earth, two peoples, humans and their animal companions! This book reveals the trajectory of animals in shaping human history from the perspectives of history, mythology, and legend. These animals coexist harmoniously with humans, accompanying them day and night. Readers can gain insights into the intimate relationship between humans and animals through this book. It is a fascinating and enriching read. Reading this book deepens our understanding of history, humanity itself, and all other creatures on Earth as fellow inhabitants of this planet. – Publishers Weekly In this book, the author provides a fresh perspective. It is a classic work that combines humanities history, natural history, sociology, and philosophy. – Chicago Tribune The Perfect Harmony describes two interconnected themes: animals and human history. The book is divided into 25 chapters, exploring how animals and humans developed long-term relationships, humanity’s increasing reliance on animals, and the role animals played in the evolution of human culture. In the book, readers can see how dogs, horses, pigs, cows, sheep, rabbits, cats, chickens, and even fish, silkworms, and bees gradually moved from the wild into pens, intertwining their myths, histories, and human evolution. In the course of human evolution, animals have played such a crucial role! They have driven human evolution, helped humans develop, and aided human survival. For example, goats and sheep, as some of the earliest domesticated animals, have kept humans warm with their fur, nourished them with their milk, satisfied them with their bones and meat, and even used their bodies as currency for the earliest primitive commercial transactions. The original diversity of various animals gradually revolved around a central point: meeting human needs. The Perfect Harmony is permeated with reflections on how humans should establish relationships with animals they domesticate. The author argues that humans should understand the natural needs of animals and provide for them, as this is the best way to ensure the continuation of human life. Therefore, although the book is titled The Perfect Harmony, it is actually filled with descriptions of the current disharmony between humans and animals, or an "imperfect harmony." The call for "perfect harmony" and the establishment of an equal "partnership" between humans and animals is the true purpose of the author’s writing this book. Animals, like humans, are another people on this planet; they are irreplaceable companions to humans. So, let us care for animals, view them with an equal heart, and not so actively isolate ourselves. When the entire human race no longer feels like the only people on this planet and truly treats animals as partners, individuals can break free from the torment of loneliness.