What Sheep Think About the Weather: How to Listen to What Animals Are Trying to Say

For readers of Mary Roach and Susan Orlean, What Sheep Think About the Weather asks one of our most intriguing questions: what are animals trying to communicate with us humans? From animal behaviorists to pet psychics, Amelia Thomas will travel far and wide to speak to those who might just have the answers.

Are animals telling us something?Amelia Thomas couldn’t stop wondering what the animals around her were trying to say—whether it was the bee that wouldn’t stop flying around her head, the cows in the random pasture that would walk right up to greet her, the sheep that seems peeved by the weather, or her own puppy yipping and whining even after her every need has seemingly been met. Soon enough, she set out to answer the question: What are animals truly seeking to communicate, not to each other, but to us humans? Her quest will introduce readers to a myriad scientists, experts, and practitioners—from animal behaviorists to anthrozoologists; pet psychics to animal trainers; A.I. experts to indigenous trackers; animal mindfulness gurus to psychologists—all who are listening to vastly different species in vastly different ways. Because listening has never been so important, and if we can learn to do it better, we might find out that the animals have been talking to us all along.

About the Author

AMELIA THOMAS has authored and contributed to over a dozen books for Lonely Planet, and her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Sunday Times, Christian Science Monitor, Middle East Times, and CNN Traveler. She was the host of a documentary about Israel and the West Bank in National Geographic Channel’s “Roads Less Travelled” series. Thomas practices equine bodywork for several charitable organizations, and in addition to her Cambridge University education, she holds a diploma in equine psychology. An inveterate traveler, she has lived all over the globe with her family; currently, they call Nova Scotia home.