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Dog Lovers Book Club - October 2017

The October 2017 Book Club is out with another great selection of the latest releases for dog lovers big and small!

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A DOG
And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience

by Gregory Berns

A pathbreaking neuroscientist discovers the link between human and animal minds...What is it like to be a dog? A bat? Or a dolphin? 

To find out, neuroscientist Gregory Berns and his team began with a radical step: they taught dogs to go into an MRI scanner - completely awake. They discovered what makes dogs individuals with varying capacities for self-control, different value systems, and a complex understanding of human speech. And dogs were just the beginning. Berns also explores the fascinating inner lives of wild animals from dolphins and sea lions to the extinct Tasmanian tiger. 
This book will fundamentally reshape how we think about -and treat-animals. Ground-breaking and deeply humane, it is essential reading for all animal lovers.



Hardcover, 320 pages
Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services US, 5th September 2017

RRP: $56.00 from www.booktopia.com.au


DAISY'S GIFT
The remarkable cancer-detecting dog who saved my life
by Claire Guest


Claire Guest was walking her dogs when Daisy, a fox red Labrador, nudged her breast insistently and stared up into her face with her big brown eyes. Sensing something was wrong, Claire visited her GP and soon found out she had a very deep – and difficult to diagnose – form of breast cancer. Daisy had saved her life, simply by smelling her cancer.

With her scientific background and deep love of dogs, Claire intuited that Daisy and her canine pals could save many more lives, and set up the charity Medical Detection Dogs. Though faced with many challenges, Claire and her dogs have proven to be a remarkable asset to cancer detection, and have changed the lives of many seriously ill people and their families.

This is the story of how our relationship with dogs can unleash life-saving talents, changing not only the medical world, but our own lives too.

Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Ebury Publishing, 27th July 2017

RRP: $19.99 from www.booktopia.com.au



THE DOGS OF AVALON
The Race to Save Animals in Peril
by Laura Schenone

Greyhounds, bred to be the fastest racing dogs on earth, are streaks of lightning. Beautiful, astonishing creatures, countless numbers of them disappear each year once they can no longer compete and win.

The Dogs of Avalon introduces us to the strong-willed Marion Fitzgibbon, born in rural Ireland, where animals are valued only for their utility. But Fitzgibbon believes that suffering is felt by all creatures, and she champions the cause of strays, baffling those around her-including her family-as she and a group of local women rescue any animal in need and taking on increasingly risky missions.When Fitzgibbon becomes head of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and focuses on the cause of the greyhound, she faces an entrenched racing industry protected by money and power. She joins forces with an American greyhound activist, a foxhunter's wife, a British lady, and an influential German animal rescuer to create an international network to find these animals homes, confront the racing industry, and provide safe havens where animals can live in peace.

In this powerful story, Schenone's journey helps us understand our deep connection to animals and gives us inspiration in the form of the unforgettable Fitzgibbon, who grapples with compassion and activism and shows the difference we are all capable of making in the world.

Hardcover, 336 pages
Publisher: WW Norton & Co, 22nd August 2017

RRP: $38.95 from www.booktopia.com.au


THE (SUPPOSEDLY) ENLIGHTENED PERSON'S GUIDE TO RAISING A DOG 
by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma, Kac Young


Kac Young never imagined that after a lifetime as a 'cat person' she would fall in love with, and adopt, a tiny rescue dog called Talulah. 

She loved other people's dogs, but never had time... All that changed when she met Talulah during a trip out with friends and just had to take her home to a house in the forest in California, shared with her partner and six cats and visited by deer, squirrels and skunks. The stories of life as a first-time adopter describe Kac's progression from slightly shell-shocked beginner to savvy, adoring dog guardian.

Right from the start, Kac consulted behaviourist Lisa Tenzin-Dolma on all things dog-related, and Lisa's observations and guidance on a wide range of subjects follow Kac's stories, so that those with little experience of living with a dog can get started on the right foot and paw and build a loving, trusting relationship.

Entertaining and informative, this book will appeal to both new and seasoned dog guardians.

Paperback, 80 pages
Publisher: Veloce Publishing Ltd, 12th September 2017


RRP: $29.99 at www.booktopia.com.au

Book Club - Teenagers & Kids Corner

FETCH 
How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home
by Nicole J. Georges


From an award-winning artist, a memoir of life with a difficult, beloved dog that will resonate with anybody who has ever had a less than perfectly behaved pet 

When Nicole Georges was sixteen she adopted Beija, a dysfunctional Shar-pei/Corgi mix—a troublesome combination of tiny and attack, just like teenaged Nicole herself. For the next fifteen years, Beija would be the one constant in her life. Through depression, relationships gone awry, and an unmoored young adulthood played out against the backdrop of the Portland punk scene, Beija was there, wearing her ''Don’t Pet Me'' bandana.

Georges's gorgeous graphic novel Fetch chronicles their symbiotic, co-dependent relationship and probes what it means to care for and be responsible to another living thing—a living thing that occasionally lunges at toddlers. Nicole turns to vets, dog whisperers, and even a pet psychic for help, but it is the moments of accommodation, adaption, and compassion that sustain them. Nicole never successfully taught Beija ''sit'', but in the end, Beija taught Nicole how to stay. 

Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 1st September 2017
For: Teenagers/ Young Adults

RRP: $35.95 at www.booktopia.com.au

POINTY PEMBLETON VISITS THE DOG PARK
by Nat Panzarino, illustrated by Fen Wicker


This gorgeous picture book features our gregarious Greyhound hero Pointy Pembleton on his first visit to the dog park. The story explores themes of diversity and inclusion as Pointy navigates his way through the sometimes tricky process of making new friends.

This full colour, high quality, hardcover picture book is filled with whimsical watercolour illustrations and a charming story written in enchanting rhyme.


$5 from every book sold goes to Greyhound Rescue to help with costs associated with rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of Greyhounds.


For Ages: 3-8 years

RRP: $23.95 exclusively from www.pointypembleton.com


MADELINE FINN AND THE LIBRARY DOG
by Lisa Papp


Madeline Finn does not like to read. Not books. Not magazines. Not even the menu on the ice cream van. Fortunately, Madeline meets Bonnie, a library dog. 

Reading aloud to Bonnie isn't so bad. When Madeline Finn gets stuck, Bonnie doesn't mind. As it turns out, it's fun to read when you're not afraid of making mistakes. Bonnie teaches Madeline Finn that it's Okay to go slow, to keep trying, and to get support from a friend.

A beautiful, reassuring, story for all those struggling to read. Perfect accompaniment for the 'reading dogs' programs used by many schools and libraries. 


Money from the sales of the book will be donated to UK-based Pets As Therapy charity.

Hardcover, 32 pages
Publisher: Walker Books Australia (Australia & NZ only), 1st September 2017

For Ages:  4-8 years

RRP: $24.99
at www.booktopia.com.au


OLLIE & NINA AND… DAFT DOGGIE DOINGS!
by Dr Neil Sullivan

This is a book about two very silly doggies. Ollie and Nina are real dogs and just do what all real dogs do. But in this little book Ollie and Nina's daft Dad has taken the liberty of recording their silly goings-on in an hilarious and insightful cartoon strip. 

Their stories aren't just made up dog jokes - their Dad swears that everything he has written and drawn in these delightful cartoons actually happened. Of course, he admits that he may have used a little artistic license in the telling, you understand. 

Together, Ollie and Nina make a proper comedy duo and anyone who has a dog will be charmed and entertained by the affectionate and gentle humour found here in the daft doggie world of Ollie And Nina And ...

Hardcover, 64 pages
Publisher: Hubble & Hattie, imprint of Veloce Publishing Ltd, 3rd August 2017

RRP: $29.99 from www.booktopia.com.au


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