Some of my blogs are based on life experience, travels, adventures, accidental encounters, cultural exploits, and personal deliberation. Others are based on extensive scientific research. For the latter, I use articles, papers, journals, movies, notes, personal communication, and books.
I’ve been reading books since I learned to read at about 5 years old. Since then, besides being an avid reader (I read nine languages), I’ve been collecting books as well; I tend to form a very personal relationship with the books I read, and I couldn’t think of parting with them. My home is where my books are. Many of them, I’ve read more than once.
Giving you all the titles in my personal library would be highly time-consuming and beyond the point. I have chosen, therefore, to share with you a few of the titles that I think will interest you because they have helped me to form the professional opinion that I express in the blogs and articles you’ve been reading on this site. Inevitably, they have also had an impact on my personal stance on life, the two being interconnected in more ways than one.
Here are the works I chose to share with you and recommend for further reading. I hope you’ll find them as great an inspiration as I did and that they may serve you as well as they have served me.
Enjoy your reading,
R~
Recommended books
- Abrantes, R. (1997) The Evolution of Canine Social Behavior. Wakan Tanka Publishers.
- Abrantes, R. (1997) Dog Language. Wakan Tanka Publishers.
- Baker, R. (2006) Sperm Wars: Infidelity, Sexual Conflict, and Other Bedroom Battles. Basic Books
- Baker, R. R. and Bellis, M. (1999) Human Sperm Competition. Springer.
- Bateson, P and Martin, P. (2007) Measuring Behaviour: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press; 3rd ed.
- Bazzett, T. J. (2008) An Introduction to Behavior Genetics. Sinauer Associates, Inc.
- Bell, G. (1982) The Masterpiece of Nature: The Evolution and Genetics of Sexuality. University of California Press.
- Blackmore, S. (2000) The Meme Machine. Oxford University Press, USA.
- Brooker, R. J. (2008) Genetics: Analysis and Principles. McGraw-Hill.
- Blum, D. (1998) Sex on the brain. Penguin Books.
- Budiansky, S. (1997) The Nature of Horses. The Free Press. (April 8, 1997)
- Case, L. P. (2003) The Cat: Its Behavior, Nutrition and Health. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Case, L. P. (2005) The Dog: Its Behavior, Nutrition and Health. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Catania, A. C. (1997) Learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 4th ed.
- Chance, P. (2008) Learning and Behavior. Wadsworth-Thomson Learning, Belmont, CA, 6th, ed.
- Copi, I. M. and Cohen, C. (2010) Introduction to Logic. Prentice Hall. 14th ed.
- Coppinger, R. and Coppinger, L. (2001) Dogs: a Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution. Scribner.
- Darwin, C. (1872) The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals. John Murray (the original edition).
- Darwin, C. (1859) On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 1st ed.
- Dawkins, R. (1996) The Blind Watchmaker. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Dawkins, R. (1999) The Extended Phenotype.Oxford University Press, USA.
- Dawkins, R. (2000) Unweaving the Rainbow. Mariner Books.
- Dawkins, R. (2005) The Ancestor’s Tale. Mariner Books.
- Dawkins, R. (2006) The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, USA.
- De Waal, F. (1983) Chimpanzee Politics – Power and Sex Among Apes. Harpercollins.
- Dennett, D. C. (1992) Consciousness Explained. Back Bay Books.
- Dennett, D. C. (1996) Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. Simon & Schuster.
- Dennett, D. C. (2004) Freedom Evolves. Penquin Books.
- Distin, K. (2004) The Selfish Meme. Cambridge University Press.
- Dunbar, I. (1996) Dog Behavior. Howell Book House.
- Epstein, R. L. (2012) Critical Thinking. Advanced Reasoning Forum. 3rd ed.
- Fentress, J. C., Ryon, J., McLeod, P. J., and Havkin, G. Z. (1987) A multi- dimensional approach to agonistic behavior in wolves. In Man and wolf: advances, issues, and problems in captive wolf research. Edited by H. Frank. Springer: 1 Edition.
- Fox, M. W. (1984) Behaviour of Wolves, Dogs, and Related Canids. Krieger Publishers Company.
- Futuyma, D. J. (1997) Evolutionary Biology. Sinauer Associates, Inc. 2nd ed. 2009.
- Goodall, J. (2010) In The Shadow of Man. Mariner Books.
- Hauser, M. D. and Konishi, M. (1999) The design of animal communication. Cambridge: Bradford/MIT Press (New Edition 2003).
- Hume, D. (1739) A Treatise of Human Nature. eBooks@Adelaide. 2006.
- Hume, D. (1739) A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford University Press. edition 2000.
- Hume, D. ((1777) Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of morals. The Clarendon Press, Oxford. 2nd ed. 1902
- Hume, D. (1777) Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of morals. Oxford University Press, USA. 3rd ed. 1975.
- Isabell, J. (2002) Genetics: An Introduction for Dog Breeders. Alpine Blue Ribbon Books.
- Kant. I. (1781) Critique of Pure Reason. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. edition 2001.
- Kant. I. (1781) Critique of Pure Reason. Penquin Classics. Revised edition 2008.
- Kant, I. (1788) Critique of Practical Reason. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. edition 2002.
- Kant, I. (1788) Critique of Practical Reason. CreateSpace. edition 2012.
- Kierkegaard, S. (1843) Either/Or: Part I. Princeton University Press. edition 1988.
- Kierkegaard, S. (1843) Either/Or: Part II. Princeton University Press. edition 1987.
- Kierkegaard, S. (1843) Enten-Eller (1); Et Livs-Fragment. General Books. edition 2012.
- Kierkegaard, S. (1843) Enten-Eller (2); Et Livs-Fragment. General Books. edition 2011.
- Kierkegaard, S. (1844) Philosophical Fragments. CreateSpace. edition 2009.
- Kierkegaard, S. (1844) Philosophiske Smuler eller En Smule Philosophi. Universitetsboghandler C. A. Reitzel. Edition original.
- Laland, K. N. and Brown, G. (2011) Sense and Nonsense. Oxford University Press, USA.
- Little, C. C. (1979) The Inheritance of Coat Color in Dogs. Howell Book House.
- Locke, J. (1690) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. eBooks@Adelaide. 2006.
- Locke, J. (1690) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Prometheus Books. edition 1994.
- Lockwood, R. (1979) Dominance in wolves–useful construct or bad habit. In The Behavior and Ecology of Wolves. Edited by E. Klinghammer. Garland Press: 1st ed.
- Lorenz, K. (1963) Das sogenannte Böse. Zur Naturgeschichte der Agression. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, München. edition 1998.
- Lorenz, K. (1966) On Aggression. Mariner Books. edition 1974.
- Lorenz, K. (1986) Evolution and Modification of Behavior. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
- Lopez, B. H. (1978) Of Wolves and Men. J. M. Dent and Sons Limited.
- Martin, P. and Bateson, P. (2007) Measuring Behaviour: An introductory guide. Cambridge University Press. 3rd ed.
- Maynard Smith, J. (1978) The Evolution of Sex. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Maynard Smith, J. (1982) Evolution and the Theory of Games. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Maynard Smith, J. and Harper, D. (2003) Animal signals. Oxford University Press, UK.
- McFarland, D. (1982) The Oxford Companion to Animal Behaviour. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- McFarland, D. (1998) Animal Behaviour. Benjamin Cummings. 3rd ed.
- Mech, L. D. (1981) The wolf: the ecology and behavior of an endangered species. University of Minnesota Press.
- Mech, L. D. (1988) The arctic wolf: living with the pack. Voyageur Press, Stillwater, Minn.
- Mech, L. D. (2000) Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.
- Mech, L. D., Adams, L. G., Meier, T. J., Burch, J. W., and Dale, B. W. (2003) The wolves of Denali. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
- Mech. L. D. and Boitani, L. (2003) Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. University of Chicago Press.
- Moore, G. E. (1903) Principia Ethica. Prometheus Books. edition 1988.
- Moore, G. E. (1903) Principia Ethica. Fair Use Repository.
- Ostrander, E. A. and Ruvinsky, A. (2012) The Genetics of the Dog. CABI
- Pavlov, I. P. (2003) Conditioned reflexes.(G. V. Anrep, Ed. and Trans.) Dover Publications.
- Pinker, S. (1995) The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind. Penguin.
- Pinker, S. (1997) How the Mind Works. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. edition 2009.
- Pinker, S. (2007) The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. 3rd ed.
- Pinker, S. (2009) How the Mind Works. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Pryor, K. (2006) Don’t Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training. Ringpress Books. 3rd ed.
- Popper, K. (1945) The Open Society and Its Enemies: The Spell of Plato. Princeton University Press. 5th Revised edition. 1971.
- Popper, K. (1945) The Open Society and Its Enemies: The High Tide of Prophecy Hegel and Marx. Routledge. edition 1975.
- Popper, K. (1963) Conjectures and Refutations. Routledge. 2nd ed. 2002.
- Popper, K. (1972) Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford University Press, USA.
- Rachels, J. (1990) Created From Animals. Oxford University Press, USA. edition 1999.
- Ridley, Mark. (2004) Evolution. Oxford University Press, USA.
- Ridley, Matt. (2003) The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. Harper Perennial.
- Reid, P. (1966) Excel-Erated Learning: Explaining in Plain English How Dogs Learn and How Best to Teach Them. James & Kenneth Pub.
- Ruse, M. (1986) Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy. Prometheus Books. edition 1998.
- Sartre, J. P. (1943) L’étre et le néant. Librairie Gallimard. 1st ed.
- Sartre, J. P. (1956) Being and Nothingness. Citadel. edition 2001.
- Scott, J. P. and Fuller, J. L. (1998) Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog. University of Chicago Press.
- Searcy, W. A., and S. Nowicki (2005) The Evolution of Animal Communication: Reliability and Deception in Signaling Systems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
- Seligman, M. E. P. (1975) Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. W. H. Freeman & Co.
- Springer, J. and Holley D. (2012) An Introduction to Zoology. Jones & Bartlett Learning; Har/Psc edition.
- Skinner, B. F. (1938) The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. Prentice Hall.
- Small, M. (1996) What’s Love Got to Do with It? Anchor.
- Tinbergen, N. (2006) Social Behavior in Animals. Agrobios India.
- Van Lawick-Goodall, H. and J. (1971) Innocent Killers. Houghton Mifflin, Wilmington, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
- Von Frisch, K. (1984) The Bees. Jonathan Cape Ltd.
- Von Frisch, K. (1993) The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees. (Translatated by L.E. Chadwick) Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Willis, M. B. (1992) Genetics of the Dog. Howell Book House.
- Wilson, E. O. (1974) The Insect Societies. Belknap Press.
- Wilson, E. O. (1975) Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass (New Edition 2000)
- Wilson, E. O. (1993) The Diversity of Life. W. W. Norton & Co. Inc.
- Wilson, E. O. (1999) Consilience. Vintage.
- Wilson, E. O. (2010) The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Zimen, E. (1975) Social dynamics of the wolf pack. In The wild canids: their systematics, behavioral ecology and evolution. Edited by M. W. Fox. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York. pp. 336-368. (New Edition 2009)
- Zimen, Erik (1981) The Wolf: His Place in the Natural World. Souvenir Press.
- Zimen, E. (1983) A wolf pack sociogram. In Wolves of the world. Edited by F. H. Harrington, and P. C. Paquet. William Andrew.
Roger Abrantes 
we cold put all our books together and open a library in animal behaviour and welfare in Portugal and call it the Pinto-Abrantes Library :-)
Why only in Portugal? Let it be International :)
I think, or I believe what ever you do here, in PT, Would be useful. About training dogs, for example….is too poor….we have very few SERIOUS dog trainers.
Super list. Thanks so much.
Awesome list of wonderful books! I have some of these books and I really enjoy reading them, over and over again! (ha including the two at the top of this list!) Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful list of books! I think I will have to share this post with everyone I know! A fabulous teacher just keeps on teaching!
So great to see Dawkins in there. I follow him on twitter and it’s a daily breath of fresh air.
Thank you Roger! I’ll take advantage of your book list these Christmas ;)
Hello Roger,
Thank you for your books “ Dog Language” and “Evolution of Social Canine Behaviour”. They are so well-documented with excellent image support and so easy to understand, they are a real pleasure to read.
I am an English counsellor in canine behavioural problems with emphasis on human-family dog relationship and communication, living in France. I help locally with individuals having dogs with problems, as well as voluntarily for an association that saves and helps place dogs. I have recently decided to launch further afield to help more people, to provide preventive information to associations, schools etc. and in order to do this I am in the process of creating my own web site.
I would like to ask your permission to use some of the excellent drawings in your book “Dog Language” (especially concerning the different forms of Aggression) to illustrate some of my handouts /downloads of different types of dog behaviours that I am in the process of doing. I will, of course, do whatever is necessary not to infringe any copyrights and include any credits and linking to sites that you feel is necessary. Everything I do is free of charge as I believe that knowing how to understand dog behaviour should be available to everyone, and hopefully avoid so many heart breaking sad endings for so many dogs through inter-specific misunderstandings.
If you would like to see an example of how I would use the drawings, I will willingly send you a copy.
Thank you for the excellent work you do.
Sincerely,
Joyce