• The violet-pot adventures. Field violets ; Discovery ; Explorations
• A green kingdom. The forest floor ; Life in a microcosm ; Time and territory
• Juxtapositions. Thousands of teeth ; Telescopic tentacles ; Marvelous spirals ; Secret recipes
• The cultural life. Colonies of hermits ; Midnight leap ; A snail's thoughts ; Deep sleep
• Love and mystery. Cryptic life ; Affairs of a snail ; Bereft ; Offspring
• Familiar territory. Release ; Winter snail ; Spring rain ; Night stars
• Appendix. Terraria.

In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her uncommon encounter with a "Neohelix albolabris" --a common woodland snail.

After several visits to study Icelandic sagas, Nancy Brown returns to Iceland to search for the perfect Icelandic horse, one she can bring back to her Pennsylvania farm and make her own. To do so, she must become part of the country's tightly knit horse-breeding community, which can be wary of outsiders and extremely protective of the world-famous breed. In this clear-eyed, evocative account set against Iceland's austere and majestic landscape, she describes what makes Icelandic horses and their owners so distinctive. She also discovers her limitations as a horsewoman and learns much about what she is looking for-in a horse and in her life.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction, Friends and Companions, For a Dog?, The Philosopher's Dog, Sitting on Her Mat Gazing Out to Sea, Gypsy Is Old Now, The Honour of Corpses, The Realm of Meaning, Stories, Philosophy and Science, 'Poor Living Thing', Arrogance? Creatureliness, Human Beings and Animals.
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In this lyrical and beautifully written book Raimond Gaita tells inspirational, poignant, sometimes funny but never sentimental stories of the dogs, cats and cockatoos that lived and died within his own family. He asks fascinating questions about animals: Is it wrong to attribute the concepts of love, devotion, loyalty, grief or friendship to them? Why do we care so much for some creatures but not for others? Why are we so concerned to prove that animals have minds? Reflecting on these questions, Raimond Gaita pleads that we seriously ask ourselves what it means to be creatures of 'flesh and blood'. He discusses mortality and sexuality, the relations between story telling, philosophy an science, our attitudes to insects and from his own experiences, the spiritual love of mountains. Drawing acutely on philosophers such as Rene Descartes, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Simone Weil and writers such as Isak Dinesen, George Orwell and J.M. Coetzee, The Philosopher's Dog is above all a book about our creatureliness and its place in the understanding of our humanity. An arresting book by a profoundly original thinker, The Philosopher's Dog is a triumph of both story telling and philo.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

It's not always easy to be a dog--to be a companion to those strange human animals, as Roger Grenier shows us on this literary dog walk. In some fifty self-contained and lovingly crafted vignettes, esteemed French author Grenier visits the great dogs of history and legend, beginning at the beginning, with Ulysses and his dog, Argos, the only creature to recognize him after years of absence. From Virginia Woolf, who became the self-appointed biographer of Flush, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel, to Andre Gide, whose diary records his bemusement at his dog's propensity to mount his ancient cat, Grenier reveals how dogs have inspired writers. He introduces us to Freud's chow Lun, who was able to make him understand he was about to die; to Fala, FDR's scottish terrier, who now has his own statue in Washington; and to Michael and Jerry, the heroes of Jack London's novels. Along the way, Grenier tells us about a few of the dogs who have occupied his own life and heart. Though the rapport between dogs and people remains a mystery, it is also, for him, the source of the purest form of love.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• The Kennel Club
• Bir Bint Ahmed
• BATTman
• The Wali of Sudh
• The Flying Scotsman
• Flotsam and Jetsam
• A good audience
• An iron in the fire
• Up the hill
• The royal connection
• The winged dagger
• The muscateer
• A close run thing
• His Majesty's Zoo
• White city
• Court and social
• The animals come first
• The coming of the Irish
• A load of bull
• A sleepless night
• Ma'a as-salaama.

In 1970 at the height of the Cold War, the young Sandhurst-trained Sultan Qaboos of Oman, with secret British military backing, took on the communist rebels in a fierce but little known war. Along with regular British Army and 'contract' officers, the SAS played a key role in this bitterly fought but ultimately successful campaign.The value of winning the 'Hearts and Minds' of the local population was quickly recognised and this is where a select band of Royal Army Veterinary Corps officers came in. The local economy was a primitive one based on agriculture and the author, freshly qualified and, by his own admission, somewhat naive particularly in military matters, found himself solely responsible for the veterinary care of a territory the size of Hungary.Attached to A Squadron, 22 SAS, Andrew Higgins learnt how to respond to the Jebali people's love and concern for their animals who provided their livelihood - goats, camels, sheep and cattle. Then there were the Sultan's horses, dogs, birds and even bears.His first-hand experiences and anecdotes of life dealing with every level of Omani society from rulers to black slaves and their varied livestock make for wonderfully atmospheric and often amusing reading. In short, With the SAS and Other Animals is an unusual and potent mix of Special Forces action and veterinary experiences. Readers may well conclude that it really shouldn't have happened to a vet even in a desert war!.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

To King-Smith all pigs are beautiful. And by the time you finish this full and funny celebration of pigs, you will probably agree. As intimate as a good conversation with a trusted friend, and with lots of expressive pictures of pigs, All Pigs Are Beautiful is a fresh, close-up look at a fascinating farm animal. Full color.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Bobbi (the dog) and Bob Cat are the best of friends. When their hometown of New Orleans was struck by Hurricane Katrina, many lost everything. Bobbi and Bob Cat only survived by staying together. This is the story of their remarkable friendship.

• Particularly cats
• Rufus the survivor - The old age of El Magnifico.

Tells about the life of an old cat from the owner's view and the cat's view.

At the centre of this memoir is the ostrich, the dreambird of the author's childhood on the edge of the South African desert, who links together stories of 1900s Paris fashion houses, refugees making feather fortunes, and the rustlers and hustlers of the late 20th-century American West.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

I am the luckiest man alive, because I get to live and work in the most beautiful place on earth: Matterdale in the English Lake District. When I was a child we didn't really go anywhere, except a week in the Isle of Man when I was about ten years old, and I never left Britain until I was twenty. Even now, years later, the best bit of any travelling is coming home. Bringing us into the world of shepherd's baking competitions, sheep shows and moments out on the fell watching the sheep run away home, James Rebanks interweaves thoughts and reflections on the art of shepherding with his photographs of the valley, people and animals that make up the daily life of the fells. A life lived by the three hundred surviving fell farming families, this is a book of photos and words filled with reverence and love.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Robinson tells the warm and comic story of her father's peculiar obsession as a gerbil farmer, and of her own life growing up as one of the "employees" in his oddly thriving, sometimes exasperating, often humorous venture.