"A maverick scientist who co-founded the field of anthrozoology offers a controversial, thought-provoking, and unprecedented exploration of the psychology behind the inconsistent and often paradoxical ways we think, feel, and behave towards animals"-- Provided by publisher.

"A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2010 by Harper Collins Publishers." Includes section with: Meet Hal Herzog, a conversation with Hal Herzog, and Animals and us: are humans the only animals that keep pets?

Introduction : why is it so hard to think straight about animals? -- Anthrozoology : the new science of human-animal interactions -- The importance of being cute : why we think what we think about creatures that don't think like us -- Pet-o-philia : why do humans (and only humans) love pets? -- Friends, foes, and fashion statements : the human-dog relationship -- "Prom queen kills first deer on sixteenth birthday" : gender and the human-animal relationship -- In the eyes of the beholder : the comparative cruelty of cockfights and Happy Meals -- Delicious, dangerous, disgusting, and dead : the human-meat relationship -- The moral status of mice : the use of animals in science -- The cats in our houses, the cows on our plates : are we all hypocrites? -- The carnivorous yahoo within ourselves : dealing with moral inconsistency.