The Whole Hog by Lyall Watson

Excellent Second Hand

ISBN: 9780670047987

Publisher: Penguin Viking (SA), May 2004

Paperback, 278 pages

The whole hog is just that, an attempt to encompass everything that is known about all the pigs of the world. In recounting the author's close encounters with wild pigs on three continents, the author explores how profoundly pigs have succeeded, from the Gadarene Swine to Miss Piggy, in capturing our imagination. Also makes some surprising revelations. Pigs may lack big brains and grasping hands but they nevertheless manipulate their environment in ways that demonstrate learning, memory, abstract thought, a capacity for pleasure and a real aptitude for reason. Pigs have been seriously neglected and consequently suffer from an unjustified bad press, but in truth, pigs and people have a lot in common. We are both the recently domesticated result of a long tradition of gregarious, playful, tuneful, caring and highly resourceful beings. And all that prevents us from admitting pigs to the society of creatures who understand each other, comprehend complex relationships, distinguish between self and non-self, and regularly respond to situations in a conceptual way, is that those we most often see are confined to tiny sties. The whole hog is an eye-opening new look at pigs as they really are, and an antidote to centuries of superstition and taboo. In fact it is nothing less than a clarion call for an honest reassessment of hoggish behaviour, and a celebration of the fascinating true nature of pigs.