Why Watch Animals?

John Berger (1926–2017) spent his life learning to observe and explored ways of seeing. In the essay from this collection, he chooses animals as his subject of observation, convinced that watching them is necessary—otherwise, humanity as a species cannot cope with its loneliness. "When we are lonely, we are forced to acknowledge that we were created, like everything else. Only our souls, if stirred, recall the original source, silently, without words." Berger managed not only to remember the forgotten but also to find the right words to express it.