Ford's new thesis rejects the scientific orthodoxy that animals cannot feel pain or experience emotion as a symptom of the selfishness of our technological era. He reveals life in the plant and animal kingdoms to exist in glorious variety, rich with sensation, and creating a marvelously complex web of interaction with its surroundings. Mammals, birds, even fish can mourn for a lost love. Pain is felt at all levels of organization, even in microscopic organisms. Plants are presented as intricate and complex, as they respond to their surroundings and modify their behavior in the light of what they sense. Plants, animals and humans are united in a tapestry of communion with nature and with each other. Illustrated.