Melanie Challenger's How to Be Animal examines humanity's troubled relationship with its own animal nature, arguing that this denial shapes everything from environmental destruction to political violence. Challenger, a writer and researcher who has worked on environmental history and bioethics, contends that humans possess a psychology oriented toward separation from nature, insisting on our exceptionalism despite biological evidence of continuity with other species. She traces this psychology through philosophy, religion, and science, showing how each has reinforced the sense that humans are not really animals. Challenger examines how technology extends this separation, offering prosthetic transcendence while deepening alienation. She explores what accepting our animality would mean for ethics, politics, and our relationship with other species. How to Be Animal is philosophical but grounded in scientific research on cognition, emotion, and behavior in humans and other animals. Challenger writes accessibly, with a literary essayist's feel for language. The book does not offer easy reconciliation; Challenger acknowledges the difficulty of what she proposes. Essential reading for anyone interested in environmental philosophy, the human-animal boundary, or understanding why we find it so hard to live sustainably on a planet we share with other beings.