Mark Rowlands is a professor of philosophy with a sense of humour, a passion for making others aware of "the wonders of philosophy" (as he calls them) and, for a decade or so, he shared his life with a wolf. On his web page, he calls The Philosopher and the Wolf an autobiography, in which "the wolf is the star" and he, himself, is "just an insignificant extra bumbling around in the background". This is not quite right.

Brenin, who was Mark's wolf, is certainly a star but although his presence is crucial to the book it is Mark who is the hero. He is the one who makes the quest and emerges from the dangerous thickets of early life fundamentally changed by his experiences. Brenin, is his guide and companion. And the subtitle of the book: "Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death and Happiness" (note the impressive and weighty capital letters) might almost have been 'Everything important that I know about life I learned from my wolf'.

Brenin came into Mark's life at a time when he was a young Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama. Mark, who was born in Wales and educated in England, was looking for a puppy when he saw an advertisement for wolf cubs. He intended to go and look, then come away again and think about it before making up his mind. Brenin, however, won his heart. Which was just as well, since his very first act when introduced into Mark's home was to tear down the curtains and then to destroy all the air conditioning ducts under the house. Marks' clear advice, based firmly on experience, is that if you are thinking of acquiring a wolf "Don't do it!".

Brenin, however, provided Mark with much food for thought and, being a philosopher, these thoughts took philosophical shape. The purpose of life, morality, the nature of mind, death, "the pursuit of happiness and rabbits"  - all these are major areas of debate in philosophy (except perhaps the rabbits) and all come under Mark's scrutiny in this book. Yet his philosophizing is rarely boring. Mark Rowland's has an acute and well-trained philosophical mind but it does not prevent him from being a good story-teller. And, of course, life with Brenin provided him with a wonderful store of stories.

So, here is a book which will entertain you and make you think. It is not a book for those who just want cute stories about a wolf, but it is a book which is, in turns, funny, fascinating, curious, profound and most unusual.

NB:   Mark Rowlands' homepage can be found at - http://www.markrowlandsauthor.com/

Copyright © Ann Skea 2008

Ann Skea
Website and Ted Hughes pages: http://ann.skea.com/

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