Published in 2025
366 pages
10 hours and 33 minutes
Amelia Thomas is a Cambridge University-educated British author, naturalist and journalist, who lives with her Finnish husband and five children on a farm in Nova Scotia, Canada. A former travel writer, she has written and contributed to more than a dozen books for Lonely Planet, and has worked for newspapers and magazines worldwide. Her first non-fiction book, The Zoo on the Road to Nablus, was a Daily Mail Critic’s Choice and tells the true story of the last Palestinian zoo.
Amelia is a lifetime animal-lover: she once bought a wallaby by accident from a Dutch classifieds ad, took home a stray budgie who flew into the ‘Cat Act’ at a Russian circus, saved an Afghan Hound from neglect in Belgium and a three-legged stray kitten from the streets of Jerusalem, and rescued dozens of puppies from beside highways in rural India. She is an amateur horse trainer, holds a diploma in Equine Psychology and practices equine bodywork for several charitable organizations.
What is this book about?
It started with a hummingbird dive-bombing Amelia Thomas over her morning coffee, and a pair of piglets who just wouldn’t stay put. Soon Amelia, journalist and new farmer, begins to question the communications of the creatures all around her. Are they all just animals reacting instinctually to the world around them—or are they trying to communicate something deeper?
Driven by lifelong curiosity, Amelia embarks on a journey to uncover what animals truly seek to say to humans. On the way, along with groundbreaking chimps and circumspect octopuses, she’ll meet an extraordinary cast of experts, from animal behaviorists and anthrozoologists to trackers and psychologists, and even explore the surprising insights of pet psychics, A.I. researchers, and animal mindfulness practitioners. Each perspective offers a new layer of understanding about the subtle, complex ways animals connect with us—and will deepen our appreciation for every creature with whom we share our planet.
In What Sheep Think About the Weather, Amelia chronicles her sometimes difficult discoveries with humor, heart, and awe. More than just a memoir, this book is a call to listen—not only to the animals we love but to the untamed world around us. What if the answers to some of humanity’s greatest questions have been whispered to us all along?
