Animate: How Animals Shape The Human Mind – Michael Bond

Author talk and supper with Michael Bond
6pm Thursday 26 March 2026

Our prehistoric ancestors were surrounded by animals, hunting them, observing them, evading them or painting them on the walls of caves. Today, wild animals are almost entirely absent from most people’s lives.

Award-winning science writer Michael Bond investigates the profound consequences of this existential shift on our outlook and attitudes. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, psychology, anthropology and cultural studies, he’ll explore how living with animals shaped our brains and cultures, and why despite our separation from them they still populate our thoughts, dreams and psychopathologies. The relatively recent idea that we are superior to other species has had tragic consequences not just for them, but for the way we treat each other.

Michael was senior editor at New Scientist for six years and has written for Nature, The Observer, The FT, New York Times, and many others.

Join him over a glass of sparkling wine for a sparkling talk and conversation with Isabella Tree, with plenty of time for Q&A, followed by book-signing and a delicious dinner in our MICHELIN Guide listed Wilding Kitchen.