GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human

{{Short description|Non-fiction book by Thomas Thwaites}}

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| author = Thomas Thwaites

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| publisher = Princeton Architectural Press

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| pub_date = 17 May 2016

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| pages = 207{{cite web |title=When Being Human Got His Goat, This Designer Became One |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/05/14/477964010/when-being-human-got-his-goat-this-designer-became-one |website=NPR.org |accessdate=12 July 2020 |language=en}}

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| isbn = 978-1616894054

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{{use British English|date=March 2018}}

GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human is a 2016 book by Thomas Thwaites. It was published by Princeton Architectural Press ({{ISBN| 978-1616894054}}). It describes a project in which the author attempted to live as a goat in the Swiss mountains for several days, with prosthetic limbs and an artificial stomach.{{cite news|last1=Barkham|first1=Patrick|title=No kidding: what I learned from becoming GoatMan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2016/may/15/no-kidding-what-learned-from-becoming-goatman|accessdate=14 March 2018|work=The Guardian|date=15 May 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Graham|first1=Chris|title=No kidding: Why Thomas Thwaites lived as a goat in Switzerland|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/28/no-kidding-why-thomas-thwaites-lived-as-a-goat-in-switzerland/|accessdate=15 January 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=14 March 2018}}

The book includes photographs of the author dressed as a goat at various locations.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/a-pair-of-ragged-claws-goatman-thomas-thwaitess-animal-instincts/news-story/cc5b2641bb6803607c268230ae7ae82f|title=A Pair of Ragged Claws: GoatMan Thomas Thwaites's animal instincts|last=Romei|first=Stephen|date=2 April 2016|website=The Australian|access-date=14 March 2018}}

Reception

New Statesman called it an "original, engaging and rather quirky book."{{cite web|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2016/05/dolittle-delusion-what-motivates-human-beings-live-animals|title=The Dolittle delusion: what motivates human beings to live like animals?|website=www.newstatesman.com}}

Kirkus Reviews called it "A quirkily entertaining exploration of what it means to be human and what it might be like to be a goat."{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/thomas-thwaites/goatman/|title=GOATMAN by Thomas Thwaites {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en-us}}

Thwaites was awarded the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in the biology category (jointly, with Charles Foster).{{Cite news |date=2016-09-22 |title=Ig Nobel win for Alpine 'goat man' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37443204 |access-date=2025-03-24 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

References