One of the most common themes in the literary genre that focuses on life after a cataclysm is the fate of the knowledge that had been accumulated in the sciences and the humanities prior to the disaster. Who has it and how is it transmitted to others? Who wants to acquire it and for what purposes? How will the competition for this knowledge unfold?This very human concern is also sometimes depicted as one of divine interest. In the stories of the Garden of Eden and of the Tower of Babel, for instance, God has something to say about access to knowledge.What is unusual and intriguing in Markman’s Home is that these very questions are also concerns of certain animal species. These animals see they have a great deal at stake in how far the humans get ahead of them. Van Stockum imagines a post-cataclysmic world where these species want to influence the race for knowledge. It is a context where the cataclysm has reduced the gap between humans and other animals, and where some humans begin to have the ability to communicate with some animals. How would society be different if the evolution of the species were more synchronized?The author develops this provocative scenario entirely through a very engaging story. I enjoyed it and recommend it. And I hope there will be a sequel, or perhaps that other authors will take up this fresh challenge to imagine a less anthropocentric world in the wake of a planet-wide cataclysm.