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“Lovely, celebratory. For all the belittling of ‘bird brains,’ [Ackerman] shows them to be uniquely impressive machines . . .” —New York Times Book Review
“A lyrical testimony to the wonders of avian intelligence.” —Scientific American
An award-winning science writer tours the globe to reveal what makes birds capable of such extraordinary feats of mental prowess
Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. According to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores their newly discovered brilliance and how it came about.
As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research, Ackerman not only tells the story of the recently uncovered genius of birds but also delves deeply into the latest findings about the bird brain itself that are shifting our view of what it means to be intelligent. At once personal yet scientific, richly informative and beautifully written, The Genius of Birds celebrates the triumphs of these surprising and fiercely intelligent creatures.
Ackerman is also the author of Birds by the Shore: Observing the Natural Life of the Atlantic Coast.
Publisher : Penguin Books; Reprint edition (April 11, 2017)
Language : English
Paperback : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 0399563121
ISBN-13 : 978-0399563126
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.4 x 0.71 x 8.3 inches
4.5
Reviewer: Phil Porter
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Man Knows Nothing
Review: Birds are as common as grass but most humans give them no more consideration than the grass under their feet! Man always puts his species at the top of the heap when it comes to intelligence but few ever stop to think that a lot of species evolved on parallel paths with humans.When I was about ten years old, I visited some my grand mothers relatives, in a fairly remote area, near Jackson, Tennessee. One of grannies sisters had a crow. This crow was very special in that it was stealing her eggs. She knew the crow was stealing the eggs but could never catch it red handed. One day shortly before we arrived, the sister heard a hen start cackling had looked out the window just in time to see the grow carrying an egg shell out of the hen house. She watched it carry the shell around the hen house but could not determine where the crow deposited the egg shell. Finally she found an old wash tub turned upside down with a hole in the bottom. She turned the tub over and found dozens of egg shells! The crow was dropping the shells in the hole in the tub. She was going to dispatch the crow but my brother and I talked her into giving the crow to us.We returned to North Little Rock, Arkansas with the crow. We kept it in a rabbit hutch for a few years and really enjoyed it. The crow took a bath every day year round rain or shine and cold or hot. I saw the feathers on the crow frozen together several times. We feed it wieners, black berries, and table scraps.My dad decided that his boys might do better on a farm. He bought fifty acres near Cabot and started raising strawberries and about fives acres of cotton. My dad had a “real job” working for Delta Airlines in Little Rock and commuted daily from the farm. We took the crow with us to the farm and finally let him loose but he never really left! He would sit in the top of a large tree in the back yard and always seemed to be near.On day the neighbor “across the road” came over and told my dad that if he didn’t keep that damned crow at home he was going to shoot it. About two weeks later the crow came up missing! We didn’t have chickens at that time but the crow remembered “after several years” what a cackling chicken meant!I would have had a hard time time believing some of the things described in this book about the Genius Of Birds had I not had this personal experience with our crow. I found the book fascinating, enlightening, and very timely. Our world is racing toward who knows “what” and all of the earths creatures will have difficulty adapting to the “progress” of such rapid changes in their environment! I am almost seventy five now and birds have always been a fascination of mine.
Reviewer: Denise
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wonderful information!
Review: It is so cool to know the science behind how smart birds really are.
Reviewer: Christian D. Orr
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: âBirdbrainâ should no longer be considered an insult!
Review: Both the bookâs catchy title and the actual text go a long way in challenging a long-standing paradigm and assumptions about birdsâ supposed lack on intelligence.Regarding that paradigm, I remember back when I was a wee-bitty kid in the early 1980s, I had a set of World Book Encyclopaedias from circa 1947, and of the articles therein ranked The 10 Most Intelligent Animals in the World. The chimpanzee topped the list, followed by several other primates, the cat and dog, the pig, the elephant, and the horse rounding out the bottom of the list. Regarding âtalkingâ birds like parrots, cockatoos, mynahs, etc, the article stated that that while these speaking abilities may seem at first to indicate intelligence, the author(s) went on to dismiss this avian skill as mere mimicry, asserting that âtheir intelligence is far less than [the mammals listed in the Top 10].âHmmm, I wonder what the author(s) of that World Book article would say about âThe Genius of Birdsâ if they were still alive today.This book is chockfull of fascinating facts, figures, anecdotes, and hypotheses. Indeed, one of the reasons it took me so goshdarn long to finally finish reading it was that I could hardly go 1 or 2 pages without feeling compelled to highlight an eye-opening passage and add Comments for my Goodreads Notes & Highlights.As much as I liked this book, I felt compelled to downgrade it from a perfect 5 stars down to 4 when, in the final chapter, the author just had to go on a political gloom & doom soapbox about global warming/climate change.Oh well, still a very good read overall.
Reviewer: K. Adele
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: All you need to know about our fantastic feathered friends
Review: There are a number of books I read over and again when I need to connect with the physical world beyond the office, laptop, automobile, cell phone, a 767 en route to Beijing, and more. I have read Bob Berman’s “The Sun’s Heartbeat” three times and look forward to reading it again soon. Peter Wohlleben’s “The Hidden Life of Trees” is another favorite. I’ve read Thomas Seeley’s “Honey Bee Democracy,” and have placed it in the pile of books to read again by Christmas. I read the first edition of “Written in Stone,” by Chet Raymo and his daughter Maureen, when it first came out in 1991. I wonder whether I should look at the most updated edition, because we know a lot more about geology today than forty years ago, but the original was so engaging I don’t want to experience possible disappointment with an adulterated work. There are at least a half dozen other favorite s. I am adding “The Genius of Birds” to this list. It is well-written with plenty of humorous insights. It truly covers all you need to know about birds, starting with their dinosaur origins up through the latest findings that demonstrate that many species possess astonishing, though focused, intelligence. It highlights the role of evolution in putting some families — e.g., corvids, parrots and sparows — at the top of the pile of survivors because they use their brains to adjust to environmental challenges almost immediately. Sadly, other smaller-brained birds are doomed to extinction because after a million years of living in a stable environment, they are unable to adjust to even the smallest changes. A good book, worth at least two or three re-reads!
Reviewer: Beowulf
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: GREAT BOOK for anyone interested in the natural world.
Review: This book is fascinating, and the author is clearly very knowledgeable, It’s a great mix of science and anecdotes. I liked it so well that I also purchased the audio version which was narrated by the author. I would give it 7 out of 5 stars if I could!! I have listened to the audio version several times since I purchased it! there is always another fascinating detail I am reminded of when listen. HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!! You will never look at birds the same way again!
Reviewer: Cauã
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Itâs amazing to see how birds may be responsible to the emotional needs of others, like the example of the ravens that console others that had been in a fight. Some kind of birds are known to have empathy.They have social structures, they can imagine another birdâs point of view to make strategics for pilfering or caching food. Some birds are artists, like the bowerbird. They just do it to impressive females.Itâs impressive to know how they can remember the place of thousands of seeds they buried, they have mental maps that helps them do remember this places and to travel long distances with so much accuracy. The Nicole Blaser experiment (home loft and food loft, page 215) was astonishing. She showed that pigeons are capable of making choices between targets according to motivation, a cognitive ability, and they have a genuine cognitive map in their heads.It was amazing to read the study that suggests their ability to perceive a hurricane so far away, due to their capability to sense strong low frequency infrasound.The book is very easy to read, even if you are not specialist. The author brings a lot of scientific material. Great read.
Reviewer: claudine wehrli
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Showing that birds – as all other animals – are our fellows!
Reviewer: Ms. C. M. Boulton
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: So interesting. I learnt a lot. Well written and easy to read.
Reviewer: Jammer Jenn
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is a wonderful book for the bird lover full of interesting facts and fun anecdotes. The perfect gift for myself! Highly recommend. The Penguin format is comfortable. I would prefer a higher grade of paper, but this is typical for a Panguin paperback. I may have wished to see if hardcover used better grade paper. Type font easy to read. Black and white sketches for illustrations.
Reviewer: Giuseppe Scavo
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ce livre explique plusieurs aspects intéressants concernant la vie des oiseaux.
