Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence

Book Description

From two of the world's most distinguished experts in animal behavior, a radical, creative, and accessible new approach to understanding animal minds through the structures they build.

Animal behavior has long been a battleground between the competing claims of nature and nurture, with the possible role of cognition in behavior as a recent addition to this debate. There is an untapped trove of behavioral data that can tell us a great deal about how the animals draw from these neural strategies: The structures animals build provide a superb window on the workings of the animal mind.

Animal Architects examines animal architecture across a range of species, from those whose blueprints are largely innate (such as spiders and their webs) to those whose challenging structures seem to require intellectual insight, planning, and even aesthetics (such as bowerbirds' nests, or beavers' dams). Beginning with instinct and the simple homes of solitary insects, James and Carol Gould move on to conditioning; the "cognitive map" and how it evolved; and the role of planning and insight. Finally, they reflect on what animal building tells us about the nature of human intelligence--showing why humans, unlike many animals, need to build castles in the air.

Customer Reviews:

An especially fine pick.......2007-07-27

As Spring approaches animals begin building summer homes - but most books pass over this construction to focus on mating behavior. ANIMAL ARCHITECTS: BUILDING AND THE EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE presents two animal behavior experts who use the structures to explore animal intelligence, instinct, and cognition. Chapters focus on birds and insects and draw important connections between structures and cognitive evolutionary processes, making this an especially fine pick for any college-level collection strong in natural history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Science writing at its best.......2007-07-26

Every now and then a science book comes along that allows science to be shared with those of us without a PhD in the field. Gould's honeybee book, and this book are wonderful - thought provoking, insightful, and expressive of the true nature of science - to determine the truth via scientific experiments.

I share some reviewers concerns that the book is hard to read. No-one ever said thinking was easy. But if you are fascinated by animals, or biology, or animal behavior I cannot think of a better book. It is simply wonderful.

Mixed review.......2007-07-02

Gould and Gould write about a fascinating subject. Unfortunately, the book is not as readable as it could have been. The authors have a bad habit of getting into new topics with a welter of detail and only then coming back to basics or making larger points or providing context. The result is that I'm often lost--what's the species they're talking about? What are the basic facts about it? I keep asking myself who their intended reader is. I think they intend to speak to a general audience, but they don't think enough about this audience's needs. The book is written in a plain textbook-like style, without much poetry, context, allusion to bigger issues, or the like. Still, I have learned quite a bit by reading it.

Even Frank Lloyd Wright had blind spots.......2007-06-19

Gould and Gould lead us through a fascinating review of animal 'intelligences,' as manifested by the increasingly complex nature of structures constructed by insects (ants, termites, spiders, bees, wasps), birds (raptors, waders, and passerines), and mammals (love those beavers!). The underlying arguments are that (1) some of the construction behaviors of specific species may be primitive, instinctive and repetitive, but other species on the 'same' phylogenetic level have clearly learned to adapt and modify their structures to account for variation in available materials; (2) the adaptability translates to more reproductive success, allowing the type animal to colonize more niches; (3) the variety of structural solutions acts as a feedback loop in brain development, which culminates in (4) an enhanced mental capacity which equips an animal to cope with variety better.

Progressing from seemingly hard-wired to adaptive examples in all sorts of animals, the authors remind us that some types of 'intelligence' are the result of habitual practices which work in habitual situations. Thus, the example of pigeons successfully building a nest by randomly dropping twigs works only because of the friction of twig surfaces in contact. Given smooth dowels, the pigeon cannot construct a usable nest.

At the same time, they remind us that the seemingly brilliant engineering behavior seen in beavers - that is, the ability to regulate streamflow year-round and create protected dwellings - is NOT matched by a corresponding ability to fell trees intelligently: They cite examples where beavers jointly gnaw on the same tree at different heights, resulting in an unsuccessful felling, or fail to take full advantage of partly felled trees.

Perhaps the biggest lesson one could take away from this comprehensive look at animal architecture is that individual species are endowed with selective abilities that permit generational survival, but the abilities themselves aren't easily transferable to a general notion of intelligence applicable to other areas of activity. Put another way: Animals are 'smart enough' to cope with their normal environment, but their 'smarts' are inevitably narrowly focused.

Alien Intelligences, and How To Evaluate Them.......2007-05-03

What do animals think? That is a pretty advanced question; after all, a lot of human thought has gone into denigrating even the possibility of thought in animals. We accept, perhaps reluctantly, that some animals can hear better than we can, for instance, and certainly some are faster or stronger or bigger. It is well accepted, too, that we do a better job of thinking and abstracting ideas than any other creature does. It is also clear that any thinking that animals do is a lot different from what we do, since our thinking is so heavily freighted with symbolic language. "Mental activity is, by its nature, private; what goes on in the brain has to be inferred. In tracing the evolution of cognitive strategies, the most tangible evidence is found among animals that build - in what they build and how they build it." So write James R. Gould and Carol Grant Gould in Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence (Basic Books). The book is packed with examples of animal creations and thoughtful, careful, unexaggerated attempts to understand what is going on in the minds of the builders from the insect, bird, and mammal worlds. The thinking of other animals is, by turns, quite different and quite similar to our own, and throws light upon evolution of brains and behavior in general and upon our own evolution.

The Goulds are always on the lookout for the most parsimonious explanation of behavior. For centuries, people thought that animals just acted on instinct and nothing more, and indeed there are plenty of examples here of such behavior. Many insects, the Goulds say merrily, "... lead intellectually unchallenging lives." But spiders and the social insects show that they are not acting like mere robots, but have some understanding of the larger purpose of their activites. Flexibility and understanding are surely shown by many birds, although plenty of their behavior is robotic. Nest building is often a planned activity and can be studied and experimented upon. Pigeons just toss sticks at their nest site, and the friction between the rough twigs holds them together eventually. If you give pigeons only smooth dowels to build with, the result is an unstable mess; if you give both dowels and twigs, they will preferentially use the twigs. Complex behaviors in nest building evolved from scraping sand or twigs together; once birds had learned to build a platform for a nest, they developed ways of piling sticks or mud and sticking the results together with saliva. Nest-building is an activity that cannot be completely hardwired, because in general no two nesting sites are the same; there has to be flexibility in behavioral options that can be selected, ordered, and modified to achieve the goal of a functional nest. Nests are practical structures, but bowerbirds make their elaborate creations with no purpose other than to impress other bowerbirds. They stack the bowers and decorate them with paint from berries and with shells and rocks and butterfly wings. The variety of the bowers seems to indicate that building behavior is not encoded in instinct and is also not due to rote memorization. Observations over the past 125 years show that builders go through fads of favoring one flower as a bower decoration over another. Darwin wrote that bowerbirds have a sense of beauty, and the proposal that bowerbirds have an aesthetic sense is not frivolous.

The many examples given here show that there is evidence for some degree of understanding in many of our fellow creatures. When experimenters can manipulate the circumstances of the building of structures, it is clear that some animals can compensate for unusual situations, use novel materials, and have an understanding of an end goal. (Beavers seem to do this in the highest degree, engineering their dams and lodges.) The building of structures and the manipulation of objects toward a purpose are things we ourselves probably started doing as primates, starting out with less skill than some of the animals described in this book. It is probably impossible for us to fully understand the alien intelligences of spiders or birds, but the Gould's book is a welcome reminder that intelligence does not belong to us alone.

Average customer rating:

Tons of Experiments on nonhuman animals and infants
Shaping minds
Not definitive.
too much "we'll never really know"
Subtitle should be how animals and human minds differ

Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think
Marc Hauser
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

The Dog's Mind: Understanding Your Dog's Behavior (Howell Reference Books)
Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong
Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, and Heart
Dog Language: An Encyclopedia of Canine Behavior
If You Tame Me: Understanding Our Connection With Animals (Animals, Culture, and Society)

ASIN: 0805056696

Amazon.com

What's that squirrel thinking as it runs across the street? Behavioral neuroscientist Marc D. Hauser asks big questions about little brains in Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think. While his subjects aren't accessible for interviews, he believes that we can gain insight into their interior lives by examining their behavior in the context of their social and physical environments. Thus, while comparing the actions of chimps, rats, honeybees, and human infants, he is careful to keep in mind that each of them has different needs that require different kinds of intelligence and emotion and ought not be judged by the same criteria. Looking at counting, mapmaking, self-understanding, deception, and other intelligent activities, Hauser shows that the birds and the bees have more on their minds than we've come to believe. Acknowledging the vast gulf of language that separates our species from all others, he still maintains that this tool is but one of many and is no better an indication of "superior" intelligence than is the bat's fantastically well-developed echolocation system. In the last chapter, Hauser looks at moral behavior and decides that animals can be "moral patients but not moral agents"--that is, their inability to attribute mental states to others keeps them blameless for their actions but their sensitivity to suffering earns them fair treatment from the rest of us. Whether or not you agree with that, you're sure to find Wild Minds a refreshing look at the thoughts of our mute cousins. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Do animals think? Can they count? Do they have emotions? Do they feel anger, frustration, hurt, or sorrow? Are they bound by any moral code? At last, here is a book that provides authoritative answers to these long-standing questions. Most pop-science books tend to anthropomorphize and romanticize animals, presenting them as furry little humans or as creatures that cannot think or feel at all. Marc Hauser, an acclaimed scientist in the field of animal cognition, uses insights from evolutionary theory and cognitive science to examine animal thought without such biases or preconceptions. For example, do species that share food or travel in large groups have greater innate mathematical abilities? Hauser treats animals neither as machines devoid of feeling nor as extensions of humans, but as independent beings driven by their own complex impulses. In prose that is both elegant and edifying, Hauser describes his groundbreaking research in the field, leading his readers on what David Premack, author of The Mind of an Ape, calls "a masterful tour of the animal mind."

Customer Reviews:

Tons of Experiments on nonhuman animals and infants.......2006-02-24

This book is very nice to read. It discusses a myriad of experiments conducted on nonhuman animals, mainly chimpanzees, but also pigeons, insects, rats, among other animals. Each chapter discusses a different topic: math cognition, spatial reasoning, morality in aniamls, self-awareness, among others. One little thing I did not like about this book is that Dr. Hauser is overcritical of almost all experiments, even though those very arguments can be said about his own experiments! The book overall provides a lot of information about animal behavior--and mind.

Shaping minds.......2005-04-05

Studies of human cognition inevitably raise the question: "Are other animals 'conscious'?". This immediately leads to a more perplexing question: "What is consciousness?". With the concept still but vaguely defined in human terms, asking it of the other animals evokes a host of difficulties. Hauser, to his credit, makes a worthwhile attempt to deal with both questions. In this sweeping survey, he declares that simplistic approaches to how the various primates deal with life are misplaced. There is a range of animal awareness out there, shaped by the forces of natural selection. Each species must be studied carefully and intensively, both in controlled and wild conditions. And the work, he insists, has barely started.

He combines his field experience with the work of many researchers in revealing facets of consciousness. Hauser's study was stimulated by a young monkey giving him a hug. He calls these elements "mental tool kits". By this he explains that similar conditions generate similar responses in the animal. This suggests there are probably areas in the brain common across many species. When conditions change, however, the response may vary wildly, indicating dissimilarity in capacity. A startling contrast is the range of food storage sites among different species. A dog may bury a bone in the garden, but a Clark's Nutcracker can stash up to thirty thousand seeds in six thousand locations - and find most of them the following Spring. Hauser calls this ability "cognitive mapping" - a special talent derived over long evolutionary time. Other animals have the role of "space travelers", although Clark's must hold some kind of record.

"Self-awareness" is an all-encompassing term. In the largest and most significant part of the book, Hauser dodges the vague, but common, phrase, replacing it with "self-recognition". This term is a more measurable aspect of cognition. Experiments with mirrors demonstrate that some primates know who they're looking at, while others see intruders or remain indifferent. Strangely, some birds seem to recognise themselves in reflected images. Expressing self-awareness means communicating. For us, that's done with speech or writing. With other creatures, other forms of expression must be inferred from observation. Deception is a commonly used test. An animal aware of itself, and aware of others as well, is likely to derive the other's intent. When another's intention can be directed, and the deceiver gains from that guiding, individuality seems enhanced. How far we can take such analyses is one of Hauser's calls for more research.

Language and thought are far too closely aligned in the minds of most researchers, Hauser believes. That link restricts "real" thoughts to those that can express them in words - in short, only humans. Hauser counters that thought is something we can interpret from actions - and the greater the variance in action, the better. He looks back at our evolutionary beginnings through the eyes of today's primates. Thought, he argues was there - language was a gloss that came later. The implication is that researchers need to try fresh approaches to studying how "wild minds" can be better understood. The result is the growth of a new discipline, cognitive ethology which encompasses a wide range of species who have, or might possess, thoughts we can identify. This book is a major step in furthering that new field. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Not definitive........2004-12-28

This is a report of ongoing studies, by many in different fields, of whether animals experience "moral emotions, feelings such as guilt, shame and embarrassment", if they're capable of inhibiting their own desires, if they "understand the impact of their" decisions, etc. I'm not sure how objective Mr. Hauser is however as, to me, he seems determined to have his opinion prevail as I can't recall one study he's accepted as valid. I'm sorry too that the studies are not definitive.

too much "we'll never really know".......2003-07-08

His style is a little flat: a scientist writing for popular audience and trying really hard not to talk down. But he organizes the subject really well and clearly, with chapters on tools, numbers, spatial navegation, sense of self, language, moral reasoning. Each one synthesizes a large amount of scientific research on both animals and children, with interesting anecdotes.

The preface makes it clear he's writing against sentimental popular books on the subject that treat animal as being like humans inside, and themselves attack "the scientists." But this book gives a dreary image of the scientists. Each chapter describes some amazing abilities of different animals, describes some exhausting, repetitive experiments to document (it often seems) a small part of what was already suspected, and then concludes that as to the most important part -- "what animals really think" -- science doesn't know. But (drearily), they probably aren't conscious.

He should be clearer than he is in summarizing what the experiments have shown, and in particular about the differences in cognitive performance (not "real thought") btw adult and infant humans, primates (his main interest), birds (who get less attention), rats (still less), and social insects (who make a few star turns).

Subtitle should be how animals and human minds differ.......2003-01-16

Hauser has written a remarkably accessible introduction to comparative psychology. While containing the main points one might expect in a textbook outline, he does an excellent job of presenting this information in an interesting narrative form.

Hauser begins with an introductory chapter that presents his basic approach and cautions against anthropomorphisms.

Chapters two through four comprise a unit that focuses on those mental capacities shared by animals and human beings. Both can identify objects and predict their movement. Both can distinguish quantity. Both can navigate through space. Perhaps it takes a course in cognitive psychology to appreciate these commonalities, but I believe that Hauser does an excellent job of presenting research results for lay consumption. His presentation of animal and human infant studies of the expectancy-violation principle is alone worth the cost of the book.

The second section, chapters five through seven, focus on mental capacities which seem to be qualitatively common in animals and humans, but quantitatively distinct. Hauser presents a well-balanced account of the evidence for self-awareness, teaching, and deception among animals.

The final section contains two chapters on mental capacities that appear to be almost unique to human beings - language and morality. Hauser's careful review of animal communication is amazing, as is his locus of morality in the ability to inhibit selfish tendencies to maintain social conventions.

I recommend this book without reservation. No reader will regret spending time with this book. It is quite stimulating.

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals
Average customer rating:

Insightful and fresh

Not so great in the first place, it is now wildly outdated.

Had potential, but fell short

Looking for animal anecdotes?

Activism Masquarading as Science...

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson , and Susan McCarthy
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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Animal Liberation

ASIN: 0385314280
Release Date: 1996-05-02

Book Description

This national bestseller exploring the complex emotional lives of animals was hailed as "a masterpiece" by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and as "marvelous" by Jane Goodall.

The popularity of When Elephants Weep has swept the nation, as author Jeffrey Masson appeared on Dateline NBC, Good Morning America, and was profiled in People for his ground-breaking and fascinating study. Not since Darwin's The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals has a book so thoroughly and effectively explored the full range of emotions that exist throughout the animal kingdom.

From dancing squirrels to bashful gorillas to spiteful killer whales, Masson and coauthor Susan McCarthy bring forth fascinating anecdotes and illuminating insights that offer powerful proof of the existence of animal emotion. Chapters on love, joy, anger, fear, shame, compassion, and loneliness are framed by a provocative re-evaluation of how we treat animals, from hunting and eating them to scientific experimentation. Forming a complete and compelling picture of the inner lives of animals, When Elephants Weep assures that we will never look at animals in the same way again.

Customer Reviews:

Insightful and fresh.......2007-09-27

Most people cling to the belief that we are the only species on the planet with the capacity for thought or emotion. In our daily experiences with animals we know that this is absurd but keep it ourselves for fear of ridicule. This book challenges those musty, Old World thoughts and fears. Even if you have already developed an enlightened compassion and ethic regarding other species, "When Elephants Weep" offers a refreshing, stimulating look at the life.

Not so great in the first place, it is now wildly outdated........2007-02-03

As someone who is studies emotions and decision making, I was looking forward to reading this book. While the author offers (and repeats, and repeats) considerable anecdotal evidence for animal emotion, there is little concrete science to support the claims.
Furthermore, the field of emotion-cognition study in humans is still coming into its own and has grown exponentially since 1996. Indeed, we now understand many human emotions better than in 1996. Naturally, when comparing humans and animal emotions, these advances dramatically change our understanding and therefore draw into question many of the inferences made in the book.

Not a great book to begin with. However, a decade after its release, it is borderline useless.

Had potential, but fell short.......2007-01-03

Having been intrigued by the title alone, I was greatly looking forward to reading this book. The book, however, did not measure up to my expectations. Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson has written several books, so I would expect much better writing coming from a veteran author, but the book was poorly written and poorly put together.

The book's title and subtitle appears as though it will be simply explaining the emotional lives of animals. Seems like a fairly simple concept. The author takes a different-than-expected approach by spending much of the book putting humans down and elevating animals to an almost god-like stature in comparison. Case in point, one chapter is called "Unfeeling Brutes" in reference to humans. The book seems to be aimed at convincing the skeptic rather than simply explaining the emotions of animals. One who already recognizes the feelings in animals would read this and say "I already knew that!" several times.

The author is incredibly redundant, saying the same things over and over again, proposing the same ideas, and using several of the same examples multiple times, perhaps with different wording, to prove his point.

There are plenty of stories to provide examples of animals' emotions, some endearing, some disheartening. That said, the storiesgo into very little detail, which seems unusual for a book of this sort. For one trying to prove the importance of emotions in animals, you'd think the author would find it in his best interest to provide as many details as possible. Instead, examples are shortened anywhere from a sentence to a mere paragraph. They also hop around a lot with no real sense of connection except for the emotion they shared.

Each chapter focuses on particular emotions, and they are broken down into sections within those chapters. It gives the *appearance* of organization in the book, but doesn't follow suit. For example, one chapter focuses on shame, blushing, and hidden secrets. Each part is broken into a different section within the chapter, starting with blushing. While reading about shame (which came next), the author took a sharp turn by ending the section by discussing blushing again, having not made any prior mention of it in this "shame" section. It was very jarring, and didn't flow at all. Such is the consistency of the entire book. Some sections are entirely useless in the sense that hardly any information or evidence is given, except to ultimately say "we don't know" and telling a story or two that proves absolutely nothing. The section on religious impulse is a perfect example of this.

The end notes are also confusing. Rather than puting citations within the book, you simply have to assume that any story the author is telling will have addition bibliographic information in the end notes. You find them by referencing the page number in the end notes, and lotcating the first line of the story next to the page number. This, however, seems to be more the fault of the publisher than the author, though the author can't seem to make up his mind if he will reference a work within the chapters or leave it for the end notes as he does both.

I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, particularly his intent on proving the "equality" of man and beast (though he fights for this equality throughout the book, he tries to almost cover it up by saying that we're simply "distinct" from one another). It IS wonderful to see a piece of work out there where the title alone may get people to open their eyes and see that animals can and do feel. The book might have been more widely received, however, had the author taken some time to clean it up a bit and spend more time focusing on the animals and less time on the humans he argues about so much. The author is clearly passionate about this subject, judging by the other titles he has and by this book. I am hoping that he will work on his skills as an author so that his next book on the subject will be much more refined. He has a lot to offer.

Looking for animal anecdotes?.......2006-10-31

First off, I am an animal lover. I've had pets most of my life so this book is very much like preaching to the choir. It would be hard for me to believe that my pets, and animals in general, do not have emotions. I thought this book would be black & white concerning that issue but it is very fair to the opinion that animals do not have emotions. The title suggestions that the opinion of this author is animals are emotional however she offers several stories and possibilities to keep the book balanced. I learned quite a lot from this book. It leans towards "animals are emotional" but it's not as black & white as I thought which made the book very interesting

I got this book because I wanted to read lots of stories of animals and their emotions but I didn't exactly get that. The first couple of chapters are void of emotional animal stories and once the book finally does start with the stories, they are lacking details. I felt as though the author wanted to get as much in as possible. Quantity over quality.

I'm still giving this book a good rating because I did have a great time reading it.

Activism Masquarading as Science..........2006-10-20

Knowing the author by name and by reputation, I borrowed this book from a friend rather than contributing to him financially by paying for it. It's just the kind of pseudo-scientific garbage I'd expect when someone schooled in Philosophy is allowed to write a book on a scientific topic. The serious question of whether - and to what degree - nonhuman animals experience emotion should be entered into not only with skepticism, but with knowledge of how Science should be carried out, and how to go about evaluating the data that results. Masson is qualified to do NONE of these, and seems utterly unaware of that handicap.

It's precisely what I'd expect from someone who romanticizes the barbaric acts of the Animal Liberation Front, however, a terrorist group that firebombs research facilities and university labs, then enters high schools and teaches those same tactics to our children. To my mine, Masson should share a prison cell for supporting them in his idiotic writings.

The Parrot's Lament : And Other True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity

Average customer rating:

They're smarter than you think!
My Goats Bedevil Me!
A good book, with some unsettling errors...
Witty and fulfilling
Excellent

The Parrot's Lament : And Other True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity
Eugene Linden
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0452280680
Release Date: 2000-08-01

Amazon.com

When Eugene Linden was writing The Parrot's Lament--a book subtitled "And Other True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity"--he enjoyed joking around with his 2-year-old daughter Sofia. "Are you a rutabaga?" "I'm not a rutabaga!" she would giggle. "Are you a waterbug?" "I'm not a waterbug!" Soon, Sofia learned to riff off her father's teasing: "I'm not a rutabaga; Daddy is a rutabaga!" or the truly insightful, "I'm not a rutabaga; the baby is a rutabaga. I'm a waterbug!"

As a passionate and accomplished student of animal intelligence since the '70s, Linden--of course--couldn't resist comparing Sofia's reasoning to that of an ape, puzzling over the cognitive cusp upon which she teetered. And it's this affectionate but knowledgeable analysis, the gentle transition from rutabagas to metacognition and emergent symbolic ability, that makes The Parrot's Lament so satisfying, sentimental but still scientifically solid. The science of consciousness and animal intelligence is contentious, but many in the field--Linden included--deeply suspect that animals know more than we can verify. Linden lays down the science with clarity and good humor, but he leaves it to his animal coauthors, the amorous dolphins, escape-artist orangs, enigmatic cats, and lying hyenas that populate the book's scores of anecdotes, to make his argument. --Paul Hughes

Book Description

A gorilla shrewdly sells back a missing key chain to the highest bidder. An orangutan picks a lock to let himself out of his zoo enclosure and two elephants adopt a tag-team strategy to keep their handlers from putting them back into theirs. In The Parrot's Lament, noted environmentalist Eugene Linden offers more than one hundred true anecdotes about animal acts of cooperation, heroism, escape--even tales of deception or manipulation of human beings. Drawing on the first-person experiences of veterinarians, field biologists, researchers, and trainers, Linden has compiled a warmly entertaining and powerfully persuasive argument for animal consciousness that, while not human, far exceeds what humans usually grant animals. Scientifically sound and emotionally compelling, The Parrot's Lament contains remarkable stories that are sure to resonate with animal lovers, turning skeptics everywhere into believers.

"Eugene Linden reveals how animals demonstrate aspects of intelligence as they escape from, cheat, and outfox humans." --Time magazine

"These amazing true stories confirm what many of us always suspected--that animals would make better humans than most humans would." --Carl Hiaasen

Customer Reviews:

They're smarter than you think!.......2006-11-14

This is a wonderful book. Having had companion animals all my life, I've never had any doubt whatsoever that our four-legged and/or feathered friends have a lot more going on in their little heads than some people give them credit for. Just because an animal can't use human words doesn't mean they can't think, feel, or communicate; and this book demonstrates that very well. My only "complaint," such as it is, is that there was no reference whatsoever to a parrot's lament. This rather disappointed me since I have a companion parrot, have read a lot about parrots, and was interested to hear Mr. Linden's story about a lamenting bird. Other than that, it's a great book!

My Goats Bedevil Me!.......2005-05-31

I suspect that my goats have me figured and are now trying to outsmart me. Apparently they don't think it's very hard. Because of the steep hills, hollows and giant boulders here at Flying Goat Ranch, the goats' territory is not securely fenced. Down by the road, where there's little to entice a hungry goat, there's just a wire to let them know their boundary. If I appear when they are outside this line, they crawl back under the wire and scoot up the hill. On the other hand, at the upper end of the ranch, the neighbor's fence is more substantial, but quite old and full of holes. I've tried to patch them, but the goats always find a new outlet so they can explore those greener pastures. If I confront them outside of this fence, they play dumb and wander back down along the fence line toward the front of our place, as if they don't know how to get back inside. Even if I approach them sounding the dinner bell (in response to which which they normally fly straight to their food area), they will still take this indirect and ineffective route, rather than take the quickest way to the food--through the opening of the fence. I suspect they don't want me to know their secret outlet, So I hide while I ring the bell and trick them into taking the quickest way back--the fence hole they came through--and from my hideout I discover their secret opening.
A recent book has collected many stories better than to demonstrate that animals possess several aspects of intelligent awareness, including a sense of humor as well as the ability to deceive. The Parrot's Lament and other true tales of animal intrigue, intelligence, and ingenuity (Dutton) gets its title from a story about a African Grey parrot, Bongo Marie. Its owner had a number of birds at her house, including an Amazon parrot, Paco, that Bongo Marie especially disliked. One day, the owner was removing a roast Cornish game hen from her oven when Bongo Marie flew over and shouted, "Oh no! Paco!" in an excited tone. When the owner produced Paco to show he was still alive, Bongo Marie responded in a disappointed tone, "Oh, no!" and then broke out into raucous laughter. The author of the book, Eugene Linden, an award winning science writer, has collected many of his stories from professional animal handlers (zoo keepers, animal researchers, etc.) and has included research studies, both of which provide a factual and intellectually curious tone to balance the natural sentimentality.
Escape stories involve not only animal cleverness, but also deception. In one case, for example, Fu Manchu, a male orangutan, baffled zoo keepers by his ability to open a door that allowed regular escape. Surreptitious observation revealed that he kept hidden in his cheek a secret tool: a wire he used to pick the lock.
A story of double deception among the animals themselves comes from an observation station created by Jane Goodall in the wilds of Tanzania. Just at the moment that one chimpanzee found a cache of food, a more dominant chimp appeared on the scene. The first chimp walked away from the cache and acted nonchalantly until the second chimp left the scene. When the coast was clear, the first chimp went over to the food and began to eat. However, the second chimp had only appeared to have left. He was observed to have hidden himself in the bushes and spied on the first chimp to learn of its deception. When the secret was exposed, the dominant chimp returned to the scene and claimed the food for himself.
Pet owners often attribute to their animals more intelligence, awareness and cunning than psychologists think they deserve. In the academic community, animal awareness is still as much an anathema as ESP. I don't think the church is as against animal awareness as much as is the university, even though it was the church who invented animal dumbness to create a spiritual gap between them and us. But evidence is mounting to force a conclusion that animals do think, have feelings, and are creative. Some animals, such as chimps and parrots, are even able to learn how to use symbolic language intelligently. Their ability to deceive, as cute or unattractive as it may be, is a quite important clue about their minds. The act of deception shows an awareness of the mental states of others and an understanding of how those mental states can be misled. My goats seem to assume that as long as I don't see them walk through the fence, I won't know there's a hole in it, so they seem to act so as to plant a false belief in my mind.
At a time when threats to the welfare of animals abound, it's good to hear stories that speak to us about their recognizably human qualities. When we empathize with them, it helps us connect to them as beings like us. In that way they become as our teachers, inspiring us to develop a more sensitive and caring relationship with the critters with whom we share this planet.

A good book, with some unsettling errors..........2004-04-01

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this exploration of animal intelligence. Linden writes clearly and succinctly, and does a great job of weaving his stories together to support the points he makes. He has taken examples from both his personal experience, and from numerous print sources and interviews with other people. Most of the stories revolve around captive animals (as pets and in zoos - primarily because these are more easily observed), though some examples from the wild are included. In addition, an overwhelming number of these case studies involve the great apes (particularly orangutans and gorillas) and dolphins. This is to be expected, as these species are generally considered to be among the most intelligent, but there are also tales of birds, pigs, large cats, and others.

The book is divided into nine categories. He begins with "Games and Humor," in which he explores the ways in which animals amuse themselves. "Trade and Barter" was one of the most interesting chapters, detailing the elaborate systems captive apes have been taught, where they can earn "money" for performing tasks for their keepers, and then spend that money on items they want, such as treats or toys. "Deception" discusses ways animals have tried to fool both their human counterparts and others of their own species. In "Mind Reading and Mental Chess" Linden explores the extent to which animals can be aware of others' states of mind. "Cooperation in Work, Conflict, and Healing" is another particularly interesting chapter, offering examples of service animals that have gone beyond their training to help humans. Included are stories of animals that actually seek out ill and injured people in order to offer them solace. "Tools and Intelligence" concerns that very sticky topic of whether humans, as tool-users, are unique. It appears that we are not, and Linden shows us numerous cases where other species have made use of tools to achieve their aims. The seventh chapter talks of escape attempts - cases where captive animals have shown remarkable ingenuity despite all their keepers' efforts to dissuade them. "Empathy and Heroism" gives us examples of animal heroes, and finally "A Place Where Humans are the Novelty" takes a brief look at those few wild places that are still relatively untouched by humans.

While I really liked the book as a whole, however, there are a few things which cause me to knock my rating down to only four stars. First is that Linden undermines much of his own thesis by devoting an entire preface as a disclaimer that none of these stories can be used as scientific evidence. Perhaps the stories are anecdotal, but this is how much of scientific discovery begins - with pure observation of things. For those of us with wide exposure to animals, it is hard to deny that they do possess some remarkable mental capabilities, even without these stories as additional proof.

And secondly, Linden has done a very poor job of checking his facts. Many of his examples come from animals at the Woodland Park Zoo, which is very close to where I live, and which I have visited numerous times. The first error that leapt out at me is relatively minor - the orangutan Linden refers to as "Tawan" is actually named Towan. But more alarming, one of Linden's stories involves the gorillas at Woodland Park. He claims that the gorilla Jumoke, when separated from the father of her baby, repeatedly tried to climb out of her new enclosure to rejoin him. This is all well and good, except that the "father" is billed as Alafia. Anyone can check the Woodland Park Zoo's website (www.zoo.org) and see that Alafia is, in fact, a female. So something is not right with that particular story. It could be that Linden just mixed up the names - there are a LOT of gorillas at Woodland park - but errors like this make me question the accuracy of the other accounts included. Has Linden made other mistakes in his research?

Overall, though, I would still recommend this book to anyone with a casual interest animal intelligence. Some of the stories are heartwarming, others funny, and others downright amazing. The book is friendly to the layman and does not require any scientific knowledge. It is also well-written and easy to read. If you're doing a study or writing a paper, I would strongly advise you to double-check the specifics of any accounts you intend to reference (due to the above mentioned errors), but for general-interest purposes this book is good enough as is. It's a great testament to the often vastly underestimated intellectual powers of our furry, feathery, and scaly friends.

Witty and fulfilling.......2003-03-13

I enjoyed this book of anecdotes about animals behaving in smart, original, creative, and sometimes heroic ways. It was written in a very accessible style, and I enjoyed the author's sense of humor. The book was well-divided into sections: games and humor; trade and barter; deception; mind reading and mental chess; cooperation in work, conflict and healing; tools and intelligence; escapes; empathy and heroism; and a place where humans are the novelty. I would've liked to have read more about the last section, about animals who have no fear of humans in a virtually untouched jungle in Africa. The only thing that puzzled me about the book was the rather apologetic tone regarding animal intelligence. The tone tries to pacify scientists and other people who aren't convinced that animals possess intelligence. I have never doubted that they do. I'm sure most people who have pets or work around animals feel the same way. It's too bad that we have to be apologetic about believing that the important life forms that share our planet have the capacity to think and feel. As the author points out in the last chapter, based on what we're doing to the planet, it's sometimes questionable which species is really the one without intelligence.

Excellent.......2002-07-03

I have a bird myself, and though she doesn't display any higher intelligence, these stories were humerous and fascinating.

The tales of love and escape and the human qualities displayed by animals were touching, too. This book made me do something not not very many other books have done; I laughed out loud. It's a great book for those who have pets or are just interested in tales of animal empathy, deception, and cooperation and intelligence which are sometimes hysterical.

Average customer rating:

Fascinating as far as it goes

Thought Provoking

The intelligence: a valuated tool within the evolution!

Intelligence in nature- Narby

Intelligence in Nature

Intelligence in Nature
Jeremy Narby
Manufacturer: Tarcher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1585423998

Book Description

Anthropologist Jeremy Narby has altered how we understand the shamanic cultures and traditions that have undergone a worldwide revival in recent years. Now, in one of his most extraordinary journeys, Narby travels around the globe-from the Amazon basin to the Far East-to probe what traditional healers and pioneering researchers perceive about the intelligence present in all forms of life.

Intelligence in Nature offers overwhelming illustrative evidence that independent intelligence is not unique to humanity. Indeed, bacteria, plants, animals, and other forms of nonhuman life display an uncanny proclivity for self-deterministic decisions, patterns, and actions. The Japanese possess a word for this universal knowing: chi-sei. For the first time, Narby presents an in-depth anthropological study of this concept in the West. He not only uncovers a mysterious thread of intelligent behavior within the natural world but also probes the question of what humanity can learn from nature's economy and knowingness in its own search for a saner and more sustainable way of life.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating as far as it goes.......2007-06-24

This book opens up some fascinating non-theological questions about the nature of life and how it evolves. The point of view is of an anthropologist who has studied shamanism in the Amazon and who seeks to find parallels in scientific inquiry. In doing so, he is moving from a subjective, experiential point of view of the shaman, who claims to communicate with animal spirits, to an objective observer's view of one working under the discipline of the scientific method. The first few chapters concern field trips he has taken to the Amazon basin, and the remainder deals mainly with discussions with scientists in different parts of the world who are pursuing studies that are directly concerned with intelligence in nature.

The main part of the book ponders the question of how certain brainless organisms apprehend their environments in a way that suggests that they know or can compute efficient ways to adapt. How does a slime mold solve a maze? How does ground ivy know not to sink its roots in non-nutritous ground? In order to survive and extend itself, all of life cannot afford to make poor choices on how to use its energy. But how does life, especially the simplest forms without brains, make the correct decisions? Somehow, they know how to proceed in an efficient manner despite complexity. A Japanese scientist, Toshiyuki Nakagaki, notes that most information processing in humans takes place in the unconscious, as in calculating balance in riding a bicycle.

I have not yet read the author's first book THE COSMIC SERPENT. So, perhaps I am missing something; but I thought the author left the trail he was following a bit too abruptly and lost some momentum in the last two chapters, which were mainly a recapitulation. I was looking forward to more examples from science or perhaps more about shamanism. But clearly the author is on to something here, and I enjoyed the clear, conversational writing style.

Thought Provoking.......2006-12-26

In "Intelligence in Nature" Jeremy Narby shares his journeys as he attempts to answer the question regarding whether or not there is truly intelligence in nature - Do animals have intelligence, or do they act purly on instincts alone? How about plant life, is there intelligence there?

Mr. Narby travels all over the world, to places like the Amazon, Japan, Tokyo, Great Britain, etc..., speaking with scientists & shamans alike - learning about, and sharing with us, the evidence & experiences related to this question about intelligence. What he finds is truly amazing! In the last decade or so, it appears that science is beginning to find out what shamans have said all along - that naure is intelligent, including animals, insects, plant life, and even uni-cellular organisms.

The author also discusses the benefits of science & shamanism coming together to learn from one another, as well as some of the problems encountered when attempting to answer questions dealing with intelligence, including the problem with using the word "intelligence", as it has become a "loaded word" in many countries, and the current scientific view that all things not human must by machine-like (although he also shows that this view is starting to change, with the abundance of research being contrary to this mechanistic view of nature).

Overall, I found this to be a thought provoking, interesting read. As such, I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the possibilities concerning intelligence in nature.

The intelligence: a valuated tool within the evolution! .......2006-07-09

It sounds quite pretentious to believe we are the only owners of this prodigious gift, as the intelligence is, just because we are the are the most advanced link of the chain or we have the faculty to articulate words, ideas and thoughts and to be conscious about the idea of our own death. The intelligence is a most extensive and dynamic concept.

Moreover, if you pay special attention around the paradigmatic essence of many invents, you will realize the human being has simply conveyed the paradigmatic model into the process of investigation and eventual development.

The inner mechanism of the bats and the radar; the magic of the flight of birds and the future airplanes, the nocturnal vision and the improved visual devices for troops at night. As a matter of fact, the camouflage in chameleons and other species, not only agrees with Darwin's theory but it props and affiances with major strength this statement.

On the other hand, the intelligence in the nature is just a matter of surviving, preservation and evolution of the specie; so under this perspective to deny forehand the existence of a primordial intelligence in many animal species, as soon to understand the different levels of development according the case, is just a sample of lack of perception and supine intellectual arrogance.

This book is a pleasant reading around this interesting issue, that recreates without those formal hindrances, relevant examples about this fact.

Intelligence in nature- Narby.......2006-06-05

highly recommended. this is an easy read which makes several striking points. It is quite different than his previous book, the Cosmic Serpent which is a little more academic. But Narby captures the same essence here with objective examples from the most recent research on a variety of topics. very good, the only reason it is not a 5 is because it is fairly brief. I found the footnotes to be a regirgitation of the text. I was eager to read this book because his previous one was great. But Intelligence in Nature is more of a one-two punch than a 10 round bout. But it is a potent one-two, I'd say Tyson just a little bit after his prime.

Intelligence in Nature.......2006-04-01

Readers of Jeremy Narby's first book, The Cosmic Serpent, might wonder as I did, after reading Intelligence in Nature, why he wrote this latest book. They might also wonder what happened to the spirit of personal discovery that was so present in his previous work. Where Cosmic Serpent fairly rings with the kind of unbridled enthusiasm that comes with uncovering splendid mysteries, Intelligence in Nature reads more like a transcription from the Discovery channel.

Narby's search for intelligence in nature takes us into the biology labs of a select group of scientists around the world who are trying to identify humanlike intelligence within the plant and animal life of the natural world. From the Peruvian Amazon to Japan, we meet scientists whose investigations are undoubtedly fascinating. But Narby's inquiry begins and ends with large questions hanging in the air. We learn interesting things about how slime mold, for example, appears to make decisions, or how certain tropical birds ingest clay to prevent disease in much the same way that we use antibiotics. But then what? Why is intelligence in nature such a puzzling question to science when it seems so obvious to anyone who regularly walks in the woods with a curious and observant eye? And why should it be left to mainstream science to decree the existence of something for which scientists themselves can reach no defining consensus?

Narby asks good questions in this book but he doesn't go very far with them. His tentativeness in the company of scientists is curious given the open-minded enthusiasm he brought to his experiences with shamans in the Peruvian Amazon, which he first wrote about in The Cosmic Serpent. There, far from his academic and cultural roots, he eagerly pushed the edge of conventional knowledge. Describing his experience with ayahuasca, the hallucinogenic healing plant of the Amazonian basin, Narby made a symbolic connection between the double-helix imagery of DNA and what the shamans described as the "language twisting-twisting" experience of ritualistically altered consciousness. Through their profound knowledge of the natural world, the shamans revealed a larger intelligence governing all life. Narby's experience and subsequent description of this revelation was truly inspiring.

But it's possible that The Cosmic Serpent was more than Western science could handle, which may be one reason why Intelligence in Nature is so tentative and inconclusive. Once bitten, twice shy, perhaps. In 1997, following publication of The Cosmic Serpent, Harvard biophysicist Jacques Dubochet roundly criticized Narby for insufficiently testing his hypothesis about DNA and universal intelligence. Accusing Narby of "blindly charging down the wrong path," Dubochet made it clear that in his opinion Narby had succumbed to the least responsible path of science.

But it was never meant to be a formal scientific inquiry. Jeremy Narby is an anthropologist, not a scientist, and his intent clearly was to use his own experience to inspire us to think more deeply about our intelligence and what our potential could be. Subjective experience is not admissible to established scientific methodology, which is fine for science. But for the rest of us, personal experience is the only real knowledge there is. That's where Jeremy Narby is strongest, and where he can be an inspiration for all of us. He's done it once, he can do it again.

- Swami Gopalananda
ascent magazine, Issue 27

The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions

Average customer rating:

site your source, prof!
Superbly researched and written
Very poor
OK as a Guide/Resource Book
Great book!

The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions
Stanley Coren
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

How Smart Is Your Dog?

If you've ever wondered what is really going on inside your dog's head, here is your chance to find out. In this revised and updated version of this perennially popular book, psychologist and prizewinning trainer Stanley Coren provides a startling view of the intelligence of our oldest and closest animal companions.

Do dogs really think? Are they conscious in the same way humans are? What is the nature of canine memory? Can dogs communicate with us -- and, if so, how can we understand them? Do they have feelings such as guilt, loyalty, and jealousy? Do they experience joy and sorrow?

Drawing on scientific research that has stood the test of the past decade, interviews with top breeders and trainers, and his own personal observations as a lifelong dog lover, Stanley Coren speculates on these and many other fascinating questions about man's best friend. He offers practical tips on how to evaluate your dog's body language and understand the sophisticated "language" of a dog's bark, and how to tailor a training program to suit your dog's special needs. Here, too, are the famous, controversial lists and rankings of more than 100 breeds for obedience and working intelligence, as well as for specialized tasks such as hunting, home security, and companionship.

Rich in wit, wisdom, and anecdote, The Intelligence of Dogs is a book that will bring you a greater understanding and enjoyment of the habits, antics, and abilities of your dog.

Customer Reviews:

site your source, prof!.......2007-09-28

I have a BIG problem with this book...

Dr. Coren fails to include any citations or references to most of his original claims...There is a "suggested reading" section, but rarely any references or citations beyond vague references to "experts" and "authorities".
As a result, when information is presented, I simply don't know how to respond... take Dr. Coren at his word or be skeptical? Even "experts" are known to disagree with each other... so when he says that he consulted "14 top experts" on the subject to arrive a a conclusion, I can't help but wonder, why no name dropping? Aren't such associations something to brag about and don't "experts" like getting credit for their work?

As for the test he developed he says, "All the tests are based on formal labratory and field testing procedures modified so that they will be fairly simple to administer and will not require much in the way of equipment..." This is how he explains how he developed the test... though in the suggested reading section he does give a clue as to how he came up with his tests by listing the materials that inspired him... he seems to admit that he just modified a bunch of pre-existing tests based on his knoweldge of two theories of HUMAN intelligence and at times I sense SUPERFICIAL knowelge of dog intelligence... Uh oh...

In conclusion, I am not agreeing or disagreeing with any of his claims or his credentials, but many seem like recycled facts and tidbits from other books mixed in with human pop psychology (sort of pseudo child psych testing)/classic experimental psych 201 - - thrown in with tests meant to evaluate candidates for various working dog programs. - - As for assessing the intelligence of dogs... obedience yes, but as for "thoughts, emotions and inner lives" - - did I fall asleep during those chapters?

Ironically, while I was reading the book, I thought he reminded me of a very good Psych 101 professor... only with an interest in dogs. - - Searching the net, it turns out that he is indeed a PSYCH 101 teacher at his university(!)

In the end, I'm left wondering: Is a HUMAN PSYCHOLOGIST the best person to assess the intelligence of dogs? (Psychologists definitely are in a position to offer insight, but usually people involved in multi-disciplinary research rely on data provided to them by collegues in other fields... these collegues in term are traditionally named.)

Reminds me of the time I had a lot of stress and decided to see a counselor in Japan who claimed to be fluent in English, but spoke NO ENGLISH... and was surprized when I terminated the session. - - DOGS do speak a totally different language than our own... and I'd hope that if some expert is going to rate their intelligence, its going to be someone who realizes that sometimes foreigners look stupid because their ways are different and we can't communicate with them so well...

Instead of this book I suggest McConnel's FOR THE LOVE OF A DOG... Not saying I agree with all her claims (or disagree with all his) but she cites her sources so you can explore them for yourself.

Superbly researched and written.......2007-06-03

This book was not written to teach you how to train your dog. Rather, it's by far the most authoritative book available on what your dog senses and how he's likely to process and remember what he sees, hears, and smells. It gave me for the first time an understanding of why dogs react as they do and why successful training methods work. As Coren points out in one of his books, almost half of us share our homes with dogs at one time or another, but what we learn about in high-school biology is salamanders, sharks, and the platypus, creatures we never encounter personally. This book addresses that disconnect so well that I think it should be included in basic life-science curricula. Even for someone who has no intention of ever including a dog in his or her household, this book can provide an interesting new slant on understanding animals. That is to say that it has great value for its academic content as well as its practical applicability. I give Coren my highest recommendation among authors writing on the subject of canine psychology.

Very poor.......2007-05-04

This is an absolutely awful book. It trades in on common misconceptions with dogs, and then goes on to make generalizations about breeds that have no business circulating. Thanks to this fine author, people can parade around their poodles and say they have the second smartest dog in the world... Never mind that they are tethered to a puppy mill inbred. Generalizing that Border Collies are smarter than Poodles are smarter that Rottweilers is just plain asinine. What was the sample size? (I believe it was like 5 dogs.)

Maybe this book was supposed to make some owners feel better or something... Beats me. Read the Wiki on "Dog Intelligence"... Coren's only barometer for "intellect" revolves around the dog's willingness to please, which he still hasn't recognized because he's too busy believing the "Alpha Dog" myth.

Save your money and buy your lil' man some bully chews.

OK as a Guide/Resource Book.......2007-02-25

Well, I was not that impressed. The book is a rather dull read, not terribly informative, although it gives some pertinent facts about dog barks, growls, sounds and positions as to what they mean. I learned quite a lot from this particular section. I don't know if I totally and quite agree about which particular breed of dog is the absolute most intelligent, as Coren points out, intelligence takes many forms---in dogs as well as in people. The book was all right. It has some good facts, but I was not overly impressed as I said above. He has many stories and tales about different breeds of dogs that underscore his points throughout the book. Again, it's all right, and if anyone wants to buy my copy really cheap, let me know. The book is not a keeper. That's my review of The Intelligence of Dogs!

Great book!.......2007-01-11

This book is fabulous! Stanley Coren really has a way of bringing it down to the dogs level, giving you a deeper understanding of dog behavior.

The Genius Within: Discovering the Intelligence of Every Living Thing

Average customer rating:

An intelligent look at life
Good but boring at times
Life is more then a Blind Algorithmic Process
Simply wonderful
An Ode to Creativity (aka "emergent properties")

The Genius Within: Discovering the Intelligence of Every Living Thing
Jr., Frank T. Vertosick
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

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Amazon.com

If we're so smart, why are we still at the mercy of treacherous microorganisms? The Genius Within: Discovering the Intelligence of Every Living Thing asks readers to let go of brain worship and look at the incredible problem-solving skills of viruses, ants, and other lowly creatures. Neurosurgeon Frank T. Vertosick Jr. seems an unlikely candidate to write a book celebrating noncerebral intelligence, but his knowledge helps him draw comparisons that others might miss. The fast-moving genetic intelligence of bacteria and immune systems might not match the precision of digital computers, but they have devised arms races much more complex--and deadly--than our comparatively paltry efforts. Vertosick's grasp of what it means to behave intelligently comes through clearly, even if he is as stumped as anyone trying to define the I word. Exploring parallels between neural networks, insect colonies, and our own brains, he finds common ground and shows that, as far as evolution is concerned, we're not so bright. It's not all bad, though: we're very good at what we do, and Vertosick hopes that we can learn to use our intelligence more wisely. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Can bacteria be as smart as we are? Can ants think? And fish? Yes, says Frank Vertosick, a neurosurgeon who combats our elitism about intelligence in this brilliant book.
A gifted writer and author of the widely praised Why We Hurt, Vertosick shows us that intelligence--the ability to react to the outside world, to change behavior, and survive-can be found wherever life exists. He demonstrates the keen intelligence of our immune system, how lowly bacteria mutate and outwit antibiotics, and how canny cancer cells elude our natural defenses.
A fascinating journey through worlds of unknown science and an unsettling argument against our valuing of brain intelligence above all else, The Genius Within tells a fascinating scientific story, one that could shake our ethical foundation to its core.

Customer Reviews:

An intelligent look at life.......2006-02-23

"The Genius Within" is a must read for the non-specialist interested in science. It is a thought provoking work; very speculative, but grounded in mainstream scientific fact and theory. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it...twice. It's a bit technical at times, so some familiarity with the science involved is recommended. Also, if you happen to be more interested in "intelligent" animal behavior as such, rather than in its biochemical, microbiological and systemic underpinnings, you may want to look elsewhere.

In this book, the author explores the notion the "networks" underlie the phenomenon we call life, and that life is synonymous with the information processing - intelligence - they architect. We tend to think of intelligence as a unique feature of brains, our conscious ones in particular (he calls this "brain chauvinism"), but he contends that all life is intelligent, or at least as "intelligent as it needs to be", and sets out to prove it.

In simplest terms, he defines intelligence as the ability to solve problems related to survival. This seems to run counter to mainstream evolutionary theory, where the survival of species is basically as matter of, well, "dumb luck". But the author views intelligence as a collective phenomenon firmly embedded within this framework; as an "emergent behavior" of large groups of highly interactive biological entities (Including sub-cellular enzymes) otherwise engaged in a contingency-driven, random struggle for survival. The architecture that endows such groups with "emergent properties" is called, for want of a better word, a "network" by the author.

The details of what the author means by a "network" is closely argued and beyond the scope of this review. In general, a biological "network" is a large collection of "selfish", randomly interacting entities whose components are capable of two or more relatively stable, but reversible, states (more active/less active, faster/slower, stronger/weaker), and whose components can variously enhance or impede each other's status over time, resulting in a collective "energy landscape" patterned by forces impinging on the network. The former allows for basic information storage (the biological equivalent of zeros and ones), and the latter for collective information storage (pattern recognition/memory) concerning the environment, allowing the collective to respond to environmental stimuli in, ultimately, a manner conducive to its survival. Overall, the architecture of a "network" harnesses the random, contingent interactions of its constituents into the directed or, as the author would claim, intelligent actions we associate with life at every level of biological organization.

The author spends much of the book "fleshing out" these and other abstractions, particularly with respects to interacting aggregates composed of things such as cellular enzymes, bacteria and somatic cells, what he calls "party networks" as opposed to "hard wired networks", though he does give ample attention to the latter (he is, after all, a brain surgeon). To assess intelligence from the "outside in", he employs a modified version of the Touring Test throughout these forays. Without making any assumptions about them based on what they are or how they're organized, he queries each system with a problem, and waits for a response. He queries an infectious bacterial species with a new antibiotic and, within months, it develops immunity. He queries the human immune system with the aforementioned bacteria and, within weeks, it develops an effective resistance. In these and other instances, he argues for an "intelligent" response from each based on their participation in network architecture, no more or less effective for the overall survival of its hosts than the quickened responses of "hard wired" brains.

I gave this book a five-star rating, and with good reason, but I'm not entirely in agreement with its conclusions. Although "networking" is arguably a characteristic of all living systems, it seems somewhat disingenuous to define intelligence as the ability to solve problems regardless of the time frame involved. Given enough time and numbers, "dumb luck" will achieve results that appear intelligent, and so will tempt teleological interpretations. Mainstream evolutionists have long had to contend with our compulsion to put a "forger" between the hammers of chance and the anvil of necessity. Like them, I suspect the author's hypothesis, however plausible, is just another in a series of attempts to inject Vitalism into biology, "networks" here replacing the less than scientific musings of an earlier age.

But then again, maybe I'm just a "brain chauvinist".

Good but boring at times.......2004-09-02

This is a relatively good book to read. However, the promise
that the author makes in not being technical is only partically
true. First, he concentrates too much on the medical explanations
that, at times, are not entirely relevant. Second, his analogies
are silly at times particularly when the concept is
already well understood without the analogy. One has to know
that the number of analogies given is not directly proportional
to how clear the concept will become to the reader.

But as I said, this is a good book and if you can live by
the parts of the book that are irrelevant you may learn
something new about the concept of intelligence and how
intelligence can be observed in seemingly "dumb" things.

Life is more then a Blind Algorithmic Process.......2003-11-15

Though Vertosick does not focus on the more technical and strictly academic foundations of his major thesis (life=intelligence), he does a beautiful job of using analogies and metaphors to describe how even a cell can exhibit "intelligent" behaviour. This book should be required reading for anyone who is remotely interested in biology, or anything to do with nature. Vertosick is able to successfully synthesize a completely different, yet strongly persuasive argument for the basis of life itself. He admits that his thesis may be flawed, but personally I think that most of his points are well thought out and strongly supported. This is one of the most interesting books on life and intelligence I have ever read.

Simply wonderful.......2003-11-08

As easy to read as a novel and just as enjoyable, it will forever change the way you see the world around you. It is one of those rare books that links together a number of more or less well known ideas and arrives at an extraordinary and inescapable set of conclusions. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

An Ode to Creativity (aka "emergent properties").......2003-07-18

If you want to know why Darwin might be "needlessy nihilistic" and what is at the core of Vertosick's carefully built case to explain--nothing less than--the possisble meaning of everything, then check this out. I thought the beginning was a little tedious, but the pay-off for hanging in there with his carefully crafted case was well worth it. I've bought several copies to share with friends and have had many lively debates. Thanks Dr. Vertosick for your emergent property--it's marvelous!

From Animals to Animats 4: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (Complex Adaptive Systems)

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From Animals to Animats 4: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (Complex Adaptive Systems)

Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0262631784

Book Description

September 9th-13th, 1996, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

From Animals to Animats 4 brings together the latest research at the frontier of an exciting new approach to understanding intelligence. The contributors represent a broad range of interests from artificial intelligence and robotics to ethology and the neurosciences. Unifying these approaches is the notion of "animat"--an artificial animal, either simulated by a computer or embodied in a robot, which must survive and adapt in progressively more challenging environments. The 66 contributions focus particularly on well-defined models, computer simulations, and built robots in order to help characterize and compare various principles and architectures capable of inducing adaptive behavior in real or artificial animals.

Major topics, all from the perspective of adaptive behavior, include: The Animat Approach to Adaptive Behavior, Perception and Motor Control, Action Selection and Behavioral Sequences, Internal World Models and Navigation, Motivation and Emotions, Learning, Evolution, Coevolution, Collective Behavior.

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The Psychology of Animal Learning
N. J. MacKintosh
Manufacturer: Academic Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0124646506

Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds

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Mind of the Raven
The ultimate book of raven behavior
3 - 2 - 1 ....
Proof that ravens understand a lot more than "Nevermore!"
Gotta love this raving naturalist

Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds
Bernd Heinrich
Manufacturer: Ecco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Ravens in Winter
In the Company of Crows and Ravens
Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival
Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays
Ravensong: A Natural And Fabulous History Of Ravens And Crows

ASIN: 0060174471

Amazon.com

Beyond croaking, "Nevermore," what exactly do ravens do all day? Bernd Heinrich, biology professor at the University of Vermont and author of Ravens in Winter, has spent more than a decade learning the secrets of these giants of the crow family. He has observed startlingly complex activities among ravens, including strong pair-bonding, use of tools, elaborate vocal communication, and even play. Ravens are just plain smart, and we can see much of ourselves in their behavior. They seem to be affectionate, cranky, joyful, greedy, and competitive, just like us. And in Mind of the Raven, Heinrich makes no bones about attributing emotions and intellect to Corvus corax--just not the kind we humans can understand. He mostly catalogs their behaviors in the manner of a respectful anthropologist, although a few moments of proud papa show through when he describes the pet ravens he hand-raised to adulthood.

Heinrich spends hundreds of loving hours feeding roadkill fragments to endlessly hungry raven chicks, and cold days in blinds watching wild ravens squabble and frolic. He is a passionate fan of his "wolf-birds," a name he gave them when he made the central discovery of the book: that ravens in Yellowstone National Park are dependent on wolves to kill for them. Mind of the Raven offers inspiring insight into both the lives of ravens and the mind of a truly gifted scientist. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

In Mind of the Raven, Bernd Heinrich, award - winning naturalist, finds himself dreaming of ravens and decides he must get to the truth about this animal reputed to be so intelligent.

Much like a sleuth, Heinrich involves us in his quest, letting one clue lead to the next. But as animals can only be spied on by getting quite close Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a "raven father," as well as observing them in their natural habitat, studying their daily routines, and in the process painting a vivid picture of the world as lived by the ravens. At the heart of this book are Heinrich's love and respect for these complex and engaging creatures, and through his keen observation andanalysis, we become their intimates too.

Throughout history there has existed an extraordinary relationship between humans and ravens. Ravens, like early humans, are scavengers on the kills of great carnivores. As scavengers, ravens were associated with hunters they found in the north: wolves and, later, men. The trinity of wolf, man, and raven in the hunt is an extremely ancient one. In considering the appeal of the raven, Bernd Heinrich suspects that a meeting of the minds might reside in that hunting trinity.

Heinrich's passion for ravens has led him around the world in his research. Mind of the Raven takes you on an exotic journey--from New England to Germany, Montana to Baffin Island in the high Arctic--offering dazzling accounts of how science works in the field, filtered through the eyes of a passionate observer of nature.

Heinrich has a true gift; through his stories, his beautiful writing, illustrations, and photography, the ravens come alive. Each new discovery and insight into their behavior is thrilling to read. just as the title promises, the reader is given a rare glimpse into the mind of these wonderful creatures.Following the dictum of Leonardo da Vinci--"It is not enough to believe what you see. YOU Must also understand what you see"--Bernd Heinrich enables us to see the natural world through the eyes of a scientist. At once lyrical and scientific, Mind of the Raven is bound to be a modern classic.

Customer Reviews:

Mind of the Raven.......2006-07-31

Very informative yet not too scientific. Contains many facts not commonly known about these intelligent birds. This book could change your mind about them.

The ultimate book of raven behavior.......2006-04-03

I knew the raven had many interesting feature to them before I opened this book but after reading "mind of the raven" I will say I was amazed of both the research Bernd Heinrich has done and of this remarkable bird. Heinrich are presenting his findings about the ravens where he is taking the subject (the raven) seriously and simultaneously managed to make it attractive for people that have not specialize in beaks and feathers.

3 - 2 - 1 ...........2006-03-16

I agree with most reviewers that this book fascinates the reader with interesting science and anecdotes about ravens. There are countless facts and amusing information provided about the intelligence, behavior and antics of both wild and tame ravens. One of the more humorous sections was on vocal communication, particulary mimicking. Heinrich provides descriptions of captive ravens making perfect renditions of radio static, toilets flushing and a motorcycle being revved up. There was also a scientist in a national park who distictly heard several times: "Three, two, one, bcccchhhh", sounding as if coming from a speaker. This was acually a raven who was sufficiently impressed with the park rangers conducting avalanche control to repeat the count-down and sound of the explosion. Hilarious...
The experiments and observations the author describes of wild ravens in the forests of Maine, Alaska,the western states & elsewhere are also superbly written and provide insights into the interactions and cooperation of ravens with large (and dangerous) predators including Man.

Proof that ravens understand a lot more than "Nevermore!".......2006-01-10

Although I have not yet read Ravens in Winter, after having read Mind of the Raven, I would not have any scruples about declaring these birds to be smarter than certain individuals who claim to be my relatives.

Each chapter is essentially a mini-story describing Heinrich's observations of raven behavior in exquisite, although at times excruciating, detail. Many of these observations are of Heinrich's wild-caught, hand-raised ravens housed in his aviary in Maine, while others are field studies conducted with (I dare not say "on") wild ravens. Heinrich also incorporates stories of pet ravens along with the research of others who have conducted field studies with these elusive birds. I was impressed by the fact that observations of ravens throughout the world were integrated throughout the book.

Heinrich manages to neatly intertwine innumerable factoids related to raven ecology and natural history within each behavioral observation. One learns what constitutes the typical diet of wild ravens (if there is such a thing), that only females make a call that sounds like knocking on wood, that it is not uncommon for ravens to reach 20 years of age or more, that ravens either are not offended by or simply cannot smell skunks - honestly, I felt like a raven expert after having read this book.

Overall, Heinrich does an excellent job of interpreting raven social behavior and cognition from his studies. Studies of the social behavior of wild and tame ravens are explored, and the behaviors of other animals are often presented to provide support for his speculations. Heinrich also examines the hypotheses proposed by the forerunners in animal behavior, such as Konrad Lorenz, along side his observations.

Heinrich incorporates studies he designed to test raven intelligence as well. One cannot help but marvel at how smart these birds are. Heinrich provides speculations on the results of these tests and I found myself nodding in agreement; however, I cannot decide if it is because his arguments are so cogent or if I'm simply so amazed by the results that I'm succumbing to anthropomorphism. Nevertheless, Heinrich notes that he was warned in graduate school to not study anything more intelligent than himself - he claims to have met his match.

Gotta love this raving naturalist.......2004-11-04

Bernd applies his multi-faceted brand of research to a species that is clearly close to his heart (the raven), with spectacular results. He weaves anecdotes and scientific studies together flawlessly to draw conclusions that are hard to argue with, if only because he refuses to draw unwarranted conclusions when the evidence isn't clear. He personally studies ravens in his northeastern home area, in Alaska, and in Germany to note the differences between different populations of the animal. He also draws extensively on his observations from his own aviary, where it seems he is at times obsessively painstaking in recording nuances of behavior that would fly over the heads of the average bird owner.

The Good and the Bad:
This book has been done right, with a real attempt to keep the reader's interest without compromising the scientific value of the work. The information given is enough to be compelling without being too boring about statistics. The end of the book gets a little more tilted towards hard science, with a fairly in-depth discussion about what warrants consciousness and intelligence, but there's no other conclusion that would be appropriate.

On the bad side, there are very occasional forays into self-indulgence, as when he takes the opportunity to argue the comments of a peer reviewer who contributed to the rejection of the publication of his study, or when a not-so-funny joke is recounted.

What I learned:
The raven is a remarkable animal, and consciousness evolves for as much of a specific reason as anything else. One bird might be given all of the instinct necessary to operate within a very narrow range of activity, but shorted on additional brain tissue, which is costly to maintain. But the raven has evolved to develop food gathering skills through problem-solving, which allows it to be much more flexible in its approach to food gathering, social interactions, and defense. This hardwired ability to solve problems manifests itself as curiosity, a desire to play, and the ability to visualize consequences without actually performing the action; this last is the most compelling criterion for awareness.

Other interesting raven facts: They can count to as high as seven. They hunt items ranging from ground squirrels to baby seals, but subsist mostly on the carrion provided by bigger predators. They lack the physical ability to pierce skin, and so have to eat through natural body openings or wounds. They have a collaborative relationship with other predators, generally wolves, which results in the ravens possibly directing the wolves to a kill so that they can take their share. This has a strange effect where they're actually uncomfortable eating from a carcass that lacks a predator as a feeding partner. This relationship has been transferred to other species where wolves are scarce, ranging from human hunters to polar bears to, possibly, a cougar, which seemed to be led to a human by a raven hoping to feast on the aftermath of a human kill. The problem-solving abilities were best demonstrated by the fact that a raven, when confronted with a piece of meat dangling from a string, will pull the string up by degrees so that it can reach the meat.

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