The Genius of Birds

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. Best Read The Genius of Birds author Jennifer Ackerman For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr I read this over Christmas mostly because a customer ordered four copies saying it was brilliant and would make great gifts So since I liked Bernd Heinrich s Mind of the Raven and his other books on ravens, owls and geese, I prepared to meet another 5 star natural history book But I was disappointed.Not very It s still a 4 star just read But although it is science based, to some extent, it is full of unproven theories and anecdotes, some of which are very charming and some which belabour t I read this over Christmas mostly because a customer ordered four copies saying it was brilliant and would make great gifts So since I liked Bernd Heinrich s Mind of the Raven and his other books on ravens, owls and geese, I prepared to meet another 5 star natural history book But I was disappointed.Not very It s still a 4 star just read But although it is science based, to some extent, it is full of unproven theories and anecdotes, some of which are very charming and some which belabour the point at length I always have a problem with scientists testing of animals because we are testing them in comparison to our own intelligence not to themselves I also have a problem with scientific pronouncements of animal behaviour being taken as gospel and anecdotes considered frivolous when they actually might be evenmeaningful Wi...3.75 s What a birdbrain Awk After reading this book I cry Fowl I wont use that term or think of the birds visiting my feeders in the same way again, especially the jays and pigeons.Bird fanciers should enjoy this but you needn t be an enthusiast to appreciate much of the content within My favorite chapters were on navigation and caching skills.Some things to crow about Size does matter to the ladies Give a hen a giant egg to sit on ev...Rating 4.5 of five, rounded down for jargoneeringI voted for this book in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards It deserves ever one of its stars I was fascinated by the breadth of the study s scope I was impressed by Ackerman s lucidity of prose, despite the inevitable, I suppose use of a lot of scientific jargon.I ve been a bird fancier since the first time I saw a Balti oriole s nest in 1967 In fact, after the birds had raised their chicks and migrated north again, I scaled for the on Rating 4.5 of five, rounded down for jargoneeringI voted for this book in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards It deserves ever one of its stars I was fascinated by the breadth of the study s scope I was impressed by Ackerman s lucidity of prose, despite the inevitable, I suppose use of a lot of scientific jargon.I ve been a bird fancier since the first time I saw a Balti oriole s nest in 1967 In fact, after the birds had raised their chicks and migrated north again, I scaled for the one and only time in my life so scared of heights I had to be rescued by my aunt s gardener the pecan tree where I d watched them live their South Texas breeding lives and got me that empty nest It was a s...I found The Genius of Birds to be both enjoyable and illuminating, especially with regard to the similarities between avian and human behavior, morphology, and evolution Jennifer Ackerman conveys complex scientific information in a completely approachable way, which I really appreciated, since I am an absolute novice when it comes to birds I can recognize a robin or chickadee by sight, and I keep a bird feeder in my backyard, but I certainly can t distinguish birds by sound or nest structure I found The Genius of Birds to be both enjoyable and illuminating, especially with regard to the similarities between avian and human behavior, morphology, and evolution Jennifer Ackerman conveys complex scientific information in a completely approachable way, which I r...The insult bird brain has always bothered me how exactly is this insulting I suppose if the only birds you are familiar with are domestic chickens and turkeys, you might think it s appropriate, but if you ve ever studied wild birds, you ll know that it s completely off the mark Detailed observation of the domestic fowl might change your mind, too.Think of the hummingbird with a brain smaller than a pea, it manages to migrate long distances and maintain detailed mental maps of nectar sources The insult bird brain has always bothered me how exactly is this insulting I suppose if the only birds you are familiar with are domestic chickens and turkeys, you might think it s appropriate, but if you ve ever studied wild birds, you ll know that it s completely off the mark Detailed observation of the domestic fowl might change your mind, too.Think of the hummingbird with a brain smaller than a pea, it manages to migrate long distances and maintain detailed mental maps of nectar sources in its territory, knowing when each flower will be refilled with sweet goodness and ready to be drained again Or think about the Gray Jay, with its multitudinous stored foodstuffs, to be recovered before they have spoiled Even the lowly pigeon c...This book is brilliant It doesn t read like a traditional science textbook, but rather like sitting down with a knowledgeable person and having coffee and a good conversation about a mutually loved subject The personal anecdotes sprinkled throughout the text make it a smooth and enjoyable ...The narrator of the audiobook frequently mispronounces words For example, hypo campus instead of hippocampus I quickly switched to the ebook, and I m happy that I did John Burgoyne s illustrations, especially the cover, are lovely He also illustrated Dog Songs by Mary Oliver.Thumbs up to the author for including references, citations, and a useful index The Genius of Birds is mainly summaries of other people s research most of which I was already familiar with I would have preferredThe narrator of the audiobook frequ...I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.This was an interesting book I had been anticipating a book that described the intelligence and behaviors of birds to be a very dull read I was wrong this was such an eas...The Genius of Birds, by Jennifer Ackerman is a gamechanger for the way in which the curious reader will think concerning birds Perhaps you thought birds were cute but not very bright, for example Get ready to change your mind when you read in chapter one about 007 , a corbid kind of crow from New Caledonia , who goes through 8 steps, using tools, within two and a half minutes to get to ...One must be a major devotee of birds to love this book It is well researched and written exploring avian intelligence, mating, migration, cognition, and evolution It had a particularly elegant section on the dangers of anthropomorphi...

• English
• 02 March 2018
Jennifer Ackerman
• Hardcover
• 352 pages
• 1594205213
• Jennifer Ackerman
• The Genius of Birds