Name: The Genius of Birds
ISBN: 9781594205217

Jennifer Ackerman

"Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, according to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. Like humans, many birds have enormous brains relative to their size. Although small, bird brains are packed with neurons that allow them to punch well above their weight. In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds and how it came about."--provided by publisher.

The Genius of Birds

Sarah Sammis

Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman continues my year of the birds. The bird on the cover, though, shows that the book had the unfortunate luck of becoming outdated shortly after its release. That's the nature of covering science — especially one that is still in an active form of discovery. 

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2017/comm...

Ash Ponders

It's a book about birds. I don't know what to really say about it, honestly. I found the writing to be a little repetitive and tedious. I'm not really sure if it is the topic, as I read this for a book club and am not entirely interested in the genius of birds, or if it is her style.

I think she just wanted to list as many examples of smart birds as possible, regardless of how well they fit together or if another example was already given. I was also a little annoyed that a lot of the information was something I knew from Planet Earth or other documentaries I watched as a kid. It just seemed like something a basic bird lover would know. So my main question is, what was the audience for this book? Because it didn't do much for the non bird-lovers that I know have read this (myself included) but if you love and study birds, this doesn't have much to offer that you probably don't already know. Maybe there is a middle ground who will love this? I just think she could have generalized it to more animals, but even the examples she gave of meerkats weren't anything groundbreaking.

If you kind of like birds but don't know much about them, haven't watched a bunch of nature documentaries, and want to read a book instead of googling it, I guess this is the book for you? It is likely well researched, it just wasn't my style.

Andrew Marti

Birds are not bird-brained. Ackerman shares many examples of why they are not. One of my favorites: Birds create cognitive maps in their head to help them navigate spatial and emotional relationships. Humans could benefit from the same to “navigate not only place but the social and emotional relationships of the human world “

Thaddeus Cortez

Lisa

Taylor Thornton

Andrew Louis

Samantha 

Abby

Laura Dobie

Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, according to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. Like humans, many birds have enormous brains relative to their size. Although small, bird brains are packed with neurons that allow them to punch well above their weight. In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds and how it came about. As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research - the distant laboratories of Barbados and New Caledonia, the great tit communities of the United Kingdom and the bowerbird habitats of Australia, the ravaged mid-Atlantic coast after Hurricane Sandy and the warming mountains of central Virginia and the western states - 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 revolutionizing our view of what it means to be intelligent. Consider, as Ackerman does, the Clark's nutcracker, a bird that can hide as many as 30,000 seeds over dozens of square miles and remember where it put them several months later; the mockingbirds and thrashers, species that can store 200 to 2,000 different songs in a brain a thousand times smaller than ours; the well-known pigeon, which knows where it's going, even thousands of miles from familiar territory; and the New Caledonian crow, an impressive bird that makes its own tools. But beyond highlighting how birds use their unique genius in technical ways, Ackerman points out the impressive social smarts of birds. They deceive and manipulate. They eavesdrop. They display a strong sense of fairness. They give gifts. They play keep-away and tug-of-war. They tease. They share. They cultivate social networks. They vie for status. They kiss to console one another. They teach their young. They blackmail their parents. They alert one another to danger. They summon witnesses to the death of a peer. They may even grieve. This elegant scientific investigation and travelogue weaves personal anecdotes with fascinating science. Ackerman delivers an extraordinary story that will both give readers a new appreciation for the exceptional talents of birds and let them discover what birds can reveal about our changing world.

The Genius of Birds

Reviews

Highlights