I very nearly gave up on this book, until I got to the chapter on bowerbirds. I was just overwhelmed with the vaguely interesting facts about birds. But I am glad I kept reading. It all comes together (remember, it’s about the GENIUS of birds).

Jennifer Ackerman explores the abilities of birds: to use tools, to participate in a society, to produce songs, to create beauty, to navigate distances, and to adapt to changing environments. The research she reviews reveals how bird brains are more similar to humans than previously thought, as well as how birds experience the world in ways that people can not. Littered with unanswered questions, the book ultimately tells how the large body of avian science can only begin to imagine the world of the birds.

Well written and learned a lot of things about birds but slow read. Good book to pick up and read a chapter while you read another more engaging book.

This is an excellent book for educators and learning designers that need a break on focusing on humans. This books delves into the minds of birds using well written research. Excellent read.

Well researched and informative, but basically just stat after stat after stat with no structure. It was like reading a research paper instead of a book. I would have liked for her to include more of her observational perspective. It was a slog to get through.

An excellent popular introduction to birds and their more remarkable mental faculties, tool making, memory, artistic endeavour, location, direction and more. It is sufficiently scholarly that yopu can trust the author who gives all the requisite references but in a text that is undemanding and entertaining.