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A review by scribepub
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
Jennifer Ackerman’s book is ... very important. Her engaging survey of recent findings about bird acumen delivers so many surprises it ends up a revelation.
Tim Low, Author of Where Song Began
I love birds; always have. The only thing better than love is love plus deep appreciation. The Genius of Birds is a journey of deep appreciation for the beautiful geniuses all around us, in our gardens, sharing our air, and sharing more of our minds than we might have expected.
Carl Safina, Author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
Delightful, revolutionary, and illuminated by the clean, curious gaze of an intelligent seeker, The Genius of Birds is fueled by awe and always, its close cousin, deep respect for the condition of life. It’s a book that demands a moral consideration of the world.
Rick Bass, Author of The Ninemile Wolves and For a Little While
[A] gloriously provocative and highly entertaining book. Jennifer Ackerman provides a masterly survey of research in the last two decades that has produced a revolution in our understanding of bird cognition. The Genius of Birds [is] important not only for what it says about birds, but also about the human ingenuity entailed in unraveling the mysteries of the avian brain. It is at once a book of knowledge but also a work of wonder and an affirmation of the astonishing complexity of our world.
Wall Street Journal
Ackerman writes with a light but assured touch, her prose rich in fact but economical in delivering it. Fans of birds in all their diversity will want to read this one.
Kirkus Reviews
A lyrical testimony to the wonders of avian intelligence.
Scientific American
Ackerman offers plenty of interesting tidbits and backs them up with the relevant history or science, using footnotes to avoid cluttering the text with anything that might slow a reader down. This is one of those terrific books that makes a scientific topic fun without dumbing it down.
Washington Independent Review of Books
As fun as it is revelatory … Time and again, one is struck by these creatures’ ability to think, learn and communicate.
William Yeoman, The Weekend West
Wide-ranging and engrossing … makes it clear that crows — and birds generally — have a lot more going on upstairs than we ever knew.
Andrew Fuhrmann, Weekend Australian
Engaging, and full of wonder at the often unsuspected mental feats birds are capable of.
Weekend Herald
The Genius of Birds offers an often awe inspiring tour … made the more affecting by the elegance and beauty of [Ackerman's] language … a fascinating book.
James Bradley, Sydney Morning Herald
Lovely, celebratory. For all the belittling of ‘bird brains,’ [Ackerman] shows them to be uniquely impressive machines …
New York Times Book Review
Tim Low, Author of Where Song Began
I love birds; always have. The only thing better than love is love plus deep appreciation. The Genius of Birds is a journey of deep appreciation for the beautiful geniuses all around us, in our gardens, sharing our air, and sharing more of our minds than we might have expected.
Carl Safina, Author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
Delightful, revolutionary, and illuminated by the clean, curious gaze of an intelligent seeker, The Genius of Birds is fueled by awe and always, its close cousin, deep respect for the condition of life. It’s a book that demands a moral consideration of the world.
Rick Bass, Author of The Ninemile Wolves and For a Little While
[A] gloriously provocative and highly entertaining book. Jennifer Ackerman provides a masterly survey of research in the last two decades that has produced a revolution in our understanding of bird cognition. The Genius of Birds [is] important not only for what it says about birds, but also about the human ingenuity entailed in unraveling the mysteries of the avian brain. It is at once a book of knowledge but also a work of wonder and an affirmation of the astonishing complexity of our world.
Wall Street Journal
Ackerman writes with a light but assured touch, her prose rich in fact but economical in delivering it. Fans of birds in all their diversity will want to read this one.
Kirkus Reviews
A lyrical testimony to the wonders of avian intelligence.
Scientific American
Ackerman offers plenty of interesting tidbits and backs them up with the relevant history or science, using footnotes to avoid cluttering the text with anything that might slow a reader down. This is one of those terrific books that makes a scientific topic fun without dumbing it down.
Washington Independent Review of Books
As fun as it is revelatory … Time and again, one is struck by these creatures’ ability to think, learn and communicate.
William Yeoman, The Weekend West
Wide-ranging and engrossing … makes it clear that crows — and birds generally — have a lot more going on upstairs than we ever knew.
Andrew Fuhrmann, Weekend Australian
Engaging, and full of wonder at the often unsuspected mental feats birds are capable of.
Weekend Herald
The Genius of Birds offers an often awe inspiring tour … made the more affecting by the elegance and beauty of [Ackerman's] language … a fascinating book.
James Bradley, Sydney Morning Herald
Lovely, celebratory. For all the belittling of ‘bird brains,’ [Ackerman] shows them to be uniquely impressive machines …
New York Times Book Review