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forkdogforkfruit's review against another edition
5.0
Having recently completed a course by one of the authors I decided to read one of their books on the same topic. This is a great book for anyone who has a dog/ dogs, has a love of dogs or is generally interested in human interaction with dogs throughout history.
The book is very wide spanning covering many area including the history and domestication of dogs alongside/ with humans, behavioural traits and how they may have been gained and general methods of dog training. In between all this information there is a healthy lack of a bias or preferences by the author (with one of the authors admitting his own mistakes with his own dog despite being one of the leading experts in dog cognition). Add to this there is a plethora of references, arguments and counter arguments to well held beliefs, myths and general knowledge which makes this book a great read.
The book is very wide spanning covering many area including the history and domestication of dogs alongside/ with humans, behavioural traits and how they may have been gained and general methods of dog training. In between all this information there is a healthy lack of a bias or preferences by the author (with one of the authors admitting his own mistakes with his own dog despite being one of the leading experts in dog cognition). Add to this there is a plethora of references, arguments and counter arguments to well held beliefs, myths and general knowledge which makes this book a great read.
elusivek's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting read
I read this book because I was on a course on Coursera and this book was a recommended read (by the lecturer guy). The coursera video was much too chipper for my taste, and actually in this book the tone was also on a chipper and colloquial side, but since this is a book, I don't have to hear a man's excited squeaky squeally voice.
Overall an interesting read, details on some studies made comparing animal genius. However, I caught a couple of typos and formatting error by the end of the book. Not really a big problem but I'm finicky like that.
Can't really say much more. Basically explaining studies and experiments done before.
I read this book because I was on a course on Coursera and this book was a recommended read (by the lecturer guy). The coursera video was much too chipper for my taste, and actually in this book the tone was also on a chipper and colloquial side, but since this is a book, I don't have to hear a man's excited squeaky squeally voice.
Overall an interesting read, details on some studies made comparing animal genius. However, I caught a couple of typos and formatting error by the end of the book. Not really a big problem but I'm finicky like that.
Can't really say much more. Basically explaining studies and experiments done before.
jenniferbbookdragon's review against another edition
4.0
Have you ever wondered about the domestication of dogs (or people?) New ideas and research about canine intelligence and how dogs may have created their own species, with us just doing the the final touches with breeds.
julis's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A keeper. Brian Hare absolutely knows what he’s talking about and cites well for when I’m looking for more details on some of the studies he mentions. I disagree with him on the efficacy of clicker training (if you expand your search from “clicker training” to “positive reinforcement with marker” it turns out it’s actually quite well studied) but that’s such a small portion of the book, and he’s very good at laying out how dogs are very smart in some areas and much less so in others.
sdbecque's review against another edition
4.0
This was well written and a fast read. I've read about this author's work in some of the other dog books I've read, and I enjoy his findings, especially his experiments on pointing. Especially that dog friendliness is not some horrible characteristic, but part of their brand of intelligence. According to studies dogs prefer to be in the company of humans if given the choice between humans and other dogs. I just love dogs. This book celebrates some of their unique treats while acknowledging their limitations.