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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
BLUF: No, we aren’t.
This book, by one of the world’s leading experts in animal cognition, posits that animals are smart in their own ways. In fact, it argues, it’s fruitless to create experiments which try to force various animals to think like humans, then measure their cognition using our processes and abilities as reference points.
Octopi think like octopi (in really fascinating ways that are extremely alien to human cognition). Chimps think like chimps, dogs like dogs, etc. By deciding that human cognition is the apex system, then measuring animals against it, we humans miss a chance to understand creatures for what they are.
This is a compelling argument, well made in the form of a science book for laymen. I found the author’s examples to be clear, his reasoning cogent, and the book a good use of my time.
Recommended to all those whose interest in piqued by the title.
This book, by one of the world’s leading experts in animal cognition, posits that animals are smart in their own ways. In fact, it argues, it’s fruitless to create experiments which try to force various animals to think like humans, then measure their cognition using our processes and abilities as reference points.
Octopi think like octopi (in really fascinating ways that are extremely alien to human cognition). Chimps think like chimps, dogs like dogs, etc. By deciding that human cognition is the apex system, then measuring animals against it, we humans miss a chance to understand creatures for what they are.
This is a compelling argument, well made in the form of a science book for laymen. I found the author’s examples to be clear, his reasoning cogent, and the book a good use of my time.
Recommended to all those whose interest in piqued by the title.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
https://youtu.be/A51Dh-iVxVU My review on You Tube if you are interested .
This was a very enlightening book. There are a lot of topics and examples that make the reader think about the desperate divide of human and animal. Why is society so determined to outline a human being more intelligent than an animal? Where are the lines drawn when it comes to smarts? Are there different shades of cognition?
This was worth the read.
This was worth the read.
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Good but didn’t surprise me. I’d recommend to readers new to this field.
Great overview of the history of animal cognition. If you're interested in seeing how the field has developed and reading about a lot of great experiments, this is an excellent choice. The writing is clear, accessible, and always engaging.
The title is pretty lame but the book was actually very interesting. He talks about the various experiments done to explore animal cognition, separating it into categories very systematically. Some parts dragged a bit because the “debate” seemed so obvious to me. Of course animals plan for the future! Of course they can learn stuff! Of course they communicate! But the experiments were really interesting and his writing flowed very well. I also like when reading non-fiction when I can get a sense of the humanity of the writer and this guy came off as a very nice, sincere, thorough guy.
Very readable without sacrificing intelligence, and of course, full of amusing and interesting animal stories and experiments. Had a book like this been available when I was a teenager, I might have pursued the study of ethology.
This is very informative and thought provoking, however, a lot of language used conflates gender and biological sex, which can make the information seem like misinformation or outdated
WOW. this is actually so good and thought-provoking. I think he hits it right on the mark.
I felt like this book could have been a lot shorter. This book can be summarized in a few points:
1. We define intelligence in a human centric way and there are a lot of ways that animals are "smarter" then us when we take a broader definition of intelligence.
2. Similar traits (including intelligence) can evolve separately (analogy) in different species.
3. The way we experiment on animals to show that they do not possess a quality of intelligence sometimes has an unfair bias against a species. For example, there was an experiment where they put a human sized mirror in an elephant exhibit and the elephants did not notice their own reflection. However, when they placed an "elephant sized mirror" in the exhibit, the elephants noticed their own reflection.
1. We define intelligence in a human centric way and there are a lot of ways that animals are "smarter" then us when we take a broader definition of intelligence.
2. Similar traits (including intelligence) can evolve separately (analogy) in different species.
3. The way we experiment on animals to show that they do not possess a quality of intelligence sometimes has an unfair bias against a species. For example, there was an experiment where they put a human sized mirror in an elephant exhibit and the elephants did not notice their own reflection. However, when they placed an "elephant sized mirror" in the exhibit, the elephants noticed their own reflection.