A review by socraticgadfly
If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal: What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity by Justin Gregg

fast-paced

1.75

Cutting to the chase? In the third-to-last page, in the epilogue: “I hope I have convincingly argued that all animals have consciousness.” (As he has shown up to that point, “all animals” includes insects.)

 

Survey says, “No you have not.” And, while vaguely stimulating here and there, this book is just not that good.

 

260 pages in what appears to be 18-point font is not a full book, first.

 

Second, while I as a journalist and editor use the occasional sentence fragment, it’s done too often here.

 

Third, he comes off as a quasi-ev psycher on “death wisdom.” Sees too many things as polarities, not gradations. Much more at the Storygraph review.

 

Third, his take on “death wisdom” at least approaches, if not going full in, on an ev psych “just so” story. That includes claiming that understanding what death is, is itself an evolutionary adaptation. Tosh.

 

Views animal-human differences, in too many cases, as polarities with two ends, rather than a sliding scale. “Death wisdom” is a huge example of this and that’s not the way evolution exists.

 

Too credulous about the intelligence of cephalopods.

 

Views animal-human differences, in too many cases, as polarities with two ends, rather than a sliding scale. “Death wisdom” is just one example of this and that’s not the way evolution exists.

 

Claims “many scientists” (and philosophers) think bees are conscious. Not any that I’ve read, including personal friends. This is also another area where he tends to polarities more than sliding scales. As far as specifics? The “central complex” of the brain idea of consciousness is controversial at least. The claim that some insects “want” mind-altering substances is framing the debate in advance, of course.

 

The claim that we don’t have more consciousness, just that we’re conscious of more things, also tosh.

 

The fun doesn’t stop there. In going into behavioral economics/psychology, he cites Jonah Lehrer while ignoring his plagiarism and Dan Ariely while ignoring his various scandals.

 

And, he way overuses the idea of qualia.

 

It's not quite pablum, but I would recommend against reading any further books by Gregg.