Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans de Waal - 4 star (POLL)

[Booknblues]

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by researcher, professor and primatologist, Frans de Waal examines that very question and ways in which animals have exhibited their intelligence. This book is very interesting but a little dry, because it reads a bit like a textbook and begins by laying out the varying fields of thought in studying animal behavior. Very quickly de Waal eliminates the validity of the behaviorist method.

The reader learns about many interesting research studies, both in the lab and in the field. Da Waal points out that humans very often are afraid to admit that animals have cognitive abilities which may look like human abilities or even exceed human abilities. He tells the reader of a study of chimps which found that a chimp can remember an astonishing number of random items in correct order far exceeding most human ability.

While I admire da Waal and I appreciated this book, I had hoped for something a bit less dry with anecdotes for many animals in the wild.