[flurries][Steeplechase]Are we Smart Enough to Know how Smart Animals Are?

[NancyJ]

I was expecting a book about animal intelligence, but what I got was a book about the changing methods and attitudes about studying animal intelligence. The question in the title of the book is a good one. Our ability to study animals has improved, but scientists are still hampered by arrogance, and human centric attitudes, definitions and measures of intelligence. Many animals can do things that we cannot do, but some of the people funding research might reject any suggestion that an animal might be more intelligent than us in some ways. The book follows the evolution of various research approaches and schools of thought. I found most of this interesting, but he dwelled too long on approaches that were already being criticized when I studied psychology in the 1980’s. I enjoyed hearing about the various ways they measured learning, problem solving, long term planning, memory, self awareness, etc. Occasionally they discovered that the animals were smart enough to figure out how to manipulate the researchers! My initial questions weren’t addressed until the last 2 chapters of the book. I would still like to know more about octopuses, dolphins, birds and elephants.

[Booknblues]

I read this a couple of years ago and appreciated it. It was a little too much of a textbook for me. He was a professor so it shouldn't have surprised me. I followed him on facebook and he often had quite interesting posts.

https://www.facebook.com/franspublic

Sadly he passed away earlier this year.

My review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[LibraryCin]

This has been on my tbr for a long time! Sounds like something I'll like!

[NancyJ]

Booknblues wrote: "I read this a couple of years ago and appreciated it. It was a little too much of a textbook for me. He was a professor so it shouldn't have surprised me. I followed him on facebook and he often ha..."

I forgot to label this as Steeplechase. I started it for steeplechase, but it was slow going so I used a reward to move ahead to a faster paced book (to fit my “race” frame of mind). I landed on it again later and stuck with it. I’m glad I did. I didn’t know he passed away. It seems like he had a really satisfying life.

[NancyJ]

LibraryCin wrote: "This has been on my tbr for a long time! Sounds like something I'll like!"

Cindy,I think you might like it. It doesn’t just teach facts, it shows how a scientific field develops over time. Parts of it are repetitive, but the last couple chapters were really interesting.

I’ll update the bookshelf with the steeplechase tag I forgot.