JENNIFER ACKERMAN has been writing about science, nature, and human biology for almost three decades. Her most recent books include Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body; Ah-Choo: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold; Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity; and Notes from the Shore. A contributor to Scientific American, National Geographic, The New York Times, and many other publications, Ackerman is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
“[A] gloriously provocative and highly entertaining book. Jennifer
Ackerman provides a masterly survey of research in the last
two decades that has produced a revolution in our understanding of
bird cognition. The Genius of Birds [is] important not
only for what it says about birds, but also about the human
ingenuity entailed in unraveling the mysteries of the avian brain.
It is at once a book of knowledge but also a work of wonder and an
affirmation of the astonishing complexity of our world.” —Wall
Street Journal
“Lovely, celebratory. For all the belittling of ‘bird brains,’
[Ackerman] shows them to be uniquely impressive machines . .
.” —New York Times Book Review
“Richly researched . . . The Genius of Birds provides
engrossing evidence that will have readers looking at birds in a
completely new way.” —The Daily Progress
“A lyrical testimony to the wonders of avian
intelligence.” —Scientific American
“Ackerman is a pro at parsing scientific concepts in an accessible
style, and her lyrical writing underscores her appreciation for the
beauty and adaptability of birds.” —BookPage
“Ackerman writes with a light but assured touch, her prose rich in
fact but economical in delivering it. Fans of birds in all their
diversity will want to read this one.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Ackerman offers plenty of interesting tidbits and backs them up
with the relevant history or science, using footnotes to avoid
cluttering the text with anything that might slow a reader down.
This is one of those terrific books that makes a scientific topic
fun without dumbing it down.” —Washington Independent Review
of Books
“I love birds; always have. The only thing better than love is love
plus deep appreciation. The Genius of Birds is a journey of deep
appreciation for the beautiful geniuses all around us, in our
gardens, sharing our air, and sharing more of our minds than we
might have expected.”
—Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and
Feel
“Delightful, revolutionary, and illuminated by the clean, curious
gaze of an intelligent seeker, The Genius of Birds is fueled by awe
and always, its close cousin, deep respect for the condition of
life. It’s a book that demands a moral consideration of the
world.” —Rick Bass, author of The Ninemile Wolves and For A
Little While: New and Selected Stories
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