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Title: The Parrot's Lament : And Other True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity by Eugene Linden ISBN: 0-452-28068-0 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 01 August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (23 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Witty and fulfilling
Comment: I enjoyed this book of anecdotes about animals behaving in smart, original, creative, and sometimes heroic ways. It was written in a very accessible style, and I enjoyed the author's sense of humor. The book was well-divided into sections: games and humor; trade and barter; deception; mind reading and mental chess; cooperation in work, conflict and healing; tools and intelligence; escapes; empathy and heroism; and a place where humans are the novelty. I would've liked to have read more about the last section, about animals who have no fear of humans in a virtually untouched jungle in Africa. The only thing that puzzled me about the book was the rather apologetic tone regarding animal intelligence. The tone tries to pacify scientists and other people who aren't convinced that animals possess intelligence. I have never doubted that they do. I'm sure most people who have pets or work around animals feel the same way. It's too bad that we have to be apologetic about believing that the important life forms that share our planet have the capacity to think and feel. As the author points out in the last chapter, based on what we're doing to the planet, it's sometimes questionable which species is really the one without intelligence.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent
Comment: I have a bird myself, and though she doesn't display any higher intelligence, these stories were humerous and fascinating.
The tales of love and escape and the human qualities displayed by animals were touching, too. This book made me do something not not very many other books have done; I laughed out loud. It's a great book for those who have pets or are just interested in tales of animal empathy, deception, and cooperation and intelligence which are sometimes hysterical.
Rating: 5
Summary: Entertaining tales of animal behavior
Comment: Eugene Linden's "Parrot's Lament" is a charming collection of animal anecdotes. The author's intent is to show that the human being is not the only animal that demonstrates mental and communicative abilities. He avoids the contention which surrounds scientific debates on the issues by simply recounting stories from his own experiences and from those of zoo keepers and naturalists, people whose only interest is in the animals they care for and not in scientific laurels or criticism. The only caveat, as he himself points out, is that because "it's unscientific...no matter how persuasive the material, one cannot use the stories and examples as proof of anything (p. xvii)." For those of us who are already convinced that animals are far brighter than most people give them credit for, this is not an important issue anyway.
The book is divided into sections, including: games and humor; trade and barter; deception, mind reading and mental chess; cooperation in work, conflict and healing; tools and intelligence; escapes from captivity; empathy and heroism; and untouched nature. Some of the material is repeated under different chapters, but when it is, it's presented from a new perspective which enlarges understanding of animal behavior. My favorite stories are some of the orangutan escape episodes, and some of the tales of trust and friendship.
The book certainly gives the reader a sense of what is being lost as our natural world is being destroyed by overpopulation, encroachment and exploitation. Since destruction of habitat seems to have taken on a life of its own these days, one almost wonders if it is unstoppable irrespective of our best intentions or of the ultimate negative impact it will have on our own future. This was particularly apparent in the last chapter of the book which deals with the Ndoki rain forest of the Congo. As was pointed out in Matt Ridley's book, The Red Queen, the incremental increase in benefit to the individual who causes the destruction of the environment increases the likelihood that the destruction will occur despite the overall long term loss to society. And this is often so, even though the individual beneficiary of the immediate good will also suffer with the rest of society. The loss of viable commonly held fields to over grazing during the Middle Ages was the example cited by Ridley (p. 91), but any other major loss of shared wealth could be substituted as well. As Linden points out, perhaps the very intellect of which we are so proud will be our ultimate undoing! We certainly don't seem to have learned from the lessons of our history!
Altogether a delightfully readable book.
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Title: Octopus and the Orangutan: More True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity by Eugene Linden ISBN: 0525946616 Publisher: E P Dutton Pub. Date: 22 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: When Elephants Weep : The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Susan McCarthy ISBN: 0385314280 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 02 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Octopus and the Orangutan: More True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity by Eugene Linden ISBN: 0452284112 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 29 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Wild Minds : What Animals Really Think by Marc Hauser ISBN: 080505670X Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Compassion of Animals : True Stories of Animal Courage and Kindness by Kristin von Kreisler ISBN: 0761518088 Publisher: Prima Lifestyles Pub. Date: 06 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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