The New York Times Book Review - Jon Mooallem
For centuries, our understanding of animal intelligence has been obscured in [a] kind of cloud of false assumptions and human egotism. De Waal, a primatologist and ethologist who has been examining the fuzzy boundary between our species and others for 30 years, painstakingly untangles the confusion, then walks us through research revealing what a wide range of animal species are actually capable of…De Waal argues that we should attempt to understand a species' intelligence only within its own context, or umwelt: the animal's "self-centered subjective world, which represents only a small tranche of all available worlds." There are many different forms of intelligence; each should be valuated only relative to its environment.
From the Publisher
"The book is not only full of information and thought-provoking, it’s also a lot of fun to read."— Nancy Szokan Washington Post
"Astonishing…has the makings of a classic—and is one fascinating read."— People
"Walks us through research revealing what a wide range of animal species are actually capable of…[I]t all deals a pretty fierce wallop to our sense of specialness."— Jon Mooallem New York Times Book Review
"A thoughtful and easy read, packed with information stemming from detailed empirical research, and one of de Waal’s most comparative works that goes well beyond the world of nonhuman primates with whom he’s most familiar."— Marc Bekoff Psychology Today
"A beautifully written and delightfully conceived popular science book, written by an eminent researcher who has dedicated his career to making the general public aware of just how smart animals are."— Nicola Clayton Science
"If you are at all interested in what it is to be an animal, human or otherwise, you should read this book."— The Guardian
"This is a remarkable book by a remarkable scientist. Drawing on a growing body of research including his own, de Waal shows that animals, from elephants and chimpanzees to the lowly invertebrates, are not only smarter than we thought, but also engaged in forms of thought we have only begun to understand."— Edward O. Wilson, University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
"Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? will completely change your perceptions of the abilities of animals. This book takes the reader on a fascinating journey of discovery into the world of animal problem-solving."— Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human
"So, are we ‘smart enough to know how smart animals are’? The question will occur to you many times as you read Frans de Waal’s remarkable distillations of science in this astonishingly broad-spectrum book. I guarantee one thing: readers come away a lot smarter. As this book shows, we are here on Planet Earth with plenty of intelligent company."— Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2016-02-03
Intrigued by the search for intelligent life? No need for space travel—it's happening right here on Earth, and the results are amazing. De Waal (Psychology/Emory Univ.; The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates, 2013, etc.), the director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, tells us that it takes human ingenuity and respect to comprehend the level of intelligence of an animal. In example after example, he entertainingly demonstrates how researchers with those qualities have revealed surprising things about animal cognition and the porousness of the wall between human and animal cognition. First, for the nonscientist, the author provides some background on scientific thinking about animal behavior, putting paid to the bygone notion that animals are simply stimulus-response mechanisms or are solely driven by genetically endowed instincts. In recent years, scientists have begun to recognize the many surprising abilities of animals. The author's field is primate behavior, and most of the examples come from that field, but elephants, octopuses, squirrels, and magpies are among the many other animals to appear in these pages. He shows us many animals both in the wild and in captivity solving challenging problems, planning future actions, having better-than-human memories, making and handling tools, communicating, and demonstrating empathy and cooperation. De Waal is persuasive in arguing that the difference between the cognition of the human and those of other animals is one of degree, not of kind, and the clarity of his writing makes for a highly readable book. A welcome bonus is the inclusion of rather charming, simple drawings by the author that give the essence of an activity better than a photograph might. For general readers, he includes a helpful glossary, and for those who want more details about the research cited, there is an extensive bibliography. After this edifying book, a trip to the zoo may never be the same.
2017 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, Short-listed
