The Genius of Birds

By: Jennifer Ackerman

Narrated by: Margaret Strom

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, according to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. Like humans, many birds have enormous brains relative to their size. Although small, bird brains are packed with neurons that allow them to punch well above their weight.

©2016 Jennifer Ackerman. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"[Narrator Margaret] Strom sounds suitably amazed by it all, too--a fine match of material and voice." ( AudioFile)

Great book, Narrator not so much

Would you listen to The Genius of Birds again? Why?

I would read this book again, but probably not listen. The narrator seems to forget that this is not a fiction story. her random pauses, and general reading cadence just does not work with a non fiction book. At first it didn't bother me, but at times, her cadence and varying tone is more distracting and I cannot focus on the information being presented.

Who was your favorite character and why?

non fiction book-no charecters

How could the performance have been better?

If the narrator did not add her own punctuation, or read it like a fictional book.

Any additional comments?

I am glad I purchased this as a physical book so I can go back and read it.

Fascinating topic, odd narration

A great layperson's overview of bird cognition, but the narrator's odd pronunciations and weird mid-sentence pauses were distracting.

Asks the right questions

I enjoy how this book makes you think about what's really going on in a bird's brain. Ackerman does a great job of bringing in scientific studies and anecdotal evidence to create one day and to inform while still allowing for other possibilities to be true.
She is honest about the anecdotal evidence and doesn't use it as absolute truth, but still creates wonder.

Excellent book

it's mind boggling how smart birds are. even if you know a lot about this, the book lays our very thoroughly the thinking and findings in this field and it has tremendous implications for all sorts of other areas in society and science

Cover Bird?

I don’t care what these folks think of this book; I really enjoyed listening to it, loved the narrator’s tempo & intonation, highly recommend.
I just wanna know what kind of bird that is on the cover and where I can learn that in Audible. I know exactly where to find that in the printed version. Lacking these details is why some folks think it’s a bullshit format.
Just saying.

fascinating and well written

A great read, so fascinating and easy to understand. Would recommend anyone remotely curious about birds.

A great mix of intriguing science and storytelling

This books goes through wonderful stories of birds, what they do, and to some extent how they do it. It provides scientific studies to explain as much as possible. I prefer a more scientific understanding which is why I did not give it an overall 5 stars. But if you enjoy curious bird stories which have led to some fascinating scientific discoveries I would definitely recommend this to you. I was also glad the author discussed aspects of climate change and how that may influence birds as we know them today.

A complete study of birds natural intelligence

A very well narrated comprehensive review of avian cognitive abilities.

This book helped me to understand that a bird's episodic memories are linked to their higher level capabilities in mathematics planning, reasoning and other mental abilities.

I'd recommend this book not only to people interested in the many ways birds display their native intelligence, but to anyone wanting to further their own understanding of the Genius of Birds and a macro view of avians place in the natural world.

Cannot listen

For whatever reason I can’t listen to this. The narrator’s voice does not work for me, sadly. It happens sometimes.

Sorry this wasn't better

I was really looking forward to this book, but disappointed. The organization of the information seemed scattered and repetitive. That being said, I may purchase the physical book to refer to certain sections as the subject matter was fascinating. It just may be that a book with so many references and so much research doesn't lend itself well to oral presentation.