Intelligence in Nature

An Inquiry into Knowledge

By: Jeremy Narby

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthropologist Jeremy Narby has altered how we understand the Shamanic cultures and traditions that have undergone a worldwide revival in recent years. Now, in one of his most extraordinary journeys, Narby travels the globe - from the Amazon Basin to the Far East - to probe what traditional healers and pioneering researchers understand about the intelligence present in all forms of life.

Intelligence in Nature presents overwhelming illustrative evidence that independent intelligence is not unique to humanity alone. Indeed, bacteria, plants, animals, and other forms of nonhuman life display an uncanny penchant for self-deterministic decisions, patterns, and actions.

Narby presents the first in-depth anthropological study of this concept in the West. He not only uncovers a mysterious thread of intelligent behavior within the natural world but also probes the question of what humanity can learn from nature's economy and knowingness in its own search for a saner and more sustainable way of life.

©2005 Jeremy Narby (P)2017 Tantor

wish more people would read Mr Narbys work.

this book is so eye opening, world view shifting, and ground breaking for people not involved with science on the daily. more people need to read this book
the world depends on it.

Super!

Fascinating, inspiring, informative! Loved this book! looking forward to listening to it again. Thank you

I just love it

what else should I say than I loved the composition of the thoughts in the book and the narrator is doing a great job as well

Unifying

Narby bridges the gap between science and religion with a series a eloquent observations. His writings resonate with me and bring me hope for the future.

SPECTACULAR!!!!

I am in love with this book. I love the topic! I will he buying the hard copy. I would love to meet the author and talk to him for hours!
Beautifully presented and very carefully worded.
Thank you!
Niki

Worth a read

A great book for asking questions about intelligence and the experiences of humans and animals.

Enchantingly informative

The story and the telling of it moves along swimmingly, cover much ground & sea to inform me about minds of our fellow Earthlings from both spiritual / shamanistic and scientific perspectives. I highly recommend giving this a good listen!

interesting cast of researchers

This book contains great groundwork to launch anthropological and philosophical inquiries of your own. A solid collection of shaman and scientist were chosen to pursue the question of natural intelligence. Though, expect to finish this book and feel a discovery channel level of incompleteness. A semantic analysis of intelligence is a more appropriate title. Natural evolutionary mechanisms can work their way through millennia bootstrapping their way to brilliance. Eventually the crown of intellect can be placed atop an "individual" that is composed of trillions of entities that compete. In short, we aren't sure how we know we know, but incompleteness gives us room to grow.

Needs a better narrator.

Even at 4 hours and change, couldnt finish because of the typical problem of poor narration, plus I thought I was getting a book about Intelligence in Nature, but the author spends more time getting high than studying anything.

Not The Cosmic Serpent

I LOVED Narby’s previous book and this one had good reviews so I grabbed it. I think, overall, I’m happy I’ve read it bc there were some interesting bits of knowledge that I enjoyed. In totum, tho, it didn’t feel cohesive enough. It didn’t feel groundbreaking enough. The writerly bits used to string together the anecdotes and background science meandered quite a bit without ever really landing anywhere. It felt a lot like filler, honestly. With the Cosmic Serpent, Narbys personal passion really drove every word and was always apparent. This felt more like a premise he sold to a publisher then had to drag his feet through completion.