Customer Reviews

Conversations with Cosmo: At Home with an African Grey Parrot

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Anyone who has ever lived with an African Grey parrot will tell you how awesome they are... how intelligent and observant... how cunning and manipulative... and how very loving they are. In CONVERSATIONS WITH COSMO, Dr. Betty Jean Craige takes the reader through her journey of learning to live and converse with Cosmo, her beautiful African Grey companion.

Like many of us, Dr. Craige originally chose an African Grey pet because of the specie's communication ability; but again, like many of us, she quickly discovered how incredibly loving and endearing they are to us "pet humans." She takes us through her process of teaching Cosmo to have conversations. She follows many basic principles for teaching Cosmo to talk, such as: 1) looking directly at the bird while speaking; 2) using the same words and phrases repetitively to describe the same situations; and 3) focusing on "power" words and phrases that teach Cosmo how to manipulate and control her own environment. For example, Betty Jean taught Cosmo the power, action word "wanna" to help her Grey companion learn to request objects, such as, "Cosmo wanna water," "Cosmo wanna peanut," and "Cosmo wanna cuddle." She also played games to teach labels. One of her favorite games was called, "what's that?" which gave Dr. Craige the opportunity to teach the labels of different objects in the house... and as a result, Cosmo learned the names of things, such as "clothes" and "television." It also provided Cosmo with a verbal tool for asking, "what's that?" for any object or activity that intrigued her.

African Grey parrots are so incredibly smart! They have minds of their own and can teach themselves on their own, too! For example, my African Grey, Merlin Tewillager, turned "bye-bye" into a power word when she wanted the bird groomer who trimmed her nails TO LEAVE! Not ALL Greys are talkative; however, that does NOT mean that the less talkative ones are not smart. We learn to talk to communicate our needs, and a less-talking or non-talking Grey may not always need to talk to communicate when they are closely attuned to their human companions. I think even deeper than their ability to talk, African Greys have an ability to get into our hearts and souls and connect with us humans on a level that most other entities cannot reach. Therefore, if you have a Grey, and whether or not your Grey is a talker, you are among one of the luckiest humans on this Earth!

The key reason that Dr. Betty Jean Craige wrote this book was to sensitize humans as to the fact that animals are sentient beings capable of thinking, feeling, and communicating. They have purposeful lives, just as we do. When we learn to see this glorious dimension in our pets, it opens us up and reminds us of the magic and wonder that surrounds us every day. That's what life's all about! Good job, Dr. Craige!

Maggie Wright
Author & African Grey expert ([...])
Bringing Back The Magic ([...])
African Grey Parrots: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual

i thoroughly enjoyed this account of cosmo. such a beautiful bond between carer and parrot. alot of the funny things are so relatable to my own cheeky "scarlett" that i laughed and read parts out loud to my family .

Professor Craige tells the story of Cosmo, an African Grey parrot, who is intelligent, funny and creative. The book is both entertaining and informative. Those folks who already share their lives with a parrot will not be surprised by how bright Cosmo is, but they will love reading the story of her development and her brilliant use of language. Those who have never lived with a parrot will be amazed by how intelligent and complicated parrots are, and learn a new respect for these truly amazing creatures.

As someone who shares her home with parrots I just love a book that shows how smart, funny and creative birds are. I enjoyed reading the lists of all of the clever things Cosmo says and the stories of her often mischievous sense of humor.

The relationship Betty Jean Craige describes in Conversations with Cosmo (Sherman Asher Publishers, 2010) is not a simple owner-pet bond. It is a much closer connection, almost as if she and her parrot have become partners in life, a symbiotic animal-human relationship. Although in the early chapters Craige describes how she acquired and began adjusting to life with her African Grey parrot, and how the parrot began talking, her most interesting and thought-provoking discussions come later in the book when she contemplates Cosmo's acquisition of language and how it defines her not only as a parrot but as a member, in a certain sense, of a human linguistic community. Cosmo's ability to talk back and forth with humans brings into question traditional conceptions of how birds can acquire speech, and of whether their speaking is mimicry or something more significant. These discussions touch on such issues as the meaning of consciousness, identity in both human and parrot form, the rights of animals to exist in a human-dominated world, the obligations of humans to protect and secure the survival of animals in the natural world. Cosmo can communicate in English in a way that often seems to use some of the more advanced features of language. This distinguishes her from parrots who live in the wild, and from most non-human animals in general.

Craige is careful to explain that she acquired Cosmo from a domestic breeder, not from someone who caught her in the wild. Raised in captivity, Cosmo would not survive in the wild. She depends on her owner for food, protection, and companionship. Craige makes clear that Cosmo provides a close and meaningful companion for her. I am not well read in some of the issues Craige considers in this book, but I have never read a discussion of the animal-human relationship that approaches its subject in precisely this way. This book is entertaining from beginning to last, at times quite moving, and in the final chapters often profound.

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This is one of the best, funniest books about parenting a parrot that I have ever read. The story about the down-to-earth, day-to-day things one has to deal with having a feathered friend that can talk back to you, make jokes, and keep you on your toes is funny and sweet, and at the same time sobering in its telling of just how smart and intuitive our feathered friends can be. It is a must-read for any bird lover, anyone who has ever thought about getting any kind of bird, or anyone who likes to read a good well-written story about two beings living together with love, trust, and understanding

This book was not only informative, but it was downright funny, as Cosmo displayed some very human traits, such as lying to her owner and taking the dog for a walk. I think it got a little too preachy in the last 20 pages or so; I think it would have been better to use this material to break up the almost contast hilarity of the rest of the book.

This CD is o.k. I had the notion that it has actual "training tracks" for Capt. Morgan. It is only informational.

As a parrot enthusiast and rescuer I was disappointed in some of the misinformation she spouts in the book. I enjoyed the actual conversations with Cosmo, but the filling in the blanks in between was upsetting and made me want to go for my yellow marker. There is enough wrong info already taught to people about parrots and it upsets me to have more spread.