Customer Reviews

Inside the Animal Mind: A Groundbreaking Exploration of Animal Intelligence

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

George Page is a journalist, not a researcher. Unfortunately, that does not save him from taking the posture of one who knows better. He dismisses whole fields of discourse with offhand remarks, for example: "Eventually behaviorism melded with the equally notorious sociobiology as formulated by E. O. Wilson." (p. 29) For an accessible yet scholarly exploration of animal cognition, I recommend Marc Hauser's "Wild Minds." Hauser is a scientist, who specializes in primate cognition. His writing is more lucid, and less affected. He addresses the same questions as Page, with an appreciation for subtle variaritions in the possible interpretations of evidence, which is lacking in Page's presentation. One comparison between the books: Page's bibliography is 3 pages long; Hauser's spans 30.

This book, like so many others in this genre, does not help us appreciate how animals think. It merely reports what they do, and then overinterprets. Although Page's enthusiasm for the field is great, his lack of understanding of the theoretical issues in this field shows, and leads him to make many inappropriate claims. For those interested in what animals think, as seen through the eyes of those who really do the work, I highly recommend Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth's "How Monkeys See the World" and Marc Hauser's recent book "Wild Minds".

This is a terrific, heartwarming book. Filled with incredible facts, a great sense of humor, and a lot of interesting verbs, George Page does a super job of making the subject even more interesting than it is on it's own. Do animals think? Feel? Communicate? The answers to these and other fascinating questions can be found inside these pages. You will be amazed at what you learn. I think George Page knows his stuff, and I think his years with the PBS Nature series has paid off in a fabulous display of animal empathy, inquisitiveness, and knowledge. After perusing this book, you will never look at an animal in the same way, be it house pet, zoo creature, or wild beast. Take the time to explore each wonderful page, and learn a lot about animal nature, and maybe even human nature. I would read this book again and again and again!

This is a pleasing overview of a timely and rapidly advancing topic. Page is a good story-teller and he writes with friendly enthusiasm. He includes a lively discussion of consciousness. One pet peeve here: Page refers to birds "emitting" alarm calls, when "uttering" or "producing" them would be more apt for a conscious being. Plenty of levity here, too: "There is nothing more `businesslike' than the gait of a hungry and confident contingent of lionesses." Bravo for his conclusion that all those mirror-self-recognition studies with animals are a classic case of anthropocentrism; we are seeking proof of our kind of self-awareness because it's the only kind we can understand. An enjoyable, recommended read.

Naturally, as the author, I gave my book 5 stars.

However, my main interest is what anyone who has read the book thinks of it -- pro or con.

Apparently, it is selling pretty well and has had a few good reviews (NY TIMES, SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW, 01/09/2000), for example, but I would love to hear from someone who's not in the book businness.

Many thanks.

I just finished this book and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing was smooth, and went quickly and the topic is fascinating. I often wonder what the future will hold for communication between species and Inside the Animal Mind helps to cement my belief that interspecies communication will be possible someday.

The author makes a very good point in suggesting that our means of measuring animal intelligence are limited...after all we can only test them in ways that we understand. How well would most of us do if we were told to climb a tall tree and make a nest of leaves and, oh yes, raise our young in there as the squirrel does? Or given leave to roam the African plains...without a written map to show us where water sources are,as the elephants do. Would we "pass" those tests? I have my doubts.

Besides, beyond intelligence there is the point that he makes at the end of his book, "but can they suffer?" Yes, I think that is clear and for that reason alone they deserve better treatment than many of them have had at human hands over the centuries. Do unto others...the Golden Rule should not be limited to "other people." Or, as Emily Dickinson wrote, "If I can stop one heart from breaking/ I shall not live in vain/ If I can ease one life the aching/Or cool one pain, Or help a fainting robin/Unto his nest again; I shall not live in vain.

Received this book for xmas after adding it to my wishlist. I am just an average guy with no position within the field of biology or cognitive science, but would consider myself an armchair philosopher. My 'training' is limited to a few basic classes while in school which covered Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Science. Those those were many moons ago.

That said and done, I have always found cognition and intelligence, or more specifically how we learn, to be a fascinating subject and thought I would read a bit on the subject during my semester break from business courses. I chose this book based on some positive reviews and price.

First of all, its a relatively easy read. Science books can be daunting, especially ones on specific subjects which need to reference specific studies which the layman has little clue. The writer has a style which is accessible and readable for all with a basic left brain thinking. Kudos for that, Page avoided making the writing watery yet maintained a scientific feel to the book.

He does spend the first 50 pages or so bringing the reader up to speed on the history of outlooks in regards to animal intelligence, from Descartes to the behavorists. While a bit long winded for the trained, it was a welcomed refresher for me. I was expecting to get to the meat of the argument but it never really presented itself; the book reads more like a bibliography while never commiting to an actual thesis. While Page does admit to anthropomophic leanings, he shies from ever taking a stance and seems to pander to the audience, in other words not wanting to alienate a buyer. Clues are in one passage where he has a discussion with a behavorist who trns and walks away during a conversation. I think that left a mark on our writer.

I understand the book comes from a TV series which I have not seen, but it seems as if the book should have developed upon the show a bit, rather than just provide the basis of their work. The book as a whole reads like a bibliography, with each chapter seeming like a long footnote or reference for what should have been a more in depth article.

For those with a mild curiosity in animal thinking, or those from a complimentary field, i think this book serves as a very nice introduction to the topic. For those with deeper knowledge, i dont think there is much to gain here. You have probably read or even studied the work and tests presented and would find this to be a bit redundant. For where i stand, it was a solid choice which met my goals. I have already sought out some of the more detailed work which was refenced-many of the cited sources are books availabe on amazon in their own right.

George Page has taken on an enormous undertaking and has done an outstanding job. I made a point of reading "Inside the Animal Mind" before watching any of the television program, to see if the book would stand on its own. It does. Mr. Page presents an excellent overview of the issues of the animal mind, and presents a good representative selection (though not a comprehensive view) of the research and consciousness. Of the many animals whose minds have been studied, all are expertly described, including not just the well known such as Kanzi the bonobo, Alex the parrot, and the infamous Clever Hans the horse, but also many of the lesser known. The author also skillfully utilizes the work and personal comments of most of the recognized experts in the field. Especially commendable is the author's presentation of opposing viewpoints, which gives the reader enough information to critically assess the information and come to his or her own conclusions.

I did find a number of weaknesses in the book, however.

My main criticism is that the section on emotions is poorly organized and not fully developed. For example, on page 187 a paragraph begins with "Animals get bored and distracted", followed by no evidence or discussion of boredom in animals (for which there is, I might point out, an abundance of evidence). The discussion of the emotions of social bonding and affiliation could be better organized, such that the power (and evolutionary logic) of these emotions is clearer to the reader. There is excellent evidence to show that social bonding is of such selective value that bonds are enforced by both strong negative emotions (feelings of loneliness, isolation, separation anxiety, and grief) and positive emotions (feelings of social companionship, friendship, and possibly love). Moreover, the evidence for the neurochemistry of the emotions of social bonding is limited to a discussion of the role of oxytocin, omitting the important findings regarding the role of endorphins.

Although minor, certain factual inconsistencies detract from an otherwise well-written book. For example, on page 102 is the statement that "chimpanzees...are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, sharing 98.7 percent of our genetic "The bonobo, our closest relative in the animal kingdom, shares 98.7 percent of our human genetic material."

A final criticism is that the author makes the error that many other writers on the subject do, and that is to use the term "instinct" as an equivalent to "mindless" or "thoughtless". This is evident by the repeated dichotomy of whether a certain behavior is conscious OR instinct. This occurs throughout the book (although he does include a brief comment on page 213 that acknowledges that instinct may have a conscious component). This dichotomy of instinct and conscious behavior is not only false, it is an impediment to the advancement of our understanding of the animal mind. The fact is, emotion IS instinct, and not only is there no mutual exclusivity between instinct and conscious behavior, but it is through emotions (instinct) that conscious behavior is motivated. The feeling of fear is instinct, the object of fear is part innate and part learned, and the feeling of fear motivates the individual to consciously opt for a certain course of action. To draw a line between conscious behavior and instinct forces a choice for any specific animal behavior to be on one side or the other, when in fact the evidence is strong for many animal behaviors (like human behaviors) to be BOTH conscious and instinct.

The above-mentioned faults do not outweigh the positive attributes of the book. I recommend it strongly and commend the author on a valuable contribution to the literature on the animal mind.

Frank McMillan, DVM

Bravo! I had finished reading this fascinating book about the same time the PBS special of the same name was airing on TV. I was trying to get through the latter parts of the book before the three parts were broadcasted. Mr. Page does an excellent job of explaining animal minds in lay terminology for the less scientific reader, and gives insight on the history of anthropomorphizing the thoughts and intelligence of all animal species. I was entralled with the history behind such practices throughout civilization. It is also interesting to think that smaller creatures do have remarkable intelligence, like honeybees, birds (especially clever), ants, etc. A very entertaining read, some good observations on chimpanzees by Jane Goodall. This book held my interest. Page demonstrates that animals are capable of learning complex tasks, and learning from memory. Hopefully this book will enlighten more people to think of animals not merely as pets or lower species, but to think of them as smart in their own way. Highly recommended.

This book, like so many others on this topic, is flawed because it fails to provide any theoretical grounds for the claims it makes, and buys into the view that if it looks like what a human does then it must be based on the same kinds of psychological mechanisms. But as current work in this field shows, this is clearly a mistaken presumption. Moreover, since Page doesn't understand any of the relevant theoretical ideas in the field (neither evolutionary theory nor cognitive science) he is not well placed to evaluate what researchers in the field have found. This book is not worth reading if you want to learn about the animal mind.