Intelligence in Nature (Paperback)

by Jeremy Narby (Author) "For fifteen years I have helped indigenous Amazonian people gain titles to their lands..." (more)
Key Phrases: true slime mold, ayahuasca session, plant intelligence, Peruvian Amazon, Laine Roht, Anthony Trewavas (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In The Cosmic Serpent, anthropologist Narby hypothesized that Amazonian shamans can "gain access in their visions to information related to DNA" comparable to what molecular biologists know. In this intriguing treatise, he carries his project of syncretizing all forms of knowledge a step further, arguing that animals and plants exhibit intelligence comparable in many ways to that of humans. His shaman friends heartily endorse the idea, regaling him, over a friendly pot of hallucinogenic ayahuasca brew, with conversations they have had in the trance state with animal and plant spirits. For further confirmation, he talks to Western scientists who have done remarkable research on cases of nonhuman intelligence, like bees with abstract reasoning, crows that manufacture standardized tools, pigeons that distinguish between the works of Van Gogh and Chagall about as well as college students do, octopuses that break out of and into their tanks and slime molds that solve mazes. Scientists may find Narby's ongoing efforts to assimilate shamanic mysticism to Western science - he associates, for example, Amazonian legends about humans turning into jaguars with Darwin's theory of evolution - naïve and illogical. But Narby has done his homework - the endnotes themselves make excellent reading - and his well-researched and engagingly presented account of the "braininess" of even literally brainless creatures raises fascinating questions about the boundaries between man and nature.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Continuing the journey begun in his acclaimed book The Cosmic Serpent, the noted anthropologist ventures firsthand into both traditional cultures and the most up-todate discoveries of contemporary science to determine nature's secret ways of knowing.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (March 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585424617
• ISBN-13: 978-1585424610
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,041 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Scientists meet the Shaman and Discovers Nature's Intelligence, February 20, 2006

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Intelligence in Nature (Hardcover)

In this immensely readable, fascinating book anthropologist author Jeremy Narby explodes the myth that 'the lower animal, insects, organisms' do not possess intelligence. Whether or not the reader subscribes to all of Narby's findings and postulates really doesn't matter. What DOES matter is the fact that this bright gentlemen has opened windows into the concept of 'knowledge', that knowledge is not the property of man, that lower animal life and plant life demonstrate an economy of putting information together that allows them to survive and outwit their predators!

Some aspects of insect and animal behavior have been observed and then relegated to Darwinian survival of the fittest without pursuing it further: camouflage techniques, heightened sense of smell, night vision are easy categories to assign as 'traits'. Narby enters the world of shaman and shares how trances induced by varied means give the shaman the ability to communicate with organisms, understanding their innate intelligence.

But the real joy of reading this treatise is the manner in which Narby relates his information. No 'from the pulpit' technique here, instead this is a conversational, open minded, keenly observant and intelligent man who encourages us to be more aware of the fellow nature creatures around us, giving them the respect that is their due. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, February 06

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Stuff, September 24, 2005

By	Alistair Nexus (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intelligence in Nature (Hardcover)

I give this a four because this book didn't make me go a little crazy like Narby's last book. This is also a good thing. Narby asks questions and realizes that there aren't any concrete answers. It makes me look at my cat and think, "She's onto something with her animal ways." Narby presents a lot of research in a pretty understandable format and backs it all up with his sources- this is good. He also faces his critics, which is interesting. This is no "Cosmic Serpent"- but I expect this book was better received because it was low key. A very enjoyable read and I hope to see more works by him soon.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another one of Narby's Masterpieces, July 19, 2005

By	Marcelo Oliveira "MANO" (London) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Intelligence in Nature (Hardcover)

Be prepared. As with his previous "The Cosmic Serpent" Jeremy Narby's latest work requires from the readers the unwillingness to question many of the most basic assumptions of our culture.
"Intelligence in Nature" is the work of a visionary - not of the cheap and bland type of futurologist our technoculture is so good in creating. This book re-instates Narby as a visionary in the best sense of the word. His scientifically trained anthropological gaze is, thankfully, still untamed enough to place itself outside both the usual frontiers of our institutional academic research and the comfortable safety of our socially acquired common sense.
In "Intelligence in Nature" his account of our efforts to understand and cope with the present challenges of our life amidst a multitude of other sentient life forms is built from the stand point of a consciousness that has actually been there - on "the other side" of our arbitrary cultural, existential and psychological boundaries. Having experienced first hand the meaningfulness and uniqueness of the abundant life that envelops our own restricted and partial understanding of nature Narby - as the shamans he has once learned from - is again in an ideal position to guide us through the path toward plenitude he has been gradually building with his works.
Following the best anthropological tradition Narby goes out yet again to do his field work. It is only that this time the field includes not only the rich landscapes of the Peruvian Amazon inhabited and acted upon by shamans and parrots, the French-Swiss border where the Jura Mountains are criss-crossed by purposeful scientists and earthworms or the old Estonian farm where a herbal healer and her "talking" plants share their knowledge in front of a welcoming fireplace. Now the field also encompasses a myriad of scientists and laboratories working relentlessly in France, Japan, Scotland, Switzerland and elsewhere. Speaking from within our hard sciences' core production plants such subjects are given the chance of enunciating questions and answers that might eventually lead us forward in the direction of a knowledge more fine-tuned to the realities already present within the cultures of other peoples and life forms. The result is a rich picture of knowledge seeking wisdom, not necessarily power.

Apart from the vast and exciting information the author is capable of unleashing into our wider pool of knowledge and practices the book also excels in showing the cultural realities that frame the production of truth within what we call the hard sciences. In this sense "Intelligence in Nature" resonates with the work of Bruno Latour. While Latour has brilliantly exposed the artefacts that allowed the western thought to completely detach science from life - placing the former out of and above the reach of the latter - Narby gives visibility to some efforts within specific branches of contemporary life sciences which are strongly pressing for a revision of our mechanistic and behaviourist accounts of both nature and life. In this trajectory Narby is led to confront the works of some of the pillars of modern science like Descartes and Darwin.
Specially encouraging is his finding that working from a slightly different cultural perspective - since there seems to be more to the Japanese word "Chi-Sei" than what our almost equivalent "intelligence" can grasp - some scientists do already find it quite amazing the western difficulty in acknowledging that we humans are not alone and when it comes to intentionally intervene and act upon nature.
In "The Cosmic Serpent" Narby managed to portray the effectiveness and truth of the knowledge produced by the convergence and undisociability of man and nature in the shamanistic practices in the amazon basin. In this "Intelligence in Nature" Narby brings his inquisitive nature back home only to find he is not alone.
In spite of Narby claims to be "no scientist", this book is simply science made live and meaningful. Wisely protecting his work from shallow criticisms that will most likely attempt to cover the blinding truth with the veil of cheap and rusty "scientificism" Narby does not expect his readers to be fooled. And that's fair.
To pretend we believe in his humble plead for innocence is all the author is asking from us in order to justify our existence amongst the infinitude of knowledge producing biological, social and cultural entities here brought in to play. I would take his offer.