The Genius of Birds

Written by Jennifer Ackerman

Narrated by Patience Tomlinson

In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds and how it came about. Consider, as Ackerman does, the Clark's nutcracker, a bird that can hide as many as 30,000 seeds over dozens of square miles and remember where it put them several months later; the mockingbirds and thrashers, species that can store 200 to 2,000 different songs in a brain a thousand times smaller than ours; the well-known pigeon, which knows where it's going, even thousands of miles from familiar territory; and the New Caledonian crow, an impressive bird that makes its own tools. This elegant scientific investigation and travelogue weaves personal anecdotes with fascinating science.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd Audio
• Release date: Nov 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781445060903

Jennifer Ackerman

Jennifer Ackerman is the bestselling author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way. She was a writer at National Geographic for seven years and has written extensively for many publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American and Smithsonian Magazine.

Reviews for The Genius of Birds

[Wessel van Huyssteen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a phenomenally interesting book. Being marginally interested in birds and often doing some birdwatching in Southern Africa it was enlightening to learn new behaviours and traits of birds I know well. To learn about birds from other parts of the world was even more interesting. What is the most revelatory are the 'intelligence' birds show. The book is packed with facts and I will probably have to listen to it again and I am looking forward to it.