Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds

Written by Bernd Heinrich

Narrated by Norman Dietz

Bernd Heinrich involves us in his quest to get inside the mind of the raven. But as animals can only be spied on by getting quite close, Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a "raven father," as well as observing them in their natural habitat. He studies their daily routines, and in the process, paints a vivid picture of the ravens' world. At the heart of this book are Heinrich's love and respect for these complex and engaging creatures, and through his keen observation and analysis, we become their intimates too.



Heinrich's passion for ravens has led him around the world in his research. Mind of the Raven follows an exotic journey—from New England to Germany, and from Montana to Baffin Island in the high Arctic—offering dazzling accounts of how science works in the field, filtered through the eyes of a passionate observer of nature. Each new discovery and insight into raven behavior is thrilling, at once lyrical and scientific.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515978404

Bernd Heinrich

BERND HEINRICH is an acclaimed scientist and the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Winter World, Mind of the Raven, Why We Run, The Homing Instinct, and One Wild Bird at a Time. Among Heinrich's many honors is the 2013 PEN New England Award in nonfiction for Life Everlasting. He resides in Maine.

Reviews for Mind of the Raven

[Karis Wojakowski-Bird · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

In the first chapter the author explains how he stole baby ravens from their mother’s nest in order to study them and write this book. I was so disgusted I didn’t listen any further. To have no consideration whatsoever of ethical treatment of animals when studying them is revolting. If this is how someone treats ravens they don’t truly know anything about them.

[Mrinalini Ghoshal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked the investigations and stories about ravens. But, I thought that the book was too long and it got boring at times. What I did not like at all, was the narrator. He reads the book in a sing-song manner which was often very unappealing.

[murderbydeath · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don’t know what to think about this book. Would I have liked it more if I’d read the print version instead of listening to the audio? I don’t know, but I suspect … maybe.

Heinrich is a published scientist who studied ravens, so the book is pure behavioural science, no deviations, no asides; all very on-point and full of pure observational research and field studies. I have no complaints about this in theory – it was all very interesting and I can’t remember ever thinking it was getting dull or monotonous. Except that the narrator came very close to making it sound very dull and monotonous. This is why I suspect I’d have liked it more if I’d read it, or if there had a been a different narrator. Norman Dietz was competent; maybe even more than competent, as his delivery tried to be lively and was never wooden. But it was also obvious that he’s an older man, whose voice was often gravely and always a bit breathy, and in spite of his obvious efforts to bring the text alive, his voice still gave the narration a slight monotone that was hard to get past.

If I have any complaint about the content itself, it’s only that as a scientist, Heinrich is a bit cold-blooded. While it’s obvious he thoroughly enjoys his ravens and has no problem admitting to often having favorites, his objectivity and efforts to not anthropomorphise means that the ravens’ personalities never really come through. He doesn’t treat them as pets and they are, for the most part, semi-wild, but still, as someone who anthropomorphises everything, I’d have liked to have a better sense of they were as individuals.

I also struggled quite a bit at times with what Heinrich was willing to do in the name of science. While he always fed the ravens using roadkills (apparently ‘fresh’ is as relative a term to a raven as it is to vultures), there were a few studies he did where he blithely sacrificed untold numbers of animals to the ravens – while still alive – just to see how the ravens would react, and in one study he introduced a wild female raven to a tightly knit group of 4 ravens who had grown up together to see how they’d react, which wasn’t a positive experience for the poor caught raven. After a couple of days of witnessing her ostracism, Heinrich went out of town for a day and came back to find her dead from being basically pecked to death. He seemed surprised, but not remorseful, and the whole thing left a sour taste, as I’d have no problem arguing that that little experiment was not only unethical, but valueless from a scientific viewpoint.

Mostly, however, the information was interesting, if a little dated (most of his studies were done in the 90’s).

[kittycunningh-815148 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This became tedious.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nature writer and researcher Bernd Heinrich describes several years of his experience with ravens. Based mostly in western Maine, he raises ravens from chicks, observes and experiments with wild ravens, and travels to Germany to collaborate with raven researchers there. He observes things such as how his captive-raised ravens interact with wild ravens, what kind and quantity of food adult ravens feed their babies, and if ravens will notice if you add or remove eggs from their nest.

In contrast with the previous book read for my book club, The Truth About Animals, this is 360 pages of excruciating detail about just one animal. I didn't have a problem with anything about it, but it's just a lot. Heinrich's observations are very thorough, and he's an excellent science communicator. His prose is easy to read, enjoyable, and never jargon-y. The book was enjoyable to read in small chunks but I had to read it quickly for book club and that was not easy. I skimmed a lot. I think the book does a good job of capturing the tedium of scientific research - trying the same thing or slight variations on a thing over and over again to see if you get a different result. Like the science itself, this can be thrilling if the reader is interested in the particular research topic, but I can't recommend more than skimming if you're not.

[hurricanehob · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A tale of investigation of ravens and their intelligence.

[zumbanista · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The beginning of this book started off better than the end, in my opinion. It's essentially a compilation of the writer's own painstaking, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes inconclusive research with hand reared and wild ravens, plus many third hand anecdotes. I learned a lot about the habits, maturation, intelligence and society of ravens. Occasionally the narrative faltered with too much and repetitive detail, especially towards the end. It is a longish book and mostly reads easily, like a novel. Although my final impression is generally favourable, I'm unsure of the book's appeal to the public generally, unless, like me, they have an attraction to corvids.

[jspringbrinkley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

More anecdotal than I was looking for. I was looking for something more scientific and historic, with all the fun trivia bits and such. This was interesting, but it was one guy's story of his own experience with a set of birds he captured and raised. Interesting in it's own right, but not what I wanted.

[dele2451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A revealing peek into curious corvid behaviors. I found the portions regarding wolf-raven and hunter-raven relationships and "play" behaviors especially interesting. The detailed sketches and photographs are also nice, although printing limitations make many photographs appear darker than desirable. A quality choice for any ornithology, natural science buffs out there.

[shushilah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not as easy to get into as Winter world, the other one of Heinrich's books that I have read, but very interesting. In general, I loved the anecdotes and the information, but found his depth when discussing some of his research a little tedious. I look at corvids in a new light after reading this book, so in that way, also I was pleased with the book.

[nevusmom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have always loved Corvids, particularly crows. My encounters with Ravens are dismally few, but striking. The author managed to capture their intelligence very well. The idea that ravens might actually lead predators TO prey was intriguing to me; especially in light of the near cougar attack related in the book.

Die-hard birders and lovers of corvids will really like this book. If you don't fall into one of those categories, you may still like it, but will probably find parts of it tedious. I really liked it!

[donkeytiara · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

i found this very hard to read.....

[ravenari · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am a great fan of the work of Bernd Heinrich into the behaviour of all corvids, but particularly his devotion to ravens. Like Konrad Lorenz, he has created a great corpus of scientific, anecdotal, and valuable information on one of - or the most - intelligent bird out of all the aves.

His writing style is lucid, with a clear narrative voice that is neither too sentimental, nor too detached and scientific. He relates personal anecdotes with care, and is always conscious of not trying to overly anthropomorphise the behaviours of the ravens he raises, and observes in nature.

His experiments themselves are clever, and more fun still is when the raven conquers almost every single one with aplomb and accord.

This book is a must have for anyone who appreciates raven, and a wonderful text in general, helping the world to better understand an oft-demonised bird.