Welcome to Litsy!

The premise of this book is great, recent research leads to the conclusion that everything we thought we knew about animals should be reexamined in a different light.
We might not be intelligent enough to understand how intelligent animals are.
Animal cognition is fascinating and different and we should not try to assess how smart animals are by using the same tools and mechanisms by which we judge human cognition.

I enjoyed this one overall, though I found some bits repetitive (and did not like the narrator much).
It is an interesting look at animal cognition and how it is tested in labs, and debating whether tests are set up for animals to fail, keeping humans on top.

I mostly liked the stories about animals doing unexpected things, like carrying rocks to use as tools, trying to deceive the alphas, and particularly liked the birds!

Interesting book. I saved a ton of notes and highlights, but ... I wanted to know more, and I wanted it to be more intriguing.

I've read this before, but I'm reading it again to prep to use it in a review activity with my Psychology students. I won a tiny grant and was able to buy a bunch of these and De Waal's more recent book for my classroom. So lots of work in front of me, but I think it'll pay off.

The answer is no, because we keep attributing human characteristics to animals, and when they don't respond the same as humans, we assume they aren't as intelligent as us. This book can be a bit dry and text book like, but it is enlightening. 3 💥💥💥 1/2 out of 5

Just couldn‘t get into this one....and life‘s too short!

#dnf #bail #mustnotbesmartenough #psychology #animals

#Hester #dogsoflitsy #bedtime

#hotel #nightstand #psychology #animals #profsoflitsy

#Bedtime #snores #Sanchester #Hester #dogsoflitsy

Finally moving this one off my #tbr!

#psychology #animals #cognitivescience #teachersoflitsy

Read a few chapters only (for school), but I am convinced the whole book deserves a “pick”. After reading Singer, which I deeply hated, De Waal was a wonderful surprise. His arguments are compelling, solidified by good examples, and easy to understand. A must-read for animal lovers, or anyone interested in the subject of animal skills and intelligence.

Also I am apparently now entering the realm of reading all the books and finishing none 🤔 📚

I thought de Waal had plenty of fascinating insights and recorded studies of how intelligent animals truly are, but the writing was dry for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#science #audiobook #animals #mounttbr

Man, I am not feeling the tone of this audiobook so far. I anticipated it being tongue-in-cheek, but instead it's rather depressingly fatalistic. Putting it back on the digital shelf for now and picking up the tagged book instead. #audiobook

This was both an entertaining and an educational read. It‘s a wonderful reminder for researchers that assumptions and methodology really matter in conducting experiments, and a notice for everyone else that we often underestimate other species.

"Or take the recent finding that male but not female experimenters induce so much stress in mice that it affects their responses. Placing a T-shirt worn by a man in the room has the same effect, suggesting that olfaction is key. This means, of course, that mouse studies conducted by men may have different outcomes than those conducted by women." One more reason to have more #womeninSTEM. #research #methodology #psychology

Escaping from the world for a little bit.

Very interesting

#Audiobook #AudioColoring Although really most of this book was an #AudioDriving adventure! Still, the anecdotes and research examples were great- but the performance itself with its sibilants started to really get on my nerves! I wish I had a printed copy instead!

"I am not for one moment disparaging the value of the rat as a subject for psychological investigation; there is very little wrong with the rat that cannot be overcome by the education of the experimenters." --Harry Harlow on the Skinner box and experiments relying on food deprivation/rewards. #psychology #behaviorism

"...some Asian elephants recognize themselves in the mirror. Whether the same can be said of African elephants is hard to tell, because up to now our experiments have resulted in a lot of destroyed mirrors due to this species' tendency to examine new items with vigorous tusk action. This makes it hard to decide between poor performance and poor equipment." #animalcognition #animalbehavior #researchmethods

A must-read for animal lovers ☺️????????? Frans De Waal makes a fool of anyone who thinks there's anything unique about human cognition, or an evolutionary gulf that separates "human" from the category "animal." Step up and get all the academia-sourced ammunition you need to shut down any bipedal ape who tries to tell you animals are reward-seeking machines who don't have culture, can't plan for the future, or conceive a sense of self.

I got this on an Audible sale awhile ago. The intro was really interesting but I listen to audiobooks at 2x and the "s" sound was so obnoxious I couldn't continue.

2017 #76 nonfiction audio interesting concept and very well thought out. A good argument posed to how much limitation do we put on animal intelligence because we have to feel smarter. Would like to read and discuss with a small group. It ended with me disliking humankind a little bit more.

I don't normally use Bookout, but I tried it for the #readathon to track my time read. It worked pretty well! But I don't think I'd want to use it all the time, since I find it kind of stressful to have a little pages per hour counter. Anyway, 7.5 hours in one day is pretty neat! Gonna keep on reading until I pass out with my book on my face. Thanks for keeping me company, friends. ❤️

Heading to Michigan and trying to decide what #nonfiction to listen to on the drive. I love listening to non-fiction audiobooks when driving!

Which one should I start?

I don't need some fancy book to tell me what I already know...my boy here is definitely smarter than some people I've met 😍

#booksaboutnature I really wanted to dig in to Dark Matter, but this book is due January 11th and has a waiting list. Being the animal lover I am, I have to check it out! 👍📚🤔

super excited to read this book, only 20 pages in and sucked in already. "What we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning."

A very interesting listen, though I can't help but think it was a little long as I noticed he repeated some points.

Also, in case you were wondering.... the answer is no. No we're not.

*Cognition studies in animals, birds and even spiders.
*Interesting and easy to understand.
*Touches on some of the same material as covered in The Genius of Birds, and Unseen City.
*Great for any reader with a general interest in science, humankind and the natural world.
*Audiobook narrator Sean Runnette is excellent.

True empathy is not self-focused, but other-oriented. Instead of making humanity the measure of all things, we need to evaluate other species by what they are.

I can't count the number of times I've been called naïve, romantic, soft, unscientific, anthropomorphic, anecdotal, or just a sloppy thinker for proposing that primates follow political strategies, empathize with others, or understand the social world around them.

I was listening to this in bed this morning, but switched to a podcast (PW Comics More to Come) because I got to a part I wanted to write down and wasn't yet ready to get up. And there's only 25 minutes left in the audiobook. #booknerdproblems #readinginbed

Three hours doing chores this morning flew by while listening to this.

"One thing I have learned from this lab is that superior intelligence doesn't imply better test outcomes" - Frans de Waal

Loved this quote so much I had to stop and write it down when I heard it.

I quite enjoyed this book. Some very interesting points about the way we perceive intelligence and why we have to rethink the way we test animals for their cognitive abilities.

No. No we are not. That's my answer to this title after reading this (textbook). De Waal knows his stuff! In order to understand animal intelligence scientists have to use better tests. I ended up skimming parts but it's really interesting overall. Definitely check out his TED talk. It's excellent.

Evolution isn't a ladder; it's more like a bush.

Am I smart enough to keep this book away from the cat (who will use it to establish complete dominance of the house)?