|
Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence--and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process | 
| Author: Irene M. Pepperberg
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $16.29
You Save: $7.66 (32%)
Rating:  82 reviews
Sales Rank: 568
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0061672475
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.68650929
EAN: 9780061672477
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you." What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous—two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet, over the years, Alex proved many things. He could add. He could sound out words. He understood concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none. He was capable of thought and intention. Together, Alex and Irene uncovered a startling reality: We live in a world populated by thinking, conscious creatures. The fame that resulted was extraordinary. Yet there was a side to their relationship that never made the papers. They were emotionally connected to one another. They shared a deep bond far beyond science. Alex missed Irene when she was away. He was jealous when she paid attention to other parrots, or even people. He liked to show her who was boss. He loved to dance. He sometimes became bored by the repetition of his tests, and played jokes on her. Sometimes they sniped at each other. Yet nearly every day, they each said, "I love you." Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin—despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one university to another. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and of an unforgettable human-animal bond.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 77 more reviews...
 At last! A scientist who..... October 24, 2008
46 out of 48 found this review helpful
....becomes "very much aware of that peoples' profound sense of oneness with nature. I resonated with that." Here Dr Pepperberg is talking about Native Americans' relationship with nature, and I find her view as a scientist all-encompassing and highly complementary with (and probably an enhancement to) her research -- TOTALLy unlike those of her colleagues at NIH who cut themselves off from the sumn-total of the reality of her work with Alex the Grey Parrot -- and who were so unflinching in their disparaging comments of her work with Alex.
The book begins with the aftermath of Alex's untimely death -- he should have lived for at least another 20 years, and his death was a great loss not only to the scientific community, but to those "ordinary" human beings who were touched and changed by his presence.
As the book continues, we read about "No Name" -- the parakeet that brought joy to a little girls's insulated world, and Bluey, Greeny and other much-loved birds who brought sunshine into her otherwise lonely childhood -- and then Charlie, whose feathers found their way into an MIT meeting.
And then, at Harvard, one question "What animal should I study?" brought Alex into Irene's life, for the next 30 wonderful, trying (including an extremely dense ticket agent, who had trouble understanding why "a bird" would need luggage), frustrating, joyful years.
This book was a labor of love -- as were the 30 wonderful years with Alex, whose "brain the size of a walnut" astounded Irene and her colleagues with its information gathering and associative abilities.
I was highly amused to read about the withdrawal of cardboard (he'd chew it) and feeding tofu to calm down Alex's raging hormones -- hey, whatever works!!! (It worked)
Alex's death touched me too. I too grieved at the loss of such an amiable, "special" individual -- but then again, Irene's research was NOT ever in vain -- it shows us what so many pet owners and caring animal handlers can agree with -- there is a special spark of recognition and cognition in every animal that, with loving attention and encouragement, can bloom into a special human-animal bond of communication. Alex was by far a highly special example of such a being.
 Alex Deserved Better November 1, 2008
44 out of 54 found this review helpful
There are so many ways that Alex and Me by Irene Pepperburg could have been better that it leaves me feeling as sad for the book that should have been as it does for Alex's death. Unlike Dr. Pepperburg, who for some reason thought the book should start with Alex's death, I will start at the beginning of the story. That is one of the main problems with the book-- Alex doesn't make an appearance until Page 58, more than a quarter of the way through the book. The first 25 pages contain excerpts from the sympathy mail she received upon Alex's death, which, since at that point we haven't met Alex yet, is somewhat meaningless. The next 28 pages take us through the tedious story of Dr. Pepperburg's childhood, college days and marriage, and I do mean tedious! It was nearly enough to make me put the book down and not pick it back up.
Once Alex finally makes an appearance, the book becomes more interesting. However, Dr. Pepperburg doesn't do a convincing job of showing the bond between herself and Alex-- there are a few places where she shows it such as when Alex becomes deathly ill with Aspergillosis, but far too much of the book is spent detailing her problems finding research funding and her moves from campus to campus trying to find a home for her project.
That being said, when she does allow the story to focus on Alex, it is touching and amusing. It is impossible not to fall in love with the parrot and become awed at the intelligence he demonstrates. I became so attached to Alex that when I finished reading the book I went back and re-read the first 25 pages because now I could finally relate to the sense of loss and grief expressed by others.
At the end, there are two questions that Dr. Pepperburg left unanswered-- she doesn't tell us what caused Alex's early death and she doesn't let us know how Alex's work is continuing. If Alex's life is to mean anything, then we need to know that the research started with him will go on. However Dr. Pepperburg starts the book with his death and ends it with his death, doing a major injustice to Alex in the process.
 Remember Intelligent Parrot October 23, 2008
34 out of 36 found this review helpful
I first want to correct something in the product description above: the claim that Alex's last words to Irene were, "You be good. I love you." To me this seems to be trying to give the impression that the bird knew he was dying and was saying goodbye. In fact Alex was saying goodbye in the same way he did nightly, and those weren't intended as dying words.
The actual conversation in the book:
"You be good. I love you," Alex said.
"I love you too."
"You'll be in tomorrow?"
"Yes, I'll be in tomorrow."
With that cleared up, this is a very quick, entertaining, and potentially important read. Anyone who has ever bonded with an animal will feel the grief reading through the condolences the author received after Alex's death. There are also many laugh out loud moments describing his antics.
I've read works about animal thinking by Donald Griffin and Bernd Heinrich, both mentioned in the book, but Alex's story was completely new to me. I'm not sure how much repetition there will be for those who knew of his fame or have read the author's previous, apparently much more science-oriented book about Alex.
I've long believed that most humans and scientists are both ignorant and arrogant in how they regard other animals and that's the topic of the final chapter What Alex Taught Me. In one paragraph about animals and political rights, it wasn't clear to me exactly what the author had in mind, but I found myself in complete agreement with everything else she had to say in this chapter. I salute her strength in going against the grain of mainstream thinking with regard to animals in her work with Alex, and I hope his life will cause others to learn as well.
A facinating, informative, and deeply moving memoir of a true partnership between human and parrot October 22, 2008
27 out of 28 found this review helpful
When scientist Irene Pepperberg wanted to study animal cognition and language, she purchased an African Grey Parrot, who she named Alex. What followed was a thirty-year partnership that rocked the foundations of our understanding of animal intelligence and challenged all previous assumptions of the phrase "birdbrain." Pepperberg writes beautifully, bringing the study of language and cognition to an easily-understood level without dumbing down the impact of her work. Beyond science, however, Pepperberg captures the dignity and personality of Alex, a lovable and admirable creature whose early death was a tragic loss.
A Pet story or ORNITHOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS....? October 26, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I picked up this book to glance thru it, read a couple of paragraphs, then a few pages, and before i knew it, I had finished the book in one day, and I really dont do that. I was captivated, quite literally. If you have ever owned a dog that knew what you were saying, or a cat who could use its "meow" to say things like "me out" or "no", then you know that animals DO communicate. Animal intelligence, and conscousness or awareness, is a new area of scientific recognistion, and long overdue. I suppose its not enthnocentricity, but species-centricity, that makes us think that only HUMANS have an cognitive awareness, or can communicate, at least about emotional states, in a sophisticated fashion. Early man had their "shamans", who could communicate with animals, but after St. Francis, I doubt our western culture gave any crediance to this idea. It was after Washoe the ape, who mastered around 134 hand symbols, and later the ape Koko, that linguists started to realize that many animals could understand their enviorment, at least on the level of a young child, and they could make their desires known. This book is the story of Irene Pepperberg, who got her doctorate from MIT in her early twenties, that lead to her study of the intelligence, and communication skills, of a Grey parrot named Alex. Beginning with Irene's early life and first fascination with birds, then her fight for recognistion as a serious female scientist in the 70s, the book really takes off when she buys Alex, and begins her true life's work. She wanted to learn if birds are just "repeating songs", that we teach them in the form of "polly want a cracker?" or if they KNOW what they are saying. The book tells of the scientific community's slow acceptance for Irene's work, the fights to get grants, funding, tenure, and later, the media frenzy surrounding Alex, and how that played out. (Alex was on PBS's AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC FRONTIERS with Alan Alda, had his OBIT in the NY Times, and is particually famous in magazines and books on linguistics.) With the brain the size of a walnut, and certainly not genetically simular to us, the way apes are, Alex was able to use about a hundred "labels". Alex was able to recognize, and ask for items, using words to represent these things, just like we do. Of course, the book has a heartbreaking ending, which anyone who has had a strong bond to a pet for decades, and lost it, will relate to. In fact, that is the starting point for the book, which is quite an emotional punch. ALEX AND ME teaches us to have a little more compassion for the animals that we share this world with, or keep as pets. If we can communicate with an animal, and realize scientifically that they have an emotional, cognitive awareness of a small child, maybe we can start to treat them better. (ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TAKE NOTE. Here's some scientific backing.) Also, linguists might be interested in the way the capacity for language begins, and how important verbal communicate is for various species. But without a doubt, pet owners who have seen over and over, the emotional intelligence of their pets, will have that nod of recognision, everytime Alex shows off his "personality". Sure, these animals dont talk about the past, the future, or abstract concepts, but they have emotions like our basic ones. The last words ALEX said to his 30 year partner in science IRENE were "You be good. I love you. Will I see you tomorrow?" IF you read this book as an ornithologist, or as a linguist, you won't find all the rigours of science within the pages. However, for the reader who enjoys stories about human/pet relationships, this is the coolest one I've read. It had a good message, without ever being didactic. Uncondistional love isnt just a human emotion. Who would think such a jewel of heart felt wisdom would rest within such an unassuming little book?
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 BetterEditor.net
| |
