Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans De Waal (hardcover)

Frans De Waal explores the history of the study of animal behavior. He challenges long-held biases in the scientific realm, denouncing a hierarchy of intelligence as an oversimplification, indicative of our own limitations in comprehending non-human cognition. De Waal explains the challenges of measuring animal intelligence– how do we get inside another creature’s mind? He uses numerous studies, including many of his own, to show how scientists attempt to investigate nuanced questions: Do animals perceive time? Do they feel empathy and act altruistically? You’ll meet scores of animals in these 340 pages, and all of them will leave you in amazement.