Gift Of The Crow: How Perception, Emotion, And Thought Allow Smart Birds To Behave Like Humans (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
For what it's worth, I learned a lot about crows and found the anecdotes about crow behavior interesting. For me, there was too much detail about how a crow's brain works. Actual quote: "Neural signals leaving the nidopallium go to the lower, rear portion of the forebrain, the arcopallium, which ushers electrical commands down independent, parallel circuits through the thalamus, midbrain, and hindbrain nuclei to muscle fibers whose actions create behavior." I enjoy books about the human brain, but either I'm not as interested in the details of crow brains, or the writing didn't make the material as accessible for non-scientists as other books I've read. I didn't find the illustrations particularly helpful or interesting. The author's knowledge of and enthusiasm for his subject were excellent, but this book didn't do it for me. While many of the stories are heartening and endearing of the oft misunderstood corvid group, I found there to be far more technicalities in the book than I would have preferred. I understand that this is a work of science, but we are talking about Crows. They inhabit our culture and dreams and deserve far more stories about their intelligence and antics than their neural connections. I've read many science books and was unabashed by the science, I have an affinity for these beings and almost feel betrayed by too much technical speak. To me, it was like reading MacBeth and only hearing anecdotally how his father was killed while having to sit through the anatomy of his murder.
What do You think about Gift Of The Crow: How Perception, Emotion, And Thought Allow Smart Birds To Behave Like Humans (2013)?
I haven't read this book in a long time. Just couldn't get into it.
—saffislm
Another fascinating crow book by John Marzluff and Tony Angell
—jfmedlin
