Jennifer Ackerman, The Genius of Birds

Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - 7:00pm

Can't make it to the event but still want a signed copy of the book? Call us at 831-423-0900 to reserve your signed copy.

Bookshop Santa Cruz and Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks present award-winning science writer Jennifer Ackerman and her new book, The Genius of Birds. Combining a travelogue with a scientific investigation, a nature guide with a philosophical journey, The Genius of Birds offers readers a surprising and beautiful look at the extraordinary grace of birds, and a thought-provoking meditation on intelligence itself.

Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, according to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds and how it came about. As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research, Ackerman not only tells the story of the recently uncovered genius of birds but also delves deeply into the latest findings about the bird brain itself that are revolutionizing our view of what it means to be intelligent.

Ackerman delivers an extraordinary story that will both give readers a new appreciation for the exceptional talents of birds and let them discover what birds can reveal about our changing world. Incredibly informative and beautifully written, The Genius of Birds richly celebrates the triumphs of these surprising and fiercely intelligent creatures.

Birdlovers will appreciate Ackerman's investigations and how they demonstrate what bird lovers have always known: birds are fantastically intelligent creatures full of personality, and their playfulness and inquisitiveness speaks volumes about their deep inner-workings. Traveling to distant laboratories of Barbados and New Caledonia, the great tit communities of the United Kingdom, the bowerbird habitats of Australia, and many other exotic locales, Ackerman meets with the curious class of scientists that devote their lives to birds and offers a wonderful picture of global bird migrations and worldwide science culture.

"Lovely, celebratory. For all the belittling of 'bird brains,' [Ackerman] shows them to be uniquely impressive machines..."--New York Times Book Review

"I love birds; always have. The only thing better than love is love plus deep appreciation. The Genius of Birds is a journey of deep appreciation for the beautiful geniuses all around us, in our gardens, sharing our air, and sharing more of our minds than we might have expected." --Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science, nature, and human biology for almost three decades. Her most recent books include Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body; Ah-Choo: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold; Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity; and Notes from the Shore. A contributor to Scientific American, National Geographic, The New York Times, and many other publications, Ackerman is the recipient of an National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Co-sponsored by Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks