Now That's A Smart Bird!

Alex, an African Grey parrot who knew his colors, shapes, numbers, and more than 100 English words. Sounds interesting right? Than you should read Alex and Me, a non-fiction memoir about Dr. Irene Pepperberg and her amazing parrot Alex. Alex understood the concept of "same and different" and could do basic math. This outstanding parrot inspired many people throughout his lifetime, and changed the way scientists think about animal's brains. I thought this book was very interesting because, although it focused quite a bit on Alex, it also included a lot about Irene's experiences and work. Irene had a very hard time being taken seriously in the world of Science, because people thought it was pointless to study a bird. Of course, Alex exceeded everyone's expectations. Irene wrote Alex and Me to display Alex's accomplishments, and to stress the idea that human and animal minds are much more similar than we would think. I really enjoyed this book because it was very informal. Although the scientific language could be a little hard to follow at times, the book was mostly very informative and clear. I loved reading about the instances when Alex actually acted like a"bird brain", like when he was afraid of his reflection, or when he danced and bobbed his head to funky music. I also really enjoyed reading about Alex and Irene's relationship, and how well they knew each other. I would recommend reading  Alex and Me if you are fond of animals and animal research. This book really delves deep into experiments, and if you find that interesting, then you would really like this book!

To read an excerpt from Alex and Me  click here
To learn more about Irene's training technique click here