INNOVATIVE OCTOPUSES, HALF-BRAINED BIRDS, AND MORE ANIMALS WITH MAGNIFICENT MINDS

Insights into how our brains resemble, and are different from, those of other animals.

With this lively overview of the animal kingdom’s “most extraordinary organ,” Couch delivers lucid descriptions of how humans and other creatures perceive the world, interact with their bodies, sleep, learn, remember, and communicate. Punctuating her narrative with comments from a large and racially diverse group of brain scientists and other workers, she visits research sites ranging from an outdoor squirrel lab to a trauma center where people with PTSD form mutually beneficial relationships with abused birds. She explores natural mysteries, such as an apparently immortal jellyfish and another species that sleeps even though it has no brain. The author expands her focus with profiles of a DNA researcher studying the remains of victims of the slave trade on St. Helena and an entomologist whose passion for roller derby has helped her become a better scientist, among others. As if all this isn’t stimulating enough, Couch also provides instructions for keeping a dream journal, testing short-term memory, and tackling other brain-related projects for hands-on readers before closing with a substantial bibliography, source notes, and further reading. Duncan includes anatomical cutaways, charts, and cartoon spot art featuring a diverse cast of young enquirers into the already generous mix of animal photos and portraits.

Widely angled and unfailingly intriguing.