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Book Review Title

Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich Who must have this book: Anyone who is interested in animal intelligence or loves ravens. Who should have this book: Anyone who is into birdwatching or ravens. ISBN: 0060930632

I purchased this book because Heinrich was going to be the keynote speaker at the 2006 Kachemak Shorebird Festival. I expected a good overview of Raven intelligence, and I did get that. But, I got a lot more. This book is filled with hundreds of intimate observations of Ravens that were hard earned through hand-raising, tagging, testing, and watching the birds over decades.

Heinrich Bernd is very much the empirical scientist in all situations. He keeps and reports very specific information about every encounter he had with Ravens in captivity and in the wild. Overall, this gives the book a sort of academic feel, rather than a general interest natural history book. He walks a careful line between academic and scientific conservatism that makes him hesitant to fully claim Raven intelligence and a side that seems to want to shout out that ravens can reason. I ended the book without solid answers about how intelligent they are, but with a great appreciation for the birds and their mysteries that they seem to be unwilling to give up.

The book does give a great sense of the specialness of Ravens. One of the themes reiterated time and again in the book is that young birds are overly curious by design. They test everything in their environment, mostly in the search of food. Much like bears, this serves them well in allowing them to utilize any food source for survival. However, as a Raven matures, it loses this curiosity and it is replaced by fear of new objects. This is a very elegant survival strategy for the species, expendable juveniles test all situations, the adults survive because they found the local solution to survival.

If you have any interest in Ravens, birds, or natural history, I strongly recommend this book. But, if you are looking for an entertaining natural history book, I would recommend Bernd’s book, Winter Life a little higher.

Overview

The book has 29 chapters starting with an introduction to his research process and progressing somewhat chronologically as he works out the questions of Raven Intelligence. He covers learning, territory, hunting, senses, interactions with predators, and finally intelligence and emotions. It is a sometimes rambling, but consistently interesting look at a very mysterious and special bird.

Author

Bernd Heinrich is not an Alaskan, but his writings on Boreal wildlife such as Ravens in Winter, Mind of the Raven and Winter World make him a great addition to your bookshelf. He is a biology professor at the University of Vermont and has received many awards for his writings.

Other books by the Author