Bird Brain

A revelation, an outstanding work of popular science by one of the world’s foremost
neuroscientists ... proves that the old insult of being called a ‘birdbrain’ is actually a
compliment, and in doing so, illuminates how intelligence in nature can take many forms.
Steve Brusatte, Sunday Times/New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the
Dinosaurs and The Story of Birds

What if one of the most intelligent minds on Earth could fly?

Crows and ravens can solve multi-step puzzles, use and shape tools, remember human faces for years, and plan ahead. In this groundbreaking new book, Neuroscientist Andreas Nieder reveals how these birds think, and why their intelligence is reshaping what science believes about the mind.

At the centre of Bird Brain is Edgar, a crow raised in Nieder’s lab at the University of Tübingen. As Edgar grows from chick to adult, his abilities — learning, counting, decision-making — offer a rare, inside look at the cognitive world of corvids.

Crows don’t have a human-like brain. So how does Edgar do it? Nieder’s research shows that a different brain structure, the pallium, can produce surprisingly advanced forms of thought, challenging long-held ideas about intelligence and consciousness.

Smart, surprising, and deeply thought-provoking, Bird Brain will alter how you see all animals — and challenge how you understand us.