Alex & Me: how a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence and formed a deep bond in the process

(Paperback, UK edition)

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On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. For thirty years he and his owner, Irene Pepperberg, had worked together - two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Over the years, Alex had proved many things. He could add. He could sound out words. He understood concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none. He was capable of thought and intention. Together, Alex and Irene uncovered a startling reality: We live in a world populated by thinking, conscious creatures. Yet there was a side to their relationship that never made the papers. They were emotionally connected to one another. They shared a deep bond far beyond science. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and of an unforgettable human-animal bond.

Reviews

Pepperberg gives the general reader, older teens included, a peek into a researcher's life and has written a short, happy page-turner. Bird and animal lovers and anyone fascinated by language acquisition and learning processes will especially enjoy Alex and "his" book.

* Courier Mail *

... a moving tribute that beautifully evokes the struggles, the initial triumphs, the setbacks, the unexpected and often stunning achievements during a groundbreaking scientific endeavor spent uncovering cognitive abilities in Alex that no one believed were possible.

* Publisher's Weekly *

... a fascinating portrait of a remarkable and singular being.

* Sydney Morning Herald *

charming ... Her book movingly combines the scientific detail of a researcher, intent on showing with statistical confidence that Alex did indeed have this or that cognitive ability, with the affectionate understanding that children (and childrens books about animals) instinctively possess: that animals know more than we think, and think a great deal more than we know. While her training as a scientist keeps her from lapsing into sentimentality, her love for her longtime avian colleague keeps her from sounding like a stuffy academic.

-- Michiko Kakutani * The New York Times *

Scientist Dr. Pepperberg's chronicle of her relationship with an African Grey parrot, Alex is intriguing and deeply moving ... Staying together through thick and thin and sneers from the 'experts', this story of a thirty year odyssey between a parrot and his mentor records amazing landmark achievements as well as being a warm, compelling tale of animalhuman bonding.

* Toowoomba Chronicle *

Everybody who loves animals should read this book. Irene Pepperberg has done pioneering work on communication between people and animals. Alex has proved to the world that birds are much smarter than people think.

-- Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

Alex & Me is a wonderful read about the close and enduring bonds that developed between a very bright bird and a very motivated researcher during a long-term collaboration. It provides a rare personal and birds-eye view of the ins and outs, ups and downs, and behind-the-scenes goings-on of scientific research. Irene Pepperberg humanizes science and her dear friend Alex shows that being called a birdbrain is indeed a compliment of the highest order.

-- Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado; author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, Animals Matter and Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals

This is a brave book. By insisting on treating Alex as her friend a friend with whom she laughs and must ultimately grieve over Dr Pepperberg takes a stand defying those who insist on confining the issue of consciousness to cold reductionism. I was fascinated to read the anecdotes about the intellectual capacity of parrots, but the best part of Alex & Me is the story of their friendship.

-- Mark Bittner, author of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

A wonderful, touching love story that combines humor, history, intimacy, philosophy, and ground-breaking science; a thoroughly delightful read about the thirty-year relationship of Irene and Alex.

-- Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns Me

Sometimes a single individual changes the world, even if it is a parrot. Together with his tutor, Irene Pepperberg, Alex systematically destroyed the notion the way he destroyed so many other things that all that birds can do is mimic human language. Alex clearly had a mind of his own, and a heart to match, as explained in this touching account of scientific perseverance and mutual attachment. Our notion of what a bird is has forever been changed.

-- Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape

A fascinating look at animal intelligence, Pepperbergs tale is also a love story between beings who sometimes squabble like an old married couple but whose bond broke only with Alexs death at 31 in 07. Irresistible.

* People *

To anyone whos dreamed of talking with the animals, Dr. Doolittle style, Alex was a revelation This ornery reviewer tried to resist Alexs charms on principle. But his achievements got the better of me Alex was a celebrity, and this book will surely please his legions of fans.

* New York Times Book Review *

Highly readable.

* Booklist *

A moving tribute that beautifully evokes the struggles, the initial triumphs, the setbacks, the unexpected and often stunning achievements during a groundbreaking scientific endeavour.

* Publishers Weekly *

Author Bio

Dr Irene M. Pepperberg is an associate research professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and teaches animal cognition at Harvard University. Her work has been featured on television and in newspapers and magazines in the United States and Europe.