What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds
US edition (Penguin Press) - UK edition (Oneworld) - AUS edition (Scribe)
WHAT AN OWL KNOWS explores what we’ve learned in the past decade or two about owls , those enigmatic, fascinating, and elusive birds. It looks at how owls communicate—in much more complicated ways than we ever imagined, how they court, mate, raise their young, whether they act from instinct alone or from intelligence and learning, how they relate to one another—and to us. And it explores the people obsessed with these magnificent birds, from biologists and conservationists who have devoted their lives to owls, to citizen scientists like Steve Hiro, a retired heart surgeon who is now one of the foremost experts on the breeding biology of Northern Pygmy Owls and Marjon Savelsberg, a Dutch musician, classically trained, who has focused her skilled ear on the world of owl vocalizations. And also people who work one-on-one with owls to heal them if they’re injured or train them to be animal ambassadors. The book is about what we’ve learned about some of the deepest mysteries of the biology and behavior of owls, their individuality, personality, emotions, and intelligence.
Long-eared Owl by Jeff Grotte
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think
US edition (Penguin Press) - UK edition (Corsair) - AUS edition (Scribe)
“[Ackerman’s] exhilarating book will leave you as awestruck by the complexities and contradictions of bird life as she is.”
—SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
An enthralling exploration into the extraordinary range of behavior in birds and the new research that is revolutionizing our understanding of it.
There is no single way of being a bird. In every respect, in plumage, form, and song, birds vary. It’s what we love about them. And recently, scientists are finding that in their unique ways of being, birds are revealing a secret, sophisticated intelligence and showing us how consistently we have misjudged what is going on in their minds.
Drawing on the latest science and bird-related travel around the world, the book dives deep into various bird species to explore how their behaviors are far more nuanced than once imagined. Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of–well–birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call–and may hold the secret to the evolution of laughter.
As the book makes clear, birds are thinking beings, even if they are thinking about different things, in different ways, than we humans do. And the more we learn about the range of their remarkable behaviors, the more we can agree, as E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.
“In The Bird Way, Jennifer Ackerman digs deeper and ranges farther into bird behavior, pulling tasty stories out of rich ground as she hops across the continents…. Like a bowerbird, Ms. Ackerman gathers and displays treasures to amaze and delight—the lets the scientists’ stories take center stage.”
—The Wall Street Journal
The Genius of Birds
Penguin Press 2016, Penguin Paperbacks 2017
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“Gloriously provocative and highly entertaining … at once a book of knowledge but also a work of wonder and an affirmation of the astonishing complexity of our world.”
— THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“A lyrical testimony to the wonders of avian intelligence.”
— SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
A New York Times national bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, The Genius of Birds explores the new view of birds as cunning, playful, clever, artistic, deceptive, and socially and technically adept. Ravens, crows, even hummingbirds do things that are just plain smart—and funny and sneaky and deceitful. They craft and use tools, sing to one another in regional accents, make complex navigational decisions without asking for directions, remember where they put things using intricate geometrical concepts, understand the mental state of another individual, josh around with windshield wipers, and use rolling car tires to crack walnuts—all with a brain about the size of a nut. Now published in more than 20 languages, the book is packed with interesting new science about bird brains and behavior that will appeal to a broad range of readers, including sophisticated bird lovers, nature enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the brain or animal behavior.
Birds by the Shore
“Arresting and provocative… A joy to read.”
—THE WASHINGTON POST
An exploration of the natural life of the mid-Atlantic coast—the sort of blue-water, white-sand landscape people love—this book takes the reader on a journey to the ocean’s edge, to view the habits of shorebirds, the movement of sand and tides, the wealth of creatures that survive amid storm and surf.
The revised and reissued edition of my book of essays describing my forays along the Delaware shore.
Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body
Houghton Mifflin, 2007
Indiebound Barnes & Noble Amazon
Taking us through a typical day, from the arousal of the senses to hunger, fatigue, stress, sex, the reverie of sleep and dreams, this book explores the new science of what happens in the body. At once entertaining and deeply practical, it reveals the body as we’ve never seen it: busy, cunning, miraculous.
Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold
Twelve, 2010
Indiebound Barnes & Noble Amazon
On average, we spend five years of our lives suffering from colds. Some are like mice, timid and annoying; others like dragons, accompanied by body aches and deep misery. Ah-Choo! explains just what a cold is, how it works, and whether it’s really possible to “fight one off.”
Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity
Houghton Mifflin, 2001
Indiebound Barnes & Noble Amazon
A startling new message has emerged lately about the human body. Scientists probing the deep workings of living organisms have discovered that we are all run by surprisingly similar bits of biology, genes and proteins that have been passed along in evolution nearly intact for hundreds of million of years. This book, part personal memoir, part cutting-edge science, offers an encompassing vision of the impact of this shared biology on our everyday lives.