Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence - Hardcover

Gould, James L.; Gould, Carol Grant

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465027822 ISBN 13: 9780465027828

Publisher: Basic Books, 2007

Synopsis

From two of the world's most distinguished experts in animal behaviour, this book offers a radical, creative, and accessible new approach to understanding animal minds through the structures they build. Animal behaviour has long been a battleground between the competing claims of nature and nurture, with the possible role of cognition in behaviour as a recent addition to this debate. There is an untapped trove of behavioural data that can tell us a great deal about how the animals draw from these neural strategies: the structures animals build provide a superb window on the workings of the animal mind. "Building Minds" examines animal architecture across a range of species, from those whose blueprints are largely innate (such as spiders and their webs) to those whose challenging structures seem to require intellectual insight, planning, and even aesthetics (such as birds' nests, or beavers' dams). Beginning with instinct and the simple homes of solitary insects, James and Carol Gould move on to conditioning; the "cognitive map" and how it evolved; and the role of planning and insight. Finally, they reflect on what animal building tells us about the nature of human intelligence - showing why humans, unlike many animals, need to build their castles in the air.

About this title

About the Author

James L Gould is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and one of the world's leading experts in animal behaviour. With science writer Carol Grant Gould he has written The Animal Mind, Sexual Selection, and The Honey Bee, all considered classic books on animal behaviour for lay audiences. They live in Princeton, New Jersey.

From the Back Cover

"Two experts in animal behaviour explore the structures animals build,
providing a radical new model for understanding animal minds. The
complexity of many of these structures, and the evident capacity of their
builders for forward thinking, adaptability, improvisation and even
aesthetic appreciation, raise potentially troubling questions about the
supposed gulf between human and animal intelligence."

The London Review of Books, May 2007

From the Inside Flap

"In Animal Architects, James R Gould and Carol Grant Gould beautifully
describe some of the architectural wonders of the animal kingdom...there is
no doubt that the Goulds succeed in ... captivating the reader with their
enthusiasm and encyclopaedic knowledge of the biology of building."

The Times Higher Education Supplement, May 2007

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465027822
• ISBN 13: 9780465027828
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336