Unlocking the Hidden World of Animal Intelligence: The Story of Alex and Me

Sharon: I loved the insights into the intelligence of grey parrots and the moods and playfulness of Alex. It gives me a new perspective of how much thought non human beings are capable of and of how we are one with nature.

United States on Oct 31, 2023

Client d'Amazon: Thank you so much for your work. I want to believe that what you did all these years will help more and more people to /
appreciate the birds and all the living creatures of our planet. To respect them for their uniqueness and their existence. I lived whole of my life with a range of different animals and their love and wisdom never ceased to amaze me! They understand, feel and love more than we could ever imagine!

United States on Sep 13, 2023

B. Claire Hitchcock: Wonderful book! I learned as much about parrots scientifically as I was entertained while reading about them! While Alex was an exceptional parrot, the authors's splendid writing has drawn me in to treasure the whole species and to want to read more about animal intelligence studies. I've sent the book as a gift to many friends, and they are loving it as much as I. Great read!

United States on Sep 06, 2023

Francesca: Tutti coloro che hanno un cenerino dovrebbero leggere questo libro

Italy on Apr 30, 2023

M.J.Lawicki: Alex & Me is an engaging narrative of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs revealed by Dr. Irene Pepperberg in her thirty year endeavor to understand communication and cognitive abilities with her research subject -Alex the African Grey Parrot.

Much of the appeal of Alex & Me relates to the fascinating confluence of genius between the Doctor and her irascible, feathered subject. The two developed the rarest of bonds between human and animal. I found myself chuckling along with Dr. Pepperberg, astounded as fragments of Alex’s remarkable ‘personality’ were revealed in this story. To say that Alex was a unique would be a gross understatement. His remarkable capacity for learning and communication was rivaled only at times by his mischief-making. The narrative reveals many of the experiments Alex was subjected to over the course of his lifetime, but the main emphasis here is on the extraordinary relationship development between Dr. Pepperberg and her good friend Alex.

It is fortunate for the world that Dr. Pepperberg recognized something unique and fascinating about birds in her childhood. Her curiosity and stalwart determination to pursue her research...

United States on May 25, 2022

Amazon Customer: I've had my parrot over 20 years so I can well understand her love for Alex. I did not understand the American system of the grants and funding for her research and why she had to keep moving from place to place around the USA. And when he died she did not want to see him, that I can understand. But she just left his small body at the vets I suppose to be dumped with the rubbish. Surely she could have taken him home and buried him in the garden. Anyway R.I.P Alex. All in all a nice read.

United Kingdom on Jun 18, 2018

Jonathan Harlow: This good book tells several stories. Central is the author's work with Alex the African grey parrot, her achievements and his - including learning to add and 'spelling out' a word in phonemes for emphasis. And with this goes the story of Alex's development and their personal relationship. Behind the work itself were years of struggle, for a place and funding to do the work. And this was very hard at the beginning because her project went in the face of the received dogmas of the time: animals could not think, still less communicate with humans: conditioned reflexes and cued responses, if not cooked results, were all that were to be expected. On that major front, a success story; but on the personal side, a sad one as Alex died prematurely - and earned an obituary in the Economist. On all fronts, inspiring.

United Kingdom on Jun 13, 2016

Teresa: He leído este libro en una tarde. Es diferente a otras lecturas y además de pasar un rato entretenido se pueden aprender cosas.

El libro es una autobiografía de Irene Pepperberg, desde su infancia como hija de inmigrantes (ella dice "americanos de primera generación") hasta llegar a ser una científica conocida, pasando por su experiencia como mujer universitaria en una época en que aún era poco habitual que las mujeres fueran a la universidad.

La descripción del ambiente universitario en Estados Unidos es breve pero interesante. También muy interesante es la peregrinación de una a otra universidad en busca de financiación para sus investigaciones y cómo muy a menudo nadie se la tomaba en serio.

Irene cuenta cómo desde niña tuvo periquitos y su experiencia con ellos. Posteriormente, aprovechando que la investigación del lenguaje en simios estaba en auge, Irene decidió estudiar los procesos mentales de las aves. Para ello elijió un loro Yaco al que llamó Alex.

Alex es el otro gran protagonista del libro. Su personalidad se vislumbra perfectamente a través de sus acciones. Alex es un loro seguro de sí mismo y mandón, pero a su vez es...

Spain on Jan 07, 2016

DB: I had dimly heard of Alex but his abilities hadn't really struck me until I read his obituary in "The Economist". After having his story languishing on my wishlist for a while I finally cracked and bought it for myself. I have to say, I was mildly disappointed - it's much too short. It's a slim enough book anyway, but it's also double spaced, with lots of blank pages, so I read it easily in a couple of evenings. And it's topped and tailed with quite a bit of stuff about the aftermath of his death - letters of condolence, the "Economist" piece and so forth, which are understandably important to Pepperberg, but less so to the curious reader. I really wanted more anecdotes.

Nevertheless, I'm delighted I read it. I particularly liked the story about Alex telling Pepperberg to "Calm down! Calm down!" when she came stomping into the lab after a difficult meeting. In my mind's ear he said it in a Harry Enfield scouse accent - I always thought parrots sounded a tad scouse anyway (or is it the other way round?) She should have started quarrelling with him!

United Kingdom on Jun 30, 2011

Lisa Shea: It's not often that we get to watch a sea change in scientific thought. Most of the big changes - like when we went from thinking the world was flat to round - happened quite a while ago. However, with this book, tracing over the thirty years in Alex's feathery life, we see how scientists moved from absolutely believing animals could NOT think or talk to coming around to entertain the possibility. That's a fairly substantial change.

Alex, an African Grey Parrot, was a "normal" pet store parrot, not the product of genetic super-breeding. This typical average parrot was diligently trained by the researchers and within an amazingly short period of time he could identify colors, shapes, sizes, and count. The scientists were very careful to verify their findings, to make sure Alex was really doing what they thought he was. With the many other cases of fraud out there, the scientists wanted to make sure their research was beyond doubt, that it was not that they were leading or guiding Alex to the correct answers. He really did have the mental acuity to identify objects and describe what he saw.

This may be something we think is fairly easy to agree with in modern times....

United States on Apr 18, 2011