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Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence--and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process | 
| Author: Irene M. Pepperberg
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
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Rating:  80 reviews
Sales Rank: 502
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0061672475
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.68650929
EAN: 9780061672477
ASIN: 0061672475
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you." What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous—two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet, over the years, Alex 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. The fame that resulted was extraordinary. 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. Alex missed Irene when she was away. He was jealous when she paid attention to other parrots, or even people. He liked to show her who was boss. He loved to dance. He sometimes became bored by the repetition of his tests, and played jokes on her. Sometimes they sniped at each other. Yet nearly every day, they each said, "I love you." Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin—despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one univer sity to another. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and of an unforgettable human-animal bond.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 75 more reviews...
 At last! A scientist who..... October 24, 2008
Ace (East Coast)
46 out of 48 found this review helpful
....becomes "very much aware of that peoples' profound sense of oneness with nature. I resonated with that." Here Dr Pepperberg is talking about Native Americans' relationship with nature, and I find her view as a scientist all-encompassing and highly complementary with (and probably an enhancement to) her research -- TOTALLy unlike those of her colleagues at NIH who cut themselves off from the sumn-total of the reality of her work with Alex the Grey Parrot -- and who were so unflinching in their disparaging comments of her work with Alex.
The book begins with the aftermath of Alex's untimely death -- he should have lived for at least another 20 years, and his death was a great loss not only to the scientific community, but to those "ordinary" human beings who were touched and changed by his presence.
As the book continues, we read about "No Name" -- the parakeet that brought joy to a little girls's insulated world, and Bluey, Greeny and other much-loved birds who brought sunshine into her otherwise lonely childhood -- and then Charlie, whose feathers found their way into an MIT meeting.
And then, at Harvard, one question "What animal should I study?" brought Alex into Irene's life, for the next 30 wonderful, trying (including an extremely dense ticket agent, who had trouble understanding why "a bird" would need luggage), frustrating, joyful years.
This book was a labor of love -- as were the 30 wonderful years with Alex, whose "brain the size of a walnut" astounded Irene and her colleagues with its information gathering and associative abilities.
I was highly amused to read about the withdrawal of cardboard (he'd chew it) and feeding tofu to calm down Alex's raging hormones -- hey, whatever works!!! (It worked)
Alex's death touched me too. I too grieved at the loss of such an amiable, "special" individual -- but then again, Irene's research was NOT ever in vain -- it shows us what so many pet owners and caring animal handlers can agree with -- there is a special spark of recognition and cognition in every animal that, with loving attention and encouragement, can bloom into a special human-animal bond of communication. Alex was by far a highly special example of such a being.
A facinating, informative, and deeply moving memoir of a true partnership between human and parrot October 22, 2008
R. Murphy (Eastern U.S.)
27 out of 28 found this review helpful
When scientist Irene Pepperberg wanted to study animal cognition and language, she purchased an African Grey Parrot, who she named Alex. What followed was a thirty-year partnership that rocked the foundations of our understanding of animal intelligence and challenged all previous assumptions of the phrase "birdbrain." Pepperberg writes beautifully, bringing the study of language and cognition to an easily-understood level without dumbing down the impact of her work. Beyond science, however, Pepperberg captures the dignity and personality of Alex, a lovable and admirable creature whose early death was a tragic loss.
A Pet story or ORNITHOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS....? October 26, 2008
W. T. Hoffman (Williampsort, Pa United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I picked up this book to glance thru it, read a couple of paragraphs, then a few pages, and before i knew it, I had finished the book in one day, and I really dont do that. I was captivated, quite literally. If you have ever owned a dog that knew what you were saying, or a cat who could use its "meow" to say things like "me out" or "no", then you know that animals DO communicate. Animal intelligence, and conscousness or awareness, is a new area of scientific recognistion, and long overdue. I suppose its not enthnocentricity, but species-centricity, that makes us think that only HUMANS have an cognitive awareness, or can communicate, at least about emotional states, in a sophisticated fashion. Early man had their "shamans", who could communicate with animals, but after St. Francis, I doubt our western culture gave any crediance to this idea. It was after Washoe the ape, who mastered around 134 hand symbols, and later the ape Koko, that linguists started to realize that many animals could understand their enviorment, at least on the level of a young child, and they could make their desires known. This book is the story of Irene Pepperberg, who got her doctorate from MIT in her early twenties, that lead to her study of the intelligence, and communication skills, of a Grey parrot named Alex. Beginning with Irene's early life and first fascination with birds, then her fight for recognistion as a serious female scientist in the 70s, the book really takes off when she buys Alex, and begins her true life's work. She wanted to learn if birds are just "repeating songs", that we teach them in the form of "polly want a cracker?" or if they KNOW what they are saying. The book tells of the scientific community's slow acceptance for Irene's work, the fights to get grants, funding, tenure, and later, the media frenzy surrounding Alex, and how that played out. (Alex was on PBS's AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC FRONTIERS with Alan Alda, had his OBIT in the NY Times, and is particually famous in magazines and books on linguistics.) With the brain the size of a walnut, and certainly not genetically simular to us, the way apes are, Alex was able to use about a hundred "labels". Alex was able to recognize, and ask for items, using words to represent these things, just like we do. Of course, the book has a heartbreaking ending, which anyone who has had a strong bond to a pet for decades, and lost it, will relate to. In fact, that is the starting point for the book, which is quite an emotional punch. ALEX AND ME teaches us to have a little more compassion for the animals that we share this world with, or keep as pets. If we can communicate with an animal, and realize scientifically that they have an emotional, cognitive awareness of a small child, maybe we can start to treat them better. (ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TAKE NOTE. Here's some scientific backing.) Also, linguists might be interested in the way the capacity for language begins, and how important verbal communicate is for various species. But without a doubt, pet owners who have seen over and over, the emotional intelligence of their pets, will have that nod of recognision, everytime Alex shows off his "personality". Sure, these animals dont talk about the past, the future, or abstract concepts, but they have emotions like our basic ones. The last words ALEX said to his 30 year partner in science IRENE were "You be good. I love you. Will I see you tomorrow?" IF you read this book as an ornithologist, or as a linguist, you won't find all the rigours of science within the pages. However, for the reader who enjoys stories about human/pet relationships, this is the coolest one I've read. It had a good message, without ever being didactic. Uncondistional love isnt just a human emotion. Who would think such a jewel of heart felt wisdom would rest within such an unassuming little book?
Engaging story! I didn't want it to end October 31, 2008
M. Kooiman (Richardson, TX USA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Many years ago, when I was still a kid, I learned about a parrot named Alex who did more than just imitate words of his owner, he actually spoke and understood. I was fascinated by this bird and what he could do and that fascination never ended. When I saw that this book was coming out I couldn't wait to read it. The day before this book arrived I had started reading another biography (and that's really what this book is - a biography of Irene Pepperberg and Alex)and struggled with getting past the first chapter. The other biography was poorly written and boring. I wondered if this book would be the same. After all, the biography I was trying to read was written by a NY Times reporter and "Alex and Me" was written by a research scientist. I was pleasantly surprised. Within minutes of opening "Alex and Me" I was hooked! The story flowed in an organized manner with enough of a mix of layman science and funny anecdotes.
After quickly reading through the first chapter, I found myself transported through time to Irene's childhood and her first budgie. I was drawn into the story as Irene described high school and college and eventually chose her life of study with Alex. It was difficult to put the book down that night, even knowing I had to be up early the next day, I just couldn't stop reading. Every chance I got I was reading a little more. A lot of the book is about the studies done with Alex and his amazing abilities but it's also about the struggles Irene faced as a research scientist in a field not well accepted by her colleagues. I have to admit, I had tears in my eyes as I read the first chapter which describes the weeks following Alex's unexpected death and again in the second to last chapter as Irene learns that Alex had passed in the night. It is a beautifully told story that I think most people would enjoy.
Alex and Me - A story of human-animal bonding and a scientific adventure October 25, 2008
T. A Brink (Peoria, IL United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
The memoir "Alex and Me" is about Irene Pepperberg, a scientist who studies animal cognition, and her "subject" Alex, an African Grey Parrot. The scientific adventure begins June 1977 when Irene purchases a African Grey Parrot in Chicago. The bird, named Alex for "avian language experiment" is one very smart bird. For about 30 years Irene Pepperberg and her many scientific colleagues and research assistants teach Alex colors, over 100 words and many other things that previously had been thought by the scientific establishment only to be specifically human. For example, Alex eventually comes to understand the concept of "none," a highly abstract concept, and a concept that Alex learns for himself. Alex also leans to add numbers.
This highly readable book is about so much more than animal intelligence. It is about the deep bond that can form between humans and animals. Because of Pepperberg's work and the work of many other scientists, such as Jane Goddal, many scientists' attitudes have changed towards animals. No longer are animals viewed as non-thinking automatons; instead many scientist now accept that non-human animals have their own interior life and emotions. In 2000, the Animal Welfare Act, the United States law that protects laboratory animals added birds to animals that are protected form abuse by lab reseachers. Whether the law is effective or not is another matter.
Throughout this book, we learn how Irene relates emotionally to Alex, her methods of teaching Alex, and the importance of her work to the scientific community. I found this book fascinating both intellectually, as well as emotionally. I will be recommending this book to my animal friendly friends.
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