Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds

by Bernd Heinrich

Book Overview

Heinrich involves us in his quest to get inside the mind of the raven. But as animals can only be spied on by getting quite close, Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a raven father, as well as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060930632
• ISBN13: 9780060930639
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Idiosyncratic, charming, thought-provoking and informative

This book is a wealth of information about ravens. While most of other books are set in Maine, here Heinrich travels farther afield to discuss ravens in the Arctic, Yellowstone, a pet raven in Germany, and elsewhere -- in addition to his own wild and tame ravens in Maine. I can imagine some scientists (and others) being annoyed by Heinrich's style. His research questions are guided by his own natural curiosity and not by what the scientific community defines as important. He isn't trained as an ornithologist. Heinrich clearly depends on his own observations and does not like to delegate -- so his methods are not those of a scientist running a lab or something like a lab. For most of us, though, these "faults" make him all the more interesting. He is certainly high on the list of authors I'd like to invite to dinner. Heinrich also seems to be a born teacher. He does a great job explaining ravens as well as explaining the process of discovery that brings him to his conclusions. If you think that a bird can't possibly be conscious (or self-conscious), that a bird can't be intelligent, and that a bird can't have a real personality, this book will drive you nuts. If you think any of those things are *possible*, Heinrich gives you some thought-provoking stories about ravens.

Intriguing Investigations into the Lives and Minds of Ravens

In "Mind of the Raven", biologist Bernd Heinrich delves into the behavior of ravens as individuals who might have a conscious choice, as opposed to taking a strictly behavioral ecologist perspective of those behaviors as being simply the results of evolutionary necessity. Heinrich strives to share the insight into the world of ravens which he gained over the course of nearly a decade of studying and interacting with ravens, both wild and captive, at his Vermont and Maine homes. "Mind of the Raven" isn't confined to the birds' intelligence or consciousness, although chapters on these fascinating and controversial subjects are included. The "mind" of the book's title encompasses all behavior and experience in these birds' lives. Heinrich details innumerable observations and experiments which he conducted on the subjects of raven feeding and educating their young, cooperation, hunting, adoption, dominance, sensory perception, individual recognition, communication, fears, interaction with other animals, caching, deception, play, intelligence, and emotions. Heinrich seems to possess an insatiable -and infectious- curiosity about these magnificent birds, which is demonstrated in his exhausting and endlessly inventive experiments. Heinrich's studies are as controlled and straightforward as possible. And although they sometimes raise more questions than they answer, they never fail to entertain or to impress the reader with the complexity and variety of raven personalities. It's nice to read a book by a scientist who has such an enthusiasm for his field of study, as well as genuine affection for his subjects. "Mind of the Raven" is a very readable broad account of the lives and minds of these large, clever corvids that have so populated human folklore and experience for thousands of years. I recommend it to any bird-lover, and those who have occasion to observe ravens will find Bernd Heinrich's insights especially interesting.

A wonderful wonderful book

Living in the mountains of colorado, I first became aware of ravens when one followed while I was tracking elk in the back country. It followed me, flying along tree to tree, "talking" to me, cocking its head as if waiting for a reply. With that introduction, I started noticing other odd behavior... huge flocks wheeling, and playing with each other... mimicry of the calls of raptors... and so forth.I saw this book, and thought: its about time I learn something about the minds of these animals. Why do they do what they do? Well ravens are more interesting than I thought. Makes one wonder why social scavenger-hunters (humans, coyotes, ravens) turn out so clever regardless of where they pop out of the animal kingdom.BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANT... Prof. Heinrich's narrative is totally engaging and entertaining. I found myself laughing over and over gain as he quietly dropped comments about famous ornithologists that have died climbing trees, or the risks involved in demonstrating which bumblebees are edible to one's experimental charges (ie showing young ravens what's good to eat). It becomes very clear ethologists are an interesting species in themselves.If you're interested in birds, or have ravens around, or generally interested in experimental ethology: this one is among the best

Mind of the Raven" is thought-provoking, comfortable reading

To compare this book to Heinrich's "A Year in the Maine Woods", is to compare apples to oranges. "Mind of the Raven" is more, a continuation of the thought-provoking analysis the author began in his earlier work, "Ravens in Winter". "Mind of the Raven" carries us many steps farther in understanding, as an intriguing account of the on-going evaluation of these impressive birds' mental agility and singular place in nature. Heinrich takes us not only to the woods of Maine, but to Germany, California, the Artic, and Yellowstone Park, while he examines those qualities which define Ravens as a unique but adaptive species in a changing environment. Heinrich shares with us the scientific and personal experiences which reveal Ravens both as individuals, and as members of a complex but flexible social order scientists are only begining to understand. "Mind of the Raven" is not a dry, technical journal, and while not "light" reading, it is certainly comfortable reading. Heinrich's writing style is refreshingly "open". The book is, in the end, as revealing about the process of scientific fieldwork, success and failure, and the perserverance of an inquisitive mind as it is about Ravens. I would recommend "Mind of the Raven" to anyone interested in the continuing studies of animal intellect and behavior. Additionally, I heartily recommend it to mature young adults with an exceptional interest in these study areas. Heinrich's book reveals that while travel, and many hours of observation in "tight places" may be required to answer particular questions within a given field of science, a great deal may also be learned in our own backyards, with patience and an eye for detail.

Thus quoth the raven: QUORK! You go, Bernd Heinrich!

In this book, Mr. Heinrich does it again, with his apt, close-up observations of raven behavior that leave the mind in wonder at these most graceful, important birds. Why important? Read the book!As a wildlife rehabilitator and one who has been in the process of attempting to release an imprinted raven to the wilds, I have witnessed in this bird, many of the behaviors described by Mr. Heinrich, as he applies them to the eastern / northern subspecies of Corvus corax, called C.c. principalis. Since I am on the west coast and dealing with the smaller subspecies, C.c. sinuatus, I can only surmise that the behaviors he ascribes to his eastern broods are going to be similar to my western friends. Though indeed they are, I must also keep in mind that just as certain jay species have certain geographical dialects, so ravens must also, and this variable can also apply to behavior.Thank you, Bernd Heinrich, for publishing this wonderful work!I am in the midst of reading it and find it extremely valuable to my own studies and am consisistently engrossed and enthralled, entertained and educated, by your observations put into writing. As with Ravens In Winter, I am finding Mind of the Raven intensely gratifying in answering some of my questions and equally surprising in discovering that there is still so much more we need to learn about ravens as a species and corvids as a whole. Indeed, we can also learn something of ourselves, somehow. . .