The Parrot's Lament - by Eugene Linden (Paperback)

About the Book

In "The Parrot's Lament", noted environmentalist Eugene Linden offers more than 100 true anecdotes about animal acts of cooperation, heroism, escape--even tales of deception or manipulation of human beings.

Book Synopsis

A gorilla shrewdly sells back a missing key chain to the highest bidder. An orangutan picks a lock to let himself out of his zoo enclosure and two elephants adopt a tag-team strategy to keep their handlers from putting them back into theirs.

In The Parrot's Lament, noted environmentalist Eugene Linden offers more than one hundred true anecdotes about animal acts of cooperation, heroism, escape--even tales of deception or manipulation of human beings. Drawing on the first-person experiences of veterinarians, field biologists, researchers, and trainers, Linden has compiled a warmly entertaining and powerfully persuasive argument for animal consciousness that, while not human, far exceeds what humans usually grant animals.

Scientifically sound and emotionally compelling, The Parrot's Lament contains remarkable stories that are sure to resonate with animal lovers, turning skeptics everywhere into believers.

Review Quotes

"Linden reveals how animals demonstrate aspects of intelligence as they escape from, cheat and outfox humans."--TIME

"[Linden's] incisive prose turns even these non-human scoundrels into endearing subjects."--The New York Times Book Review

"Satisfying, sentimental but still scientifically solid. The science of consciousness and animal intelligence is contentious, but many in the field--Linden included--deeply suspect that animals know more than we can verify. Linden lays down the science with clarity and good humor, but he leaves it to his animal coauthors, the amorous dolphins, escape-artist orangs, enigmatic cats, and lying hyenas that populate the book's scores of anecdotes, to make his argument."--Paul Hughes

"Since the 1970s, Linden (Apes, Men and Language) has argued that many animals possess humanlike intelligence. Here, he drives that point home by presenting more than 100 anecdotes... Linden's sources include vets, trainers, zookeepers, field biologists and researchers... If the scientific community remains skeptical about the quality of animal intelligence, Linden leaves no doubt about where he stands. He accepts evidence of animal consciousness and, at the end of his brisk, detailed report, so will many readers."--Publishers Weekly

"Stories that reveal evidence of the consciousness of their animal subjects, set into the context of what is scientifically known about animal cognition... A compelling argument in favor of consciousness in animals."--Nancy Bent, Booklist

"Linden keeps the anecdotes short and sweet, and, thankfully, taps into those untold rather than recycling the same stories about apes saving human toddlers and elephants enjoying sunsets.... Most of all, these stories suggest a range of possibilities in animal awareness and feeling that signal the caring respect to be awarded any creature. Animals are an indicator species, Linden suggests, so take a look: how we treat them reflects how we treat everything else."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Eugene Linden is an award-winning journalist and the author of The Parrot's Lament, The Future in Plain Sight, Silent Partners, and other books on animals and the environment. He has consulted for the U.S. State Department, the UN Development Program, and he is a widely traveled speaker and lecturer. Yale University named Linden a Poynter Fellow in recognition of his writing on the environment. He lives in Nyack, New York, and Washington, D.C.