Parrots are known for their ability to mimic many different sounds, but they also use tools to eat. Readers will learn all this and more, including how some male parrots use tools to attract a mate.

Introduces readers to the intelligence of octopuses, providing examples of why they are considered supersmart.

Dolphins have long memories and make special clicking sounds to help them get around underwater. Readers will discover all this and then some, including the amazing way that dolphins tell one another apart!

Elephants have memories that can last a lifetime and amazing communication skills. Readers will learn all about how elephants communicate, work as a group to protect their young, and more.

Orangutans use sticks as tools and communicate using at least 32 different sounds! Readers will discover this and more, including how orangutans build themselves amazing nests in their forest homes.

Donald (psychology, Queen's University, Canada) challenges the prevailing view that seeks to explain away human consciousness and presents a theory on the origins of the modern mind. He describes the cultural and neuronal forces that power human modes of awareness, and proposes that the human mind is a hybrid product of the interweaving of the brain with an invisible symbolic web of culture to form a "distributed" cognitive network. Using evidence from brain and behavioral studies of humans and animals, he explains how an expansion of consciousness transcends the limitations of the mammalian mind, and elaborates the foundations of self-evaluation and self-reflection. c. Book News Inc.