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 observing them in their natural habitat. He studies their daily routines, and in the process, paints a vivid picture of the ravens’ world. At the heart of this book are Heinrich’s love and respect … respect for these complex and engaging creatures, and through his keen observation and analysis, we become their intimates too.
Heinrich’s passion for ravens has led him around the world in his research. Mind of the Raven follows an exotic journey—from New England to Germany, and from Montana to Baffin Island in the high Arctic—offering dazzling accounts of how science works in the field, filtered through the eyes of a passionate observer of nature. Each new discovery and insight into raven behavior is thrilling to read, at once lyrical and scientific.
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Readers will follow Bernd Heinrich as he performs various studies to better understand the behavior of ravens. Each chapter is set to undertake a different angle of study. For every experiment performed, there is information on the tools used and different theories that were presented throughout the experiments.
Taking a look into the life of a …
I recently became interested in ravens. I read a few books on the subject, but this book was by far the best. It is well written and fascinating. Highly recommended.
Fascinating birds
I expected more raven antics. This is more of a chronology of raven raising. Rather dull and long.
I love birds but blackbirds are my favorite especially the inimitable raven. They are smartest creature in sky. They’ve been around since dinosaurs so they’ve learned vast knowledge. This book explores that information.
Gave me a vast new respect for ravens. What fascinatingly unique creatures they are. The author taught me to listen to their differing cries and calls, with the hope of comprehension.
I loved reading this …
repetative
Lots of tiny details.
Very cool exploration of Raven behavior and personality. Well written from his personal experiences. A piece of non-fiction I could not put down.
This is the best nonfiction book I’ve read in a long time. Very readable, and a fascinating topic (ravens).
I didn’t know ravens were so intelligently interesting.
Fascinating autobiograpy in animal ethology. This guy lived with ravens, kidnapping nestlings and raising them by hand, so that he could plumb their powerful minds. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll really like this.
The author occasionally gets a bit too deep in the weeds with his reports of exhaustive scientific method, but he’s a wonderful observer of wildlife and an intrepid collector of details and odd Corvine behavior, handler of carcasses and climber of trees. Both he and the ravens are wonderful characters.
Very interesting.
informative and interesting
The best book about hands-on interaction with birds since Niko Tinbergen’s “The Herring Gull’s World”. Julie Zickefoose’s “The Bluebird Effect” is also in the top five.
Lost Interest
Great background in birds being VERY smart.
We benefit from the life’s work of this author. You gotta luv these birds.
Very interesting inside the brains of Ravens and Crows. They’re more like humans than we think.