The remarkable story of how evolution built minds-and how ours became extraordinary
Why do dogs say hello, but never goodbye?
What makes baby penguins think the first animal they see is their mother?
Why are bonobos impulsive while chimpanzees show restraint?
And what does all this tell us about how humans think?
In The Thinking Animal, Nichola Raihani explores one of science’s most enduring questions: how did evolution build minds? Drawing on the latest discoveries in psychology, neuroscience and animal behaviour, Raihani reveals how intelligence has evolved across the animal kingdom, and how the human mind became so distinctive.
From elephants keeping vigil over their dead to ants counting their steps and chickadees remembering where they stored thousands of seeds, Raihani shows that evolution has produced many different forms of intelligence. Along the way, she overturns some of our most enduring myths about the mind, changing how we think about intelligence-and the minds of other animals.
The result is a new understanding of intelligence, evolution and what makes us human. By illuminating both the continuities and crucial differences between human and animal minds, The Thinking Animal offers a new perspective on the evolutionary origins of the human mind.
Praise for The Social Instinct:
‘Surprising, thoughtful and endlessly entertaining’ WILL STORR
‘Phenomenally important… Nichola Raihani will change the way we think about ourselves’ LEWIS DARTNELL
‘A superb book about how important cooperation is’ ALICE ROBERTS
‘A pleasing juxtaposition of insightful scientific theory with illuminating anecdotes’ RICHARD DAWKINS
Why do dogs say hello, but never goodbye?
What makes baby penguins think the first animal they see is their mother?
Why are bonobos impulsive while chimpanzees show restraint?
And what does all this tell us about how humans think?
In The Thinking Animal, Nichola Raihani explores one of science’s most enduring questions: how did evolution build minds? Drawing on the latest discoveries in psychology, neuroscience and animal behaviour, Raihani reveals how intelligence has evolved across the animal kingdom, and how the human mind became so distinctive.
From elephants keeping vigil over their dead to ants counting their steps and chickadees remembering where they stored thousands of seeds, Raihani shows that evolution has produced many different forms of intelligence. Along the way, she overturns some of our most enduring myths about the mind, changing how we think about intelligence-and the minds of other animals.
The result is a new understanding of intelligence, evolution and what makes us human. By illuminating both the continuities and crucial differences between human and animal minds, The Thinking Animal offers a new perspective on the evolutionary origins of the human mind.
Praise for The Social Instinct:
‘Surprising, thoughtful and endlessly entertaining’ WILL STORR
‘Phenomenally important… Nichola Raihani will change the way we think about ourselves’ LEWIS DARTNELL
‘A superb book about how important cooperation is’ ALICE ROBERTS
‘A pleasing juxtaposition of insightful scientific theory with illuminating anecdotes’ RICHARD DAWKINS
Reviews
The Thinking Animal is consistently fascinating and utterly absorbing. Every page contains an awe-inspiring insight. I will never look at other animals' minds, or my own, in quite the same way
This brilliant book will change how you think about animal minds, and your own. Melding the latest research on a huge range of animals with a skeptical eye and humour, Nichola Raihani has made a great breakthough in explaining why animals - and humans - behave the way they do. I am so jealous - I really wish I had written this sparkling book! Very highly recommended