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Conversations With Cosmo: At Home With An African Grey Parrot (2010)

by Betty Jean Craige(Favorite Author)

3.52 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

189093237X (ISBN13: 9781890932374)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Sherman Asher Publishing

review 1: This was an easy read and had a lot of good information about the pros and cons of getting a parrot. It was NOT, however, a scientific study about language, it's just one woman's experience in working with a language trained parrot. She seems a pleasant and caring woman, but I had a few issues with this book.The author's presentation really makes her seem more obsessed with this parrot than a simple, yet strong, pet-human bond. A few points I arched my my eyebrow and thought, "is that really what you meant to say?" She talks about tongue kissing her parrot and how the "children really like when I kiss her." Yeah, a few awkward moments in this book. I thought this was the parrot that could name colors and shapes and had a much larger vocabulary. The bird in this book... more learned an impressive amount of phrases and words, but not through any deliberate experimentation. The author simply gives her account of what the bird learned and how. That's great for them, but it's really just a memoir, albeit an interesting one.
review 2: An easy read about a topic I find fascinating -- animal intelligence. A few years ago I read "Alex and Me" about an African Grey parrot who was essentially learning to decode sounds (aka reading words). He was using language not just to "parrot" comments made in his presence but to make requests, answer questions and it would seem express himself. Unlike that author, this author is not a scientist. This This is more of a personal account about a woman's experience with an African Grey. Easy read and fun. less

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