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- OK, I get it. Can we move on ... please ... PLEASE
- More about studying intelligence than animals
- "My dog's smarter than your dog...he's part of our family too!"
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- Frustratingly Interesting
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Clever as a Fox: Animal Intelligence and What It Can Teach Us about Ourselves
Sonja I. Yoerg
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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ASIN: 0674008707 |
Book Description
Dogs are smarter than cats, dolphins and chimps are more clever than both, and we who determine the rankings top the scale--or so we think. But are we thinking clearly? To appreciate the mental abilities of the owl and the pussycat, the tortoise and the hare, requires a commitment to unraveling the nature of intelligence--a tricky and controversial proposition that Sonja Yoerg sets out to explore in this learned, lucid, and entertaining book about our complicated, often erroneous notions about animal intelligence.
With forays into evolutionary biology, behavioral science, and comparative psychology, Clever as a Fox reveals the promise and pitfalls inherent in any attempt to assess animal intelligence. Along with the concepts we deploy to define and compare intelligence, Yoerg looks at the expectations and prejudices that cloud our judgment of the animal mind, perceptions shaped as much by Aesop and Disney as by direct observation of our fellow creatures. And because such perceptions are inextricably linked with judgments of value--ideas about animal mentality have much to do with which species end up on our laps and which on our plates--this deeply revealing look at how we think about animal intelligence should help us use our own intelligence more wisely.
Customer Reviews:
OK, I get it. Can we move on ... please ... PLEASE.......2007-07-02
This was a very unpleasant read. I expected a book that would advocate a viewpoint of animal intelligence. Instead, it was a poorly rendered, highly defensive critique of various research, in places approaching a rant.
I felt I was being pounded with examples that were not adequately organized nor presented in an interesting fashion. At various points, the author was dismissive about examples that I didn't feel she had established a basis for, leading me to wonder if the author was not indulging in her own unstated biases.
What I felt were good points were shorted, and occurred so far back in the book that they aren't worth enduring what comes before.
More about studying intelligence than animals.......2006-01-06
This book wasnt quite what I expected. One basic theme of the book, we can all agree on: that there are many problems and hurdles to jump over before we can clearly define intelligence. She believes that misconceptions about a chain of intelligence (that is: the order of insects, fishes, birds, dog, monkey leading up to humans)caused by the media and our own arrogance have inhibited the study of intelligence. When comparing different kinds of intelligence and which animals excel, she proves her point quite clearly. For example is a certain kind of spider (Portia) smarter than Fido??
I did read up on some new studies, which I had not known before despite the fact Ive read quite a few animal behavior studies myself. Please note that only part (half?) of the book may deal with animal intelligence studies. The rest deals with intelligence itself, the history of studying intelligence, and its complications.
I truthfully found the author to be rather snooty in her writing. For instance, she dismisses vegetarians as people who believe animals are like cute Beatrice Potter characters dressed as people. This is pretty condescending to me! Also for one who is challenging pre conceived notions about animal intelligence, she certainly has her own regarding the animals she eats. Still, I would reccomend the book if only to enlighten yourself on Yoerg's main point: We need to dismantle the Chain of Intelligence and take a good look at each animal's mental capacity without bias. Only then can we look at our own intelligence objectively.
"My dog's smarter than your dog...he's part of our family too!".......2005-11-26
"Clever As A Fox," Sonja Yoerg, VA, Bloomsbury, 2001 ISBN 1-58234-115-X, HC, 208 pg. plus 14 pg. Bibio., 6 pg. Index. 9 1/2" x 6 1/4"
Dr.Yoerg (PhD in bio-psych., Berkeley) has researched, written & lectured on behavioral dynamics of animals. The book's title is apropos to it's contents as she discourses in well-executed prose -- the "Chain of Being" relative to the 'scala naturae' of Man's perceived cognitive abilities of animals in great depth -- covering species we've come to know and love the best: dogs, cats, birds, pigs, but also frogs, fish, foxes, finches, and the mammal "Flipper" to mention a few.
The author has wonderful command of writing, using those splendid explanatives, idioms and speach idiosyncrasies which can make mundane observations exciting & memorable, and it is testimony to the insight she has into the instinct, intelligience & learning patterns of animals both within their clan, species and between species, & the treatise is sprinkled with worthy commentaries on anthropomorphism & historical perspectives on the ever-changing study of the domain of animal behavior & cognition as it may apply to humans. It is a pleasant read.
A"Great Read" for a scientific overview.......2001-08-20
I purchased Ms. Yoerg's book in San Diego (her hometown). Little did I know that I bought a signed copy! I felt the book was very interesting, and written with great wit. Ms. Yoerg knows her stuff, and has done extensive research in her field. I found her animal/insect comparisions informative, and quite funny (you'll know what I mean when you read about Portia, the spider). I am currently an undergraduate, and will be using her book for some of my research. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a good overview of animal behavior and intelligence.
Frustratingly Interesting.......2001-07-19
The author challenges a number of traditional assumptions about the nature of intelligence and about our ability to 'rate' the intelligence of various animals based on our preconceived notions of either 'great chain of being' thinking or on a Darwinian evolutionay model. Why, she asks, do we rate behaviors that appear equally sophisticated as indicative of different degrees of intelligence (or non-intelligent instinctual reactions) based not on the behaviors themselves but on the 'type' of animals that exhibit them. We are far more likely to give a primate credit for exhibiting problem solving ability than we are to a scrub jay even though both routinely perform very similar actions. In addition the author offers a wide variety of ancedotal evidence for intelligence among species that normally are not regarded as being among the sharpest knives in the drawer. She also quesitons the various defintions of 'intelligence' concluding that although we use the word and think we can understand it, none of us can really offer an adequate defintion. And it is herein that my frustration lies. Our author raises a lot of questions and debunks a lot of myths. But I am left, after reading the book, asking myself exactly what MORE do I know now about animal intelligence than I did before. Perhaps I should, like Socrates, be happy just to become more knowledgeable of my own ignorance, but, to be honest, I want to know more about what THIS author thinks are some answers to the very questions she's raised.
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Global Optimization with Non-Convex Constraints - Sequential and Parallel Algorithms (Nonconvex Optimization and its Applications Volume 45) (Nonconvex Optimization and Its Applications)
R.G. Strongin , and
Y.D. Sergeyev
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 0792364902 |
Book Description
This book presents a new approach to global non-convex constrained optimization. Problem dimensionality is reduced via space-filling curves. To economize the search, constraint is accounted separately (penalties are not employed). The multicriteria case is also considered. All techniques are generalized for (non-redundant) execution on multiprocessor systems. Audience: Researchers and students working in optimization, applied mathematics, and computer science.
Average customer rating:
- Doesn't meet its goal, but doesn't fail to entertain either
- Lighten up people
- Not Lovecraftian Writing.
- not as exciting as the cover would make it appear
- Modern Mythos Inspired by HPL
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The Children of Cthulhu
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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Similar Items:
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Cthulhu 2000
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Tales of the Lovecraft Mythos
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Shadows over Innsmouth
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The Quest for Cthulhu (Carroll & Graf Science Fiction)
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The New Lovecraft Circle
ASIN: 0345441087
Release Date: 2003-04-29 |
Amazon.com
While H.P. Lovecraft himself encouraged other authors to expand his horrific universe with stories of their own, the Cthulhu mythos has spawned so many slavish imitators that it tends not to seem so scary these days. Editors John Pelan and Benjamin Adams seek to remedy that with The Children of Cthulhu, an anthology of 21 stories by modern macabre masters. Contributors were asked to avoid trotting out old Lovecraftian clichés and instead to write stories that bring the true horror of Cthulhu right into the modern world. The results are mostly terrific. Offerings from Poppy Z. Brite ("Are You Loathsome Tonight?"), Caitlín R. Kiernan ("Nor the Demons Down Under the Sea"), China Miéville ("Details"), and L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims ("A Victorian Pot Dresser") are the best of the bunch. Many of the stories are reminiscent of the Vertigo line of DC Comics, with dark, urban settings and gross-out violence, so the book is more likely to appeal to readers of contemporary horror than to fans of classic Lovecraft. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Descend to the depths of primal horror with this chilling collection of original stories drawn from H. P. Lovecraft’s shocking, terrifying, and eerily prescient
Cthulhu Mythos. In twenty-one dark visions, a host of outstanding contemporary writers tap into our innermost fears, with tales set in a misbegotten new world that could have been spawned only by the master of the macabre himself, H. P. Lovecraft. Inside you’ll find:
DETAILS by China Miéville: A curious boy discovers that within the splinters of cracked wood or the tangle of tree branches, the devil is in the details.
VISITATION by James Robert Smith: When Edgar Allan Poe arrives, a callow man finally gets what he always wanted—and what he may eternally despise.
MEET ME ON THE OTHER SIDE by Yvonne Navarro: A couple in love with terror travels beyond their wildest dreams—and into their nightmares.
A FATAL EXCEPTION HAS OCCURRED AT . . . by Alan Dean Foster: Internet terrorism extends far beyond transmitting threats of evil.
AND SEVENTEEN MORE HARROWING TALES
Download Description
Descend to the depths of primal horror with this chilling collection of original stories drawn from H. P. Lovecraft's shocking, terrifying, and eerily prescient Cthulhu mythos.
In twenty-one dark visions, a host of outstanding contemporary writers tap into our innermost fears, with tales set in a misbegotten new world that could have been spawned only by the master of the macabre himself, H. P. Lovecraft.
Inside you'll find:
- Details by China Mièville: A curious boy discovers that within the splinters of cracked wood or the tangle of tree branches, the devil is in the details.
- Visitation by James Robert Smith: When Edgar Allan Poe arrives, a callow man finally gets what he always wanted and what he may eternally despise.
- Meet Me on the Other Side by Yvonne Navarro: A couple in love with terror travels beyond their wildest dreams and into their nightmares.
- A Fatal Exception Has Occurred At... by Alan Dean Foster: Internet terrorism extends far beyond transmitting threats of evil.
- Dark of the Moon by James Dorr: A cosmonaut watches helplessly as her husband walks on the surface of the moon into inescapable horror.
- Spectacle of a Man by Weston Ochse: Crucifixion becomes a seductive maelstrom of madness with this postmodern twist on an ancient torture.
The true horror of Lovecraft's extraordinary fiction lies in the unknown. He beguiles us with very real worlds filled with sheer terror, which lie just beyond comprehension. Children of Cthulhu features twenty-one modern masters who bring Lovecraft's original ideas and stark images roaring into the twenty-first century in all their grisly, godless glory.
Customer Reviews:
Doesn't meet its goal, but doesn't fail to entertain either.......2007-10-04
The aim of this anthology was to take Lovecraft's ideas into new realms (as the introduction puts it, the Mythos aren't something that need fixing, but that doesn't mean you can't play with them). While it's certainly not pastiche & has some clever moments, this collection doesn't quite succeed in taking the Mythos to brand-new places. Many of the stories follow tried-and-true Lovecraft conventions too closely. That's not necessarily a bad thing; they're still entertaining, but not what the book promises. Some others do succeed in escaping the boundaries of Lovecraft while keeping essential Mythos ideas intact. It's too bad they all didn't.
I would certainly recommend giving it a read (I found it at my local library) but don't expect it to be a revolutionary collection.
Lighten up people.......2007-04-04
After reading these mostly scathing reviews I have only to say...look above. Sure, some of these stories were somewhat trivial (Alan Dean Foster really tanked)but the point is entertainment. As Lovecraft himself often stated "These pieces are for my and friends amusement". "Details" was wonderful, for Lovecraft veterans (35 years in my case) read and enjoy, and move on. By the way, to all the people trashing this book...when was the last time YOU had something published?
smile.
Not Lovecraftian Writing........2006-11-10
H.P. Lovecraft had a very powerful, dignified way of telling a story that appears nowhere in The Children of Cthulhu. Every one of these tales dabbles in Lovecraft's brilliant world, but they completely fail to evoke it. Nothing truly new is contributed, and a bunch of familiar Lovecraft ideas are recycled and bandied about. The style is wrong, the atmosphere is wrong, and the characters are not motivated by what drove Lovecraft's main protagonists - namely wonder, and a powerful preocupation with the bizarre.
Lovecraft wrote like a gentleman of the 17th century, scientific and cold, and most of his main characters are like him. None of the contributers to The Children of Cthulhu create characters this way, most of them being very ordinary, somewhat uninteresting people. Lovecraft felt that if characters in a weird story weren't motivated by extreme aversion to the ordinary world, or a fascination with the unusual, then the story wasn't really weird. None of the stories in this volume feel Lovecraftian in this sense, containing characters of a very ordinary motivation.
Alan Dean Foster's story, for example, is about a man who threatens to print the Necronomicon (Lovecraft's fictional book of elder horrors) over the internet. His motivation? Money. No insanity, no aversion to all normal life, no cosmic fear, just money. Lovecraft himself would be disgusted.
Nothing new is revealed about Lovecraft's universe, and the story doesn't show anything truly different or unusual his ideas. None of the others do, either. We hear alot of Lovecraft references, but seldom see any. The authors mostly seem content just to hint at Lovecraft's monsters without holding any up to the light directly. Too much talking, too much character, not enough weird ideas.
In the introduction, the editors complain that most writers don't understand Lovecraft's Mythos, that most of them miss what Lovecraft was really trying to say. Then they give us a whole book of writers who don't understand it. Even the great Stephen King, who declared himself to be profoundly influenced by Lovecraft, doesn't get it right. King wrote a short story called Crouch End, which, although it doesn't appear in this volume, was set in Lovecraft's universe. Even this story completely fails to capture that sense of the grand, the terrible, that Lovecraft was seeking to create.
Why can't anyone in this volume - or anywhere else - capture the essence of a Lovecraft story? I think it's because modern writing emphasizes character work and plot too much. For Lovecraft, as China Mieville says, character and plot were simply not the point. "The point is the weird." (China Mieville, weirdly enough, contributes the first story to The Children of Cthulhu, and he too completely fails to understand the point of Lovecraft. The story lacks taste and power. Even those who "understand"
Lovecraft's vision don't really understand it.)
Most of the stories in Children of Cthulhu are plot-heavy and character-heavy. But Lovecraft proved many times that it's possible to create narratives with virtually no character work or plot at all, and still create a smashing good story. Why don't other people get this? It's all in the ideas. If your ideas are awesome enough, Lovecraft felt you could create an INCREDIBLE story. People today seem to have no shortage of characters to write about, but they have a remarkable shortage of brilliantly original ideas. Perhaps the only one who could really write like Lovecraft was Lovecraft himself.
not as exciting as the cover would make it appear.......2006-08-26
Though I have only become acquainted with the Lovecraft universe/Cthulhu Mythos in the past year, and though I was greatly looking forward to delving into this collection when I discovered it, I really feel that this particular collection falls short. Devotees to the mythos that enjoy any story with any mention of the Lovecraftian place-names, characters, or phenomena will no doubt enjoy this volume for trivia-compiling purposes, but I found the stories within to be mediocre at best and occasionally downright laughable. These stories will most likely not be enjoyable to most readers.
The few bright spots (perhaps, less dim spots) include China Mieville's "Details", though even this seems to fall rather far from the mark set by his other work. A large portion of the others are just silly or seem to depend entirely on the final single-line zinger for horrific affect.
I would strongly suggest that those new to Lovecraft, and in search of more of this type of literature, seek out volumes such as "Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos" or any of the fine works by Thomas Ligotti. If you are determined to read this particular collection, please do not pay more than 3 dollars for it in a used bookstore.
Modern Mythos Inspired by HPL.......2006-06-09
The problem with reviewing books in this genre is that usually you've read a lot of them. And I mean a lot. After you've read 20 or so Mythos anthologies, they all blend together. You already know what you're getting before you open the book. Not that it's a bad thing; you are after all buying a very specific niche and there's not a lot of unmapped parameter space. Maybe it's just nice to evoke the spirit of the Old Man once again. Definitely understand that CHILDREN OF CTHULHU is a good collection of good stories. In the new millenium, the Old Ones are new again...
Some of the stories are fairly predictable, like "Red Clay", "The Victorian Pot Dresser", and "The Cabin in the Woods". Some were able to evoke the spirit of HPL while standing on their own as a creepy tale, like "The Invisible Empire", "Details" and "Long Meg and Her Daughters" (the imagery in this story was VERY disturbing - and here I thought I was getting jaded), intentionally or unintentionally amusing like "A Fatal Exception has Occurred at...", and sometimes just very confusing (I won't name names here). Poppy Z Brite had an original composition in "Are you Loathsome Tonight?" I would have bet money it would be a romantic comedy involving Deep Ones. No, it's a short piece on Elvis. You really have to read it to believe it.
So, in the end, is this anthology worth your time and money? The writing quality is high, many of the ideas are original (if oddly developed?) or at least subtle in their derivation. And like anyone who has encountered the NECRONOMICON in some dusty bookshop, my final words are "What could it hurt?"
Product Description
A long solo scenario apposing the children of the night. 666 numbered entries guide you on your descent into insanity. Headless horsemen, mad scientists, haunts and spirits of every type , and ......something worse. A darkling nightmare from beyond the stars rises, this Halloween night.
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|
The Children of Cthulhu
John & Benjamin Adams (editors), Matt Cardin, Poppy Brite, Alan Dean Foster, Caitlin Kiernan, China Mieville, Tim Lebbon, Yvonne Navaro, W.H. Pugmire, Steve Rasnic Tem, Mark Chadbourn, James Dorr, Paul Finch, Richard Laymon, Brian Hodge, et al Pelan
Manufacturer: Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000P0W39Q |
Customer Reviews:
Just another fish story.......2006-03-11
There's a lot of Innsmouth fiction out there. This is not the best.
That having been said, I still think this collection has a lot to recommend itself. First up to bat is "The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth", written by John Glasby using the notes for the original draft by HPL. I have to admit that I was very excited about this. It's the same story but significantly different, and not necessarily worse. "The Doom that Came to Innsmouth" is a sick little tale about a modern hybrid getting back to his roots. If the reader was sympathetic to Olmstead's character, you will not be towards this anti-hero. Deep Ones have very little respect for our humanity and it shows.
"The Old Ones' Signs" was pretty good until the end; it covers the period when Captain Marsh was still sailing and encountered the Kanakas. The story is told from the perspective of an old Yankee sailor, and the author resists the urge to bequeath him any modern conceits (until the very end). CJ Henderson tells an occult detective tale in "Fleas of the Dragon" - I'm not really a fan of this kind of self-aware story, but he is a well-known author in Mythos circles. "The Idol" by Scott David Aniolowski also appeared in DISCIPLES OF CTHULHU II, Stanley Sargent's "Just a Tad Beyond Innsmouth" appeared in Mythos Online Issue #3, and another story by Sargent "Trust Me" appeared in Mythos Online Issue #2. I was a little disappointed that I had read all of these before. "Day of the Deep Ones" is a bit of satire about Frank Belknap Long and, according to Price, is meant to parody that fan club while mixing in some actual convention occurrences. Much like the similar satire in "The Undercliffe Sentences", if you are not a hyper-fan the humor will be lost on you.
There are 13 stories altogether and only the one using Lovecraft's oringinal draft for the Innsmouth story stood out. The rest are of average quality and are probably worth buying if you are a fan of Innsmouth.
**Incidentally, I think the best Innsmouth fiction is in SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH by Del Rey
mostly for the people into pulp.......2003-04-09
that's right. subtle changes, a few details. this can be interesting for a pulp fan, but not much for us whp just like good stories. some stories were almost interesting, but were for different reasons hard to digest (like these supernatural investigators in old detective novel style). some of the stories really lacked suspence. ah, they come by the thousand. get the uzi. no, that's more of a script for an action movie. i like good pulp. this is not agood collection
Ia! Ia! DAGON Y'ha-nthlei !.......2003-02-13
Tales Out of Innsmouth (New Stories of the Children of Dagon), is definitely a book worth adding to your library. Ever since Lovecraft started with his weird stories of cosmic evil, all things "Cthulhu" is now a genre unto itself (also check out "Cthulhu 2000"). In Tales, there are thirteen creepy stories in this edition, compiled and edited by the great Robert Price. My favorite was "The Doom That Came to Innsmouth" by Brian McNaughton. Some of my other favorites were "The Old Ones' Signs", by Pierre Comtois, and of course the "The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth" that was Lovecraft's original tale rewritten (and pardon the pun, fleshed out), by John S. Glasby. All the stories are written in a fresh new voice with thrilling realism. A must must buy! Also check out the video "Dagon" made by the director of "Re-animator," Stuart Gordon. Ia! Ia!
suprisingly good........2000-04-17
I really like short stories. In fact, I absolutely love short stories. I love horror, I love fantasy, and there's a really good reason that every book I've ever reviewed has been an anthology collection of horror or fantasy short stories.
Sadly, 'Tales out of Innsmouth' was not a book that I thought that I would get into. I decided to give it a chance, but things didn't look good from the outset. I've played CoC for years, I've gobbled down every book on, by, or about Lovecraft that I could lay my hands on, I know most of the Old Ones on a first name basis, and quite frankly, the Deep Ones, Dagon's hideous children and the inhabitants of shadowed Innsmouth have never seemed to do to much for me.
Until now.
From editor Robert M. Price's masterful introductory essay "The One That Got Away", 'Tales out of Innsmouth' is just one pleasant surprise after another. Every tale and short story in the book is a unique and intriguing look at some facet of the Deep Ones - the whole book is an experience in redefining one of the best known critters in Lovecraft's universe.
The most intriguing part of the book, in my opinion, is John Glasby's reworking of Lovecraft's original notes for the story that would introduce the Deep One's to his mythos. Entitled "The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth", this strange take on Lovecraft's vision shows what could have been, and is lots of fun for a faithful reader of Lovecraft's work who may feel like they've read it all.
Other stories, particularly Gregory Luce's cinematic "The Deep End", Scott David Aniolowski's unique take on "The Idol", Brian McNaughton's horrific "The Doom that Came to Innsmouth", and the hilarious "It Was The Day of the Deep One" by Peter H. Cannon, make this book well worth a look. Players and Keeprs alike who want to add a new dimension to their Call of Cthulhu games with more fleshed out Deep Ones should invest in this book, and even folks who just dig a good horror story will undoubtedly find a lot to love about this book. Lovecraft would be proud.
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- Discourse, Tools and Reasoning: Essays on Situated Cognition (NATO ASI Series / Computer and Systems Sciences)
- Ecology and Genetics of Host-Parasite Interactions (Linnean Society Symposium Series, No 11)
- Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Multiscale Assessments: Findings of the Sub-Global Assessments Working Group (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Series)
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