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| 'Alex and Me' by Irene M. Pepperberg (Scribe, 2013) |
'Alex and Me' is the true story of one woman and her parrot, a very special African Grey called Alex. Dr Pepperberg began as a chemist, but her lifelong love of parrots inspired her to develop an interest in animal cognition and, in particular, whether parrots could acquire language. Encouraged by contemporary studies on ape communication, in 1977 she hatched a plan to study Alex and see if birds were capable of more than just mimicry. Although the scientific community thought Dr Pepperberg was out of her tree, Alex proved time and again that he was more than just a bird brain. Over a 30 year career, Alex astonished researchers and challenged long held assumptions about language and humanity. But it was far from an easy ride. This is a story of how one scientist and one ball of feathers followed their instincts and overcame the odds to change accepted theories for good.
Alex is probably already a familar character to anyone who has studied English and language acquisition. I first heard about him while studying for an A Level in English Language, so got very excited when I saw this book on the list for review. But don't worry that this is a text book, far from it. Although the science does have to be explained, it's done with care to ensure the lay reader doesn't get lost.
This book will appeal to animal lovers as well as language nerds. Although written by a scientist, Dr Pepperberg clearly loves her feathered friends and her affinity with fellow bird fanciers comes through loud and clear throughout the book.
This book as a nice tone to it. It's somehow chatty and confiendential, but also almost nervous, as if Dr Pepperberg wasn't comfortable writing for a general audience about things so personal. While charming, to me this was the book's weakness however. This is a good story, but as a book I think it would've worked better with a different structure. It is an easy read, but there was part of me that felt that a journalist or ghost writer could've made it even better and appealing to readers other than language students and bird lovers. I have to be honest and say that I nearly gave up a few pages into the first chapter, which talks about the worldwide reaction to Alex's unexpected death and felt it lost its way a bit again towards the end. While it was lovely to see how people across the globe reacted to the sad news, it was hard to keep feeling sympathy when I hadn't even met Alex yet and got to know this unlikely pioneer. I can see how readers with no previous knowledge of him would be tempted to give up altogether at this early stage.
Overall, I would recommend this book if you fall into either of the categories above. While not quite a cracker, it's a nice read that will help bring the subject of animal cognition to life.
I hear that there are plans for a film of Alex's life and I look forward to it.
Now, back to Bernard Cornwell and that naughty Northumbrian!
