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I bought this book with every intention of adding it to my Intelligence list, as the description describes it as exploring the superorganism intelligence/decision making process of bees. For a while, it looked like this was going to be 5 stars, but a miss for the list (or a bit further down at least), as it lays the groundwork with a truly fascinating portrayal of bees generally, along with great explanations of his experimental methodology and the scientific mindset behind the designs, before you get into real treatment of the the bees as a mind.
But the build up is well worth it for the end goal of understanding intelligence as well. Once you have a vivid understanding of how bees work, he does bring it around to neuroscience (though not to the extent that you need significant prior knowledge) and compares it to a traditional, neuron based brain, as well as outlining some ways human groups can improve their process on group problem solving. All in all, an excellent book that is well worth the read for several reasons.
I bought this book with every intention of adding it to my Intelligence list, as the description describes it as exploring the superorganism intelligence/decision making process of bees. For a while, it looked like this was going to be 5 stars, but a miss for the list (or a bit further down at least), as it lays the groundwork with a truly fascinating portrayal of bees generally, along with great explanations of his experimental methodology and the scientific mindset behind the designs, before you get into real treatment of the the bees as a mind.
But the build up is well worth it for the end goal of understanding intelligence as well. Once you have a vivid understanding of how bees work, he does bring it around to neuroscience (though not to the extent that you need significant prior knowledge) and compares it to a traditional, neuron based brain, as well as outlining some ways human groups can improve their process on group problem solving. All in all, an excellent book that is well worth the read for several reasons.