Book News
Smart bird memoir
The story of a Brandeis University scientist and her famous African grey parrot, Alex, whose untimely death last fall made news around the world, will be told in a book.
Irene Pepperberg’s memoir, tentatively titled “Alex and Me,” covers her 30 years with the parrot that could count to six, identify colors and even express frustration at the repetitive scientific trials. It will be released this fall by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins.
In a statement, the publisher called the book a story “of bonds built over time that transcend the species barriers,” and how Alex and Pepperberg “battled against the prejudices of the academic establishment, which debated rigorously the ability of any other species to learn the human language.”
Alex’s advanced language and recognition skills revolutionized the understanding of the avian brain. After Pepperberg bought Alex from an animal shop in 1973, the parrot learned enough English to identify 50 objects, seven colors and five shapes.
Alex was in his 30s when he was found dead in his cage last fall, well short of the African grey parrot’s average life span of 50 years. The Associated Press
First Line
The Last Cowgirl, by Jana Richman
“I was seven when my father decided to be a cowboy. At the time it seemed to happen with a jarring abruptness, my summer attire went from sunsuits and Keds to snap-button shirts and boots faster than my sister, Annie, could pick up jacks, and Annie held our neighborhood’s title as Queen of Jacks. Since then — nearly forty-six years ago — I’ve blamed anything that needed blaming on what Annie refers to as Dad’s ‘Gil Favor complex.’ This system of culpability has been a reliable one, comfortably accommodating every failure in my life, including the ultimate failure — to get married and spawn offspring — so I find no reason to abandon it now. Especially when I am in desperate need. My brother, Heber, is dead. Poisoned by nerve gas. And, if anyone cares to do the footwork, I am quite sure the path will lead directly back to a surprisingly frigid spring day in 1962 when Grandpa Sinfield keeled over from a heart attack and left my father nothing but an old bay horse named Rangy.”
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