Kilham - Out on a limb: what black bears taught me about intelligence and intuition

FLYING BLIND

One Mans Adventures Battling Buckthorn, Making Peace with Authority, and Creating a Home for Endangered Bats

DON MITCHELL

9781603585200

Hardcover $24.95

THE MYSTERY OF METAMORPHOSIS

A Scientific Detective Story

FRANK RYAN

9781603583411

Hardcover $26.95

SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN MOON BEAR

Science and Adventure in Pursuit of a New Species

SY MONTGOMERY

9781603580632

Paperback $19.95

COWS SAVE THE PLANET

And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth

JUDITH D. SCHWARTZ

9781603584326

Paperback $17.95

LYNN MARGULIS

The Life and Legacy of a Scientific Rebel

DORION SAGAN

9781603584463

Hardcover $27.95

WALKING WITH THE GREAT APES

Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birut Galdikas

SY MONTGOMERY

9781603580625

Paperback $19.95

A SANCTUARY OF TREES

Beechnuts, Birdsongs, Baseball Bats, and Benedictions

GENE LOGSDON

9781603584012

Paperback $19.95

DAZZLE GRADUALLY

Reflections on the Nature of Nature

DORION SAGAN, LYNN MARGULIS

9781933392318

Paperback $25.00

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Praise for Out on a Limb

Ben Kilhams Out on a Limb is surely the most insightful book about animals written in the last one hundred years. His observation of black bears is the best ever done, his data are flawless, and these attributes have created a landmark of science that as far as I know has not been equaled with any other species. And if thats not enough, its also a page-turner and a must-read. It left me breathless.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas , author,
The Hidden Life of Dogs and The Tribe of Tiger

Like Jane Goodalls studies of chimps, Ben Kilhams work with black bears is more than just revealing: its revolutionary. This riveting book supports two astonishing conclusions: that bears are far more sophisticated than most scientists dared imagine, and that dyslexia, once considered a failing, may simply be another, and often valuable, way of thinking. Bens work will transform our understanding of how animals liveand how science should be done.

Sy Montgomery , author, Walking with the Great Apes
and Search for the Golden Moon Bear

Out on a Limb is a brilliant revelation about black bears and a paean to human potential. After decades spent caring for orphan bears and releasing them into the wild, Ben Kilham, a dyslexic animal lover, has now summarized what he has learned about their rich social complexity and humanlike intentionality. The result is to turn a supposedly familiar species into a creature of unsuspected acuity. Part sci ence, part intuition, this enticing natural history is a provocative argument about animal minds, and an intimate celebration of life in the New Hampshire woods.

Richard Wrangham , author, Catching Fire: How Cooking
Made Us Human ; codirector, Kibale Chimpanzee Project

Magnificent! Out on a Limb is a brilliant read. Kilham perfectly exemplifies how much the world has to gain from the exceptional insights of dyslexic individ uals, who often possess a special talent for finding order hidden in the complex patterns of the real world. We cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Brock and Fernette Eide , authors, The Dyslexic Advantage

No one knows black bears like Ben Kilham does. During the past decade alone he has raised and rehabilitated to the wild more than one hundred orphaned cubs. The social code of the bears, as so delightfully described in Out on a Limb , includes cooperation, imitation, fairness, punishment for infraction, reciprocity, and other traits of this solitary yet highly social species. Human parallels are drawn, too. The charm and core of the book lie in its anecdotes and unique insights, especially of the female Squirty, with whom Ben has had a friendship for more than seventeen years. Read this fascinating book and see the bears world with new eyes.

George Schaller , author, The Last Panda ;
science director, Wildlife Conservation Society

Out on a Limb by Benjamin Kilham is one of the finest books on the natural history of an animal that I have ever read. As gripping as the best novel, it is very readable and provides great insights into the mind of the black bear and the human. The research that Kilham has done on the behavior of black bears is groundbreaking and will lead us to a much better understanding of the development of intelligence in mammals and the evolution of cognition throughout the animal world.