Alex & Me

By Irene M. Pepperberg

Dr. Pepperberg and her parrot Alex became famous when Alex demonstrated that not only could he communicate clearly with people but that he understood complex concepts such as shape, amount and color. He could even count to six. Thus Dr. Pepperberg and Alex exploded the idea that animals can't think and for this Alex was justly famous.
This book looks at Dr. Pepperberg's life with Alex but sadly, it starts out with the bird's premature death at age thirty-one. Alex was a star during his lifetime and, like many stars, he burned out too soon. He was a bird of great personality who ruled the roost, literally, bossing and correcting the other parrots in the study. But the best thing about Alex was his ability to make intellectual leaps that not even his biggest fan, Dr. Pepperberg, expected. For example, Dr. Pepperberg was working with Alex on phonemes, the individual sounds that make up a word. She was demonstrating Alex's skills to a visitor and he was doing really well. Each time he succeeded she told him he was a good bird but Alex continually stated that he wanted a nut. But he didn't get a nut, just verbal praise. Finally Alex 'looked at me and said slowly, "Want a nut. Nnn ... uh ... tuh."' He actually spelled the word out using phonemes! Alex was truly a special parrot.

I really enjoyed this book, even with its very sad beginning. I have always been interested in Alex since I first saw him on TV and reading about this lively little character was fascinating and charming. Some people have called him a bird genius. But maybe Alex was just a typical parrot and a clear demonstration that animals have a lot more going on than we have given them credit for.