Primate Cognition

Rating:
Summary: It is a great reference
Review: Read the other review. Other than telling the world how much I love this book, I don't have much more to add, except that this is a reference I actually use on a weekly basis.

Rating:
Summary: The best reference on (non-human) primate cognition research
Review: This is a very technical work compared to the 'popular' talking apes literature. One the other hand, it is not as detailed as "Chimpanzee Politics : Power and Sex Among Apes" by Frans De Waal. The book comprehensively covers all non-human primate cognition research as of 1996. The authors do a masterful job of keeping their own opinions from dominating the text, allowing the hundreds individual studies to stand more-or-less on their own.

The book is organized along Piaget's outline of cognitive development. It is broken into 3 major sections: (1) knowledge of the physical world, (2) knowledge of the social world and (3) a theory of cognition. I found the first section the best researched and interesting. The last sections is underdeveloped, but represents the state of research. Overall, the book is expertly crafted.

A necessary reference for any serious about primate research.