Minds of Their Own: Thinking and Awareness in Animals

Consciousness in animals is a controversial and very recent field of study. This book braves the subject from the point of view of the scientist ready to question traditions and beliefs about the meaning of animal behaviour. Do animals have ideas and do they think about objects that they cannot see or about situations that have occurred in the past? Do they consciously make plans for the future or do they simply react unthinkingly to objects as they appear and to situations as they arise? Are animals aware of themselves and of others or is this an ability unique to humans? Minds of their Own addresses these questions by looking at the different behaviour characteristics of a variety of animals, the evolution of the brain and when consciousness might have evolved. 'Each one of us is certain about our own states of consciousness but nobody else's. Even so, we routinely and implicitly attribute all these states to others. Can we make this process more transparent? Can we generalise what we do with fellow humans to other animals? These are the questions that Lesley Rogers tackles with such clarity in her excellent book. I admire greatly the way that she has discussed the problem of animal thought both sympathetically and critically.' PATRICK BATESON, PROFESSOR OF ETHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE