A dazzling, delightful read on what animal cognition can teach us about our own mental shortcomings. You won't just tear through this book in one sitting - you'll probably want to invite Justin Gregg over for dinner to spend more time inside his brilliant mind. This is one of the best debuts I've read in a long time, and I dare you to open it without rethinking some of your basic ideas about intelligence.I defy you not to be interested by this book - it finds a novel way of getting at very deep questions about who we are and what it means, and does so with clear-eyed compassion and a certain humor that softens the conclusion a bitCombining first rate story-telling with the latest research on animal minds and cognitive psychology, If Nietzsche Were A Narwhal is the rare book that will cause readers to think deeply about big questions and moral issues and to laugh out loud on nearly every page. I loved it. If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal is a book full of observations as surprising and off-the-beaten-path as its title. It's scientifically very well informed. It's not a treatise - it's a pleasure.

I felt dumber after reading this book. Mission accomplished, Justin!We've heard that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, but have you ever considered that having a human mind is more a bane than a gift? Justin Gregg's delightful and provocative book melds science with anecdote to explore that question. Read it, have your preconceptions challenged, and feel some humility. It might do you good.This is an important book to read if you want to understand animals for what they are - not as cardboard cutouts, or as furry humans. Animal minds aren't in competition with us, although Gregg makes a good case that if they were, they would win hands down. The idea that human intelligence may be nothing more than a failed evolutionary dead end, gives humanity an important challenge to which we must rise.What's it like to be a bat, a bee, or a bed bug? In this enthralling book, Justin Gregg offers a window into the minds of other creatures, and debunks many of the myths of human exceptionalism.

He makes the provocative argument that human thinking may be complex, but it is by no means superior - and its unique qualities could even be the cause of our species' ultimate downfall. If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal is both a humbling and awe-inspiring read.