Twixt Richard Dawkins and Jared Diamond!
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I thoroughly enjoyed 'Folk Physics for Apes', the research behind it being well-reasoned and compelling. Although I found it to be well written and readable I suspect that it demands an intelligence and understanding of cognitive science that is not generally found in the average undergraduate today; most are still taught specific concepts rather than being shown how to learn about and understand any concept by example and repeated practise; method!
This comes through in the book itself and it should be treated as a work in progress; the methods of his research are still somewhat unrefined and lack informed peer-review though this will no doubt be undertaken by those interested in Povinelli's work and who understand it enough to take it further
The central conclusion of this particular piece of work is that the chimpanzee mind differs from ours in that it myopically focuses on perceptible associations; humans appealing to unobservable phenomenon to help explain the observable events in the world, and chimpanzees not.
If you enjoy reading Richard Dawkins's Gene books, "The Extended Phenotype:
The Long Reach of the Gene" and 'The Selfish Gene", Darwin or Jared
Diamond's "The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human
Animal", Daniel Dennett "Consciousness Explained" or Steven Pinker, you will genuinely enjoy "Folk Physics for Apes" - Highly recommended!
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Interesting theories, not bedtime reading!
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I was recommended this book by one of my lecturers when I was preparing an essay on the development of human cognition. The book deals with apes and their problem solving abilities in a number of specific tasks, from this Povinelli tries to gain insight into the cognitive abilities in general.
The book is an extremely useful reference on such points, at times I feel that we are required to take a few leaps of faith when following the author's reasoning and as with all theories, the evidence is incomplete.
Also the book is written as a reference tool, it is not suitable for light reading, only academic research.
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