Non-Human Intelligence (Coffee Book Series)

Exactly the book I needed. Straight to the point and genuinely useful.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The chapters on science fiction & fantasy are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. Useful as a reference, less so as a straight read from cover to cover.

Genuinely excellent — I finished it in a week and immediately started again.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with science fiction & fantasy.