Jennifer Ackerman

Jennifer Ackerman (born 1959) is an American author known for her ornithology books, including the bestselling book '' The Genius of Birds''.

In that book, Ackerman posits that, contrary to popular metaphors such as "bird brained," birds are actually quite intelligent and think in complex ways. Called a "peppy survey of the science of bird intelligence" by The Guardian, the book was a New York Times best seller in 2017. She followed up on this idea in her 2020 book ''The Bird Way'' combining personal observations and a literature review of the latest in bird research to discuss various aspects of bird life. She was the narrator for the audiobook version of both books.

Ackerman is the author of eight books which have been published in more than 20 languages. In addition to her published books, she is also a contributing writer to ''Scientific American'', ''National Geographic'', and ''The New York Times''. She worked for ''National Geographic'' for nine years, editing their well-known book ''The Curious Naturalist''. She left that job to write freelance and spent time in Lewes, Delaware, researching the coastal area and writing her book ''Notes From the Shore'' which was reissued as ''Birds By the Shore'' in 2019.

Her earlier books focus on health topics, from the ''Strong Women's Guide to Total Health'' which she wrote with Miriam Nelson, to her book ''Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream'' which uses the framework of a single day to discuss a wide variety of things going on in the human body at various times.

Awards and fellowships

* Established Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Arts Council (1995)
* Fellowships: Bunting Institute of Radcliffe Institute (1997-1998)
* Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant (1998)
* Fellowship: Brown College at the University of Virginia (2001)
* National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction (2004)
* Silver Medal Award for Nature Writing from the International Regional Magazine Association (2005)
* Fellowship: Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University (2007-2010)
* Whitley Award for Behavioural Zoology (2021)
* National Outdoor Book Award (2023) in "Outdoor Literature" for ''What an Owl Knows''

Early life and education

Ackerman was born in 1959 to economist William Gorham and Kathryn Joan (Aring) Morton in Omaha, Nebraska. She used to go birding with her father along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. She attended Yale and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in 1980. She moved to Lewes, Delaware in 1989 for three years, and then to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1992. She was married to late novelist Karl Ackerman in 1980, and they have two daughters.

Bibliography

* ''Curious Naturalist'' (1998 )
* ''Chance in the House of Fate: a natural history of heredity'' (2001 )
* ''Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: a day in the life of your body'' (2007 )
* ''Ah-Choo: the uncommon life of the common cold'' (2010 )
* ''Strong Women's Guide to Total Health'' (with Miriam Nelson 2010 )
* ''The Genius of Birds'' (2016 )
* ''Birds by the Shore: Observing the Natural Life of the Atlantic Coast'' (2019 )
* ''The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think'' (2020 )
* ''What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds'' (2023 )

References

External links

Personal website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ackerman, Jennifer

1959 births
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American naturalists
American ornithologists
Animal cognition writers
Living people