Description: Anthropologist Jeremy Narby has altered how we understand the Shamanic cultures and traditions that have undergone a worldwide revival in recent years. Now, in one of his most extraordinary journeys, Narby travels the globe--from the Amazon Basin to the Far East--to probe what traditional healers and pioneering researchers understand about the intelligence present in all forms of life.
Intelligence in Nature presents overwhelming illustrative evidence that independent intelligence is not unique to humanity alone. Indeed, bacteria, plants, animals, and other forms of nonhuman life display an uncanny penchant for self-deterministic decisions, patterns, and actions. Narby presents the first in-depth anthropological study of this concept in the West. He not only uncovers a mysterious thread of intelligent behavior within the natural world but also probes the question of what humanity can learn from nature's economy and knowingness in its own search for a saner and more sustainable way of life.Brief description: Jeremy Narby grew up in Canada and Switzerland, studied history at the University of Canterbury, and received a PhD in anthropology from Stanford University. Since 1989 Jeremy has worked for Nouvelle Planete, a nonprofit organization based in Switzerland. He is the author of The Cosmic Serpent and Intelligence in Nature.