science

Jennifer Ackerman

Jennifer Ackerman is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jennifer Ackerman rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Jennifer Ackerman belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jennifer Ackerman to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jennifer Ackerman from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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 ISBN 0792273567) Chance in the House of Fate: a natural history of heredity (2001 ISBN 0618082875) Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: a day in the life of your body (2007 ISBN 0618187588) Ah-Choo: the uncommon life of the common cold (2010 ISBN 044654115X) Strong Women's Guide to Total Health (with Miriam Nelson 2010 ISBN 1594867798) The Genius of Birds (2016 ISBN 1594205213) Birds by the Shore: Observing the Natural Life of the Atlantic Coast (2019 ISBN 0143134183) The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think (2020 ISBN 0735223017) What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds (2023 ISBN 0593298888)

References

External links Personal website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jennifer Ackerman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jennifer Ackerman claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jennifer Ackerman before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jennifer Ackerman ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jennifer Ackerman

In research: Jennifer Ackerman appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jennifer Ackerman in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jennifer Ackerman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, 21st-century American non-fiction writers, American naturalists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jennifer Ackerman outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jennifer Ackerman in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jennifer Ackerman means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jennifer Ackerman out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jennifer Ackerman in simple terms?

Why does Jennifer Ackerman matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jennifer Ackerman?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jennifer Ackerman.