Woody's Last Laugh: How the Extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker Fools Us into Making 53 Thinking Errors

by James Christopher Haney

Woody's Last Laugh explores a simmering controversy amid scientists, conservationists, birders and the media: the supposed 'extinction' of American ivory-billed woodpecker. Among the first to identify rampant mental errors inside conservation and environmental professions, the book identifies 53 distinct kinds of cognitive blunders, psychological biases, and logical fallacies on both sides of the woodpecker controversy. Few species have ever provoked such social rancor. Why are rumors of its persistence so prevalent, unlike other near or recently extinct animals? Why are we so bad mannered with each other about a mere bird? How is it that we cannot agree even on whether a mere bird is alive or dead? Woody's Last Laugh uncovers why such mysteries so mess with our heads. By exploring uncharted borders between conservation and mental perception, new ways of evaluating truth and accuracy are opened to everyone. Author Dr. J. Christopher Haney is a biologist, conservation scientist and lifelong birder. For 12 years he was Chief Scientist at Defenders of Wildlife. In 2010, following the Deepwater Horizon oil blowout, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service invited him to lead the largest pelagic study of marine birds ever conducted in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 2013 he has been president of Terra Mar Applied Sciences, an independent public-interest conservation research firm which he founded. If there is one lesson Dr. Haney hopes his book delivers, it is to not overvalue our thinking skills. Human reason is fallible, even among scientists and technical experts. To improve our essential relationship with nature, conservation practices will need to devote as much attention to the unbridled thoughts as the unswerving sentiments. Dead or alive, however, the ivory-bill got the last laugh on us all.

536 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2021

Reviews

[Ertoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I read it to learn about the ivory-billed woodpecker and as well as fantastic information on that, Haney teaches about cognitive errors made throughout, and I definitely recommend this book for both audiences. Sometimes the author felt a little assertive of topics, like his opinion on the validity on sightings, but it was mostly justified. There are a lot of endnotes in this book with the references at the end of each chapter, which is useful for further reading.

[Diana Biggs · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author talks down to his readers, excessive use of footnotes. There are almost as many pages of footnotes as text. This was a book club book - and I don't recommend it.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating study of cognitive errors in the debate over the survival of the ivory-billed woodpecker. The author himself is agnostic on the subject but certainly has sympathies toward the survivalist camp. The book also has an extensive survey of ivory-billed woodpecker sightings from 2000-2010, many of which you won't hear about in other books. Required reading for anyone interested in this species.