Can Fish Count?: What Animals Reveal about our Uniquely Mathematical Mind

by Brian Butterworth

An entertaining investigation of the numerical abilities of animals and our own appetite for arithmetic 

The philosopher Bertrand Russell once observed that realizing that a pair of apples and the passage of two days could somehow both be represented by the concept we call “two” was one of the most astonishing discoveries anyone had ever made. So what do we make of the incredible fact that animals seem to have inherent mathematical abilities? As cognitive psychologist Brian Butterworth shows us in Can Fish Count?, many “simple” animals—such as bees, which count trees and fence posts, and guppies, which can size up groups—have a sense of numbers. And unlike humans, they don’t need to be taught.  

In telling animals’ stories, Butterworth shines new light on one of our most ancient questions: Just where, exactly, do numbers come from? He reveals how insights gleaned from studying animals can help us make better sense of our own abilities. Full of discovery and delight, Can Fish Count? is an astonishing journey through the animal kingdom and the human mind. 

Genres: Science, Mathematics, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Evolution

386 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2022

About the author

Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology,
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience,
University College, London

Fellow of the British Academy

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fish can count. You discover this in chapter eight of ten.
Before that you learn about humans, mammals, and other animals. After that is a chapter on insects and invertebrates. Then a summary chapter.

You say, "Great, you are ruining the book up front. Why?"

Because it's kind of obvious.

What is interesting about the book is how the ability to count was determined. The book does a good job of breaking down the various studies conducted over the decades or centuries to determine if a particular subject is basing a decision on a number amount or volume or density. How would someone track if a bee or snail or ant can count? Well it's in here.

Worth a read if you want insights into how to develop an experiment or interested in random trivia.

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The answer is yes, fish and other animals have a sense of amounts. Now you don't have to slog through hundreds of pages.

[Scott Mann]

This author is apparently unaware of Lindauer and Seeley's research with honeybees. This is very relevant to his discussion of the limitations of bees waggle dance language. He says that dancing is only used to communicate food location, distance and direction. As he says. The dance language of bees " ...only communicates one kind of signified, the location of a food source." (p 238) He fails to consider dancing associated with the location and quality of potential new nest sites. Insofar as this involves bees measuring and communicating the size of such potential sites it would seem to be particularly relevant to the subject matter of this book.

[Rudi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het boek is een stuk technischer dan ik had verwacht (en uitgebreider) het stuk over vissen was kort , de stukken over Sapiens en insecten waren langer en ook boeiend
De hersenen en wis/meetkunde zoals ik er nog niet over gelezen had , en enkele nieuwe woorden geleerd Bv dyscalculie
Het boek deed ook wat nadenken , voeding,seks,dood lijkt af te hangen van plaats en tijd ,
Tijd en plaats die kunnen berekend worden ( en ook on/geluk )
Wiskunde lijkt een hulpmiddel om tijd en plaats te kennen voor alle organismen , dan staat het cijfer 0 mss voor hier en nu wat onmogelijk lijkt op een draaiende wereld met meedraaiende tijd
Kan sapiens met haar/zijn wiskundig inzicht nog ver/dwalen?
Voeding , seks , dood op coördinaten 24/78 om 14u43m 7sec

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, they can. Most animals can, but only in single figures (and quantities at that) and are also able to make rudimentary comparisons of size. These are basic competences that help, in the wild, in dealing with food, predators and the search for a mate. In the laboratory, similar skills can be taught, albeit at the expense of time and patience.

But the book's stodgy, rather plodding in its approach. It looks at animals group by group - mammals, birds, fish and so on - which makes it repetitive and predictable. It might have been better to structure it by competences: counting, comparisons and so forth, ending with the simply astonishing feats of navigation and direction found in ants, bees and birds.

[Tyler Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Betteridge's law of headlines: Book edition

(The answer is yes, more or less, depending on how exactly you define counting)

The core concept behind this book is interesting, but at times it feels like the author had some sort of minimum word count he was forced to hit. There is a lot of time spent wandering down random rabbit holes that really didn't have a lot to do with the main question: can fish (or other animals) count.

[Lisa Powell · Rating 1 out of 5]

My rule is normally to finish a book before rating or reviewing. And I'm probably rating it too critically out of frustration.

But I'm quitting early and reviewing to warn people.

Started off with some interesting math groundwork presented clearly.

Moved to noting the number of numbers we see each day, interesting to consider. But, like most authors, he bases "typical" on his own life, which may be fair for his readers but i know that my rural life is not surrounded by signs and ads (assuming I stay off the internet) and I think globally I may be at least as typical. Still, interesting to consider.

Then we move to stats. Hmm. And then increasingly suspect ones (not based on their conclusions but on how hard it would be to quantify these things with the certainty with which they are presented). Shouldn't a number guy know that?

Then here it comes. Blah blah government has not fixed dyscalculia. Why on EARTH do we have to drag politics into everything? Do publishers make writers throw it in there to get attention? No reason for this, it's not like this was a discussion of best policy for addressing the issue, it was just thrown in randomly.

Exhausting. And now I don't trust his thinking on anything. And, yes, I'd feel the same no matter which party he was grimacing at. Just stop it already!

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting topic, but a heavy read. Felt that the constant repetition and recapping of past topics detracted from the overall easy of reading.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as interesting as I thought it would be. The answer to the question- yes, sort of..

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting but not as engaging as I would liked it to be. I wish there was more data presented instead of words, but very interesting to learn about how different animals count.

[Kimberly T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can Fish Count? By Brian Butterworth is a real interesting and entertaining compendium of animals counting across the tree of life! Lots of things I never knew both animals and I could do

[Lisa Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I was a math major in college, I thought this book would be more interesting than it was. It was not "bad," but not "great" at the same time. In truth, I skipped some parts.