Extras

 

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REVIEWS AND EVALUATIONS OF THE BOOK
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The Campaign for the American Reader's "Page 69 test."
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Audio/Video: Thomas White, "Is a Dolphin a Person?" New England Aquarium, May 29, 2007. (This requires RealPlayer.)

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MATERIAL CUT FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT

The original manuscript of the book was 140,000 words, but the publisher wanted it cut to 80,000. Here's some of what was taken out.

1. Adapting to life in the oceans. This was originally part of Chapter 2 ("The Anatomy and Physiology of Living in the Water"). As a way of illustrating the logic behind the adaptations ancient cetaceans had to make to live successfully in the oceans, this discussion takes up the question, "If humans had to adapt to living in the oceans, how would our bodies change?"

2. Science, bias and the brain. The original discussion of the dolphin brain was followed by an extended postscript that looked at unintentional species bias in scientific research on intelligence. This section looks mainly at claims made by reputable nineteenth-century scientists about the inferiority of women and non-Caucasians that were based on supposedly objective brain research. This discussion suggests that a similar unintentional bias has colored contemporary discussions of dolphin intelligence.