Intelligence, the ability to navigate life’s complexities by understanding, acquiring and applying knowledge and skills, is something we tap into every day. It informs how we work, perceive the world, solve problems and relate to others. While the idea of intellect carries an undercurrent of sophistication, the boundaries of who—or what—possesses it are expanding.
As our understanding of intelligence matures, so does our ability to recognize it in action, both within ourselves and in others. Given that experience and knowledge contribute to intellectual growth, why not take a few moments to boost your own by learning more about intelligence itself? The following resources are fertile grounds for getting started.
Multiple Intelligences
Website: MultipleIntelligencesOasis.org
Master violin player. Innovative architect. Accomplished polyglot. A person with any of these titles easily qualifies as intelligent. Yet, each talent represents a vastly different set of skills and way of functioning in the world. Howard Gardner, cognitive psychologist and author, labeled the phenomenon of varying but distinct skill sets “multiple intelligences.” Gardner’s book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, is ground zero for the idea that intelligence is not a single intellectual capacity measured in IQ points, but that individuals have unique profiles of strengths across various intelligences.
Gardner’s observations of brain patterns in people with brain damage, along with outliers such as savants and prodigies, led him to identify eight distinct intelligences—spatial, musical, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist. His website, Multiple Intelligence Oasis, is replete with conceptual descriptions, resource recommendations, insightful blog posts and thoughtful answers to questions from throngs of global educators and professionals.
Indigenous Intelligence
Book: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Drawing on her life as an accomplished scientist, mother and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer wraps her environmental meditations, stories, Indigenous culture and education around the science of plants. Each chapter is an essay on life lessons learned from a particular botanical species, detailing its scientific function, role in the ecosystem and our relationship with that ecosystem, seen through the lens of Native American wisdom and culture.
Plants, Kimmerer posits, are our elders. For millions of years, they have been providing food, clean air, purified water and healthy soil bounty and beautiful landscapes. Recognizing and reciprocating their gifts and listening to their lessons can shift our behavior from one of entitlement to responsibility and help heal our broken relationship with the natural world.
Artificial Intelligence
Podcast: The AI Daily Brief: Artificial News and Analysis
A computer acting as a human brain is no longer fodder for science fiction; powerful artificial intelligence exists in real time. AI has permeated much of our technologically-saturated society, and our dependence on it is growing exponentially. With AI, no one is a passive consumer; it’s both working for you and learning from you. Between developments across physical, operational and agentic AI, along with the rapid pace of innovation and implementation, staying current can feel overwhelming.
The AI Daily Brief host Nathaniel Whittemore excels at breaking the massive, complex topic of AI into digestible portions served up in pleasant, comprehensible discussions. Whittemore dissects AI from multiple angles, from the proliferation of creativity to its capacity for disrupting work and industries, all while exploring philosophical, ethical and practical implications. Episodes average 20-30 minutes.
Animal Intelligence
Book: The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters by Christine Webb
Make no mistake: Humans are card-carrying members of Kingdom Animalia. But through language and ideology of our own making, we have placed ourselves at the apex of species intelligence and development. In reality, the plant and animal worlds are more vast and intelligent than what we can comprehend.
Webb, a primatologist and assistant professor at New York University with expertise in social behavior, cognition and emotion, makes an irrefutable case that the notion of human exceptionalism is flawed. Because we use it to exploit resources for our own exclusive ends, this inaccurate perception is creating a planet of perilous environmental imbalance for all species, Webb argues. The Arrogant Ape provides a paradigm-shifting way of looking at other living organisms on their own terms, rather than our own.
Emotional Intelligence
App: How We Feel
Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand and manage one’s emotions, as well as the ability to recognize and influence those of others through empathy and social skills. Improving your EQ starts with understanding the nuance of your emotional activity. How We Feel is a feeling and mood tracker designed to sharpen your emotional insight. Its guided meditations, emotional check-ins and analysis are simple, informative and interactive.
How We Feel is both an app and an interdisciplinary nonprofit organization. The app was developed with input from scientists, designers, engineers and therapists, evidenced in its beautiful design and elegant, intuitive interface. How We Feel is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play. It’s free, but donations to the nonprofit, The How We Feel Project, are encouraged.
Featured image by Master1305/Shutterstock
This article was first published in the March/April 2026 issue of SUCCESS Magazine. Get your copy here.
