Been getting into sci-fi novels recently.
Favorite has been stuff by Adrian Taichovsky [1]. A lot of it is premised on "what if animals were (engineered) smarter". His novels usually explore how cognition / language / culture would evolve over millenia for different species.
(minor spoilers)
For example, one story describes bees that form a hivemind. Another describes how language would work with only colors. Another describes how society would evolve if knowledge was genetically inherited.
(minor spoilers) For example, one story describes bees that form a hivemind. Another describes how language would work with only colors. Another describes how society would evolve if knowledge was genetically inherited.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Tchaikovsky