If we're name-dropping, the Vernor Vinge pack-mind dog things are another fun example of non-human races with actually non-human modes of cognition, even if the

If we're name-dropping, the Vernor Vinge pack-mind dog things are another fun example of non-human races with actually non-human modes of cognition, even if they're not as far removed as Solaris/Revelation Space sentient oceans. In contrast, although I really liked A Deepness in the Sky for other reasons, the spiders ended up feeling way too much like humans in funny bodies rather than any kind of actual non-human intelligent species.