As an octopus lover your time might be better spent watching a documentary or reading a different book.Īlso, as an animal lover, I would have appreciated more consideration of the ethics of keeping wild sea creatures in tanks. The first chapter of this book was originally an article that went viral, and it seems like the amount of content here is more suitable for something article-length. It wasn't that exciting just to read about it. It's mostly a memoir of the author hanging out at an aquarium getting to touch octopuses, which is super cool, and also learning to scuba dive and swim with them. There's something to be learned for sure, but most of the book is not educating you about octopuses. Many of the anecdotes are not that surprising to someone who knows anything about octopuses to begin with. I would have been less bothered by philosophical shortcomings if there was more actual information about octopuses. Maybe it's the former philosophy major in me, but IMHO saying 'Hmm, I REALLY wonder what it would be like to be an octopus! Can we even know?' does not qualify as an exploration into the wonders of consciousness. THEY HAVE NEURONS IN THEIR ARMS!) and references a few philosophers of mind (e.g. It bills itself as a 'surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness,' I guess because it shares a few fun facts about octopus neurology (e.g. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds.

With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques.

Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan jetting water to bounce balls and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food.

From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities-gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism.

The soul of an octopus by sy montgomery