The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

MONTGOMERY, Sy. The Soul of an Octopus. Atria. 2015. 261p, illus., bibliog., index.WILLIAMS, Wendy. Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid. Abrams Image. 2011. 224p, illus., bibliog., index.These two books are about cephalopods –octopuses (not “octopi,” the word comes from Greek, not Latin) and squid. Both books are well written and copiously illustrated (photographs and drawings) but what makes them such fascinating reading is the creatures they are about. Octopuses and squid offer us our only examples of what intelligence and feeling could be like outside of the vertebrate family.University of Chicago neuroscientist Cliff Ragsdale comments: “Short of Martians showing up and offering themselves up to science, cephalopods are the only example outside of vertebrates of how to build a complex, clever brain.” Alexa, who works with octopuses as a volunteer, says: “There’s nothing as peculiar as an octopus.” (Both quoted in Montgomery)There is ample evidence of octopus intelligence. There is general agreement that they are among the smartest animals on earth. But it’s not our kind of intelligence, not even close although there enough points of similarity to convince observers they are reasoning and feeling. To start with, their brains are organized differently, distributed in parts spread across a central brain and eight tentacles rather than consolidated in one central spot like ours is. Furthermore, whatever they think and feel, their actions are so different from ours that in many cases, we don’t have a clue why they react like they do.Octopuses in captivity, even in the wild, respond differently to different people. With some they’re comfortable, even friendly, with others hostile or defensive. We know from this and from their puzzle-solving ability --they are master locksmiths, for instance, who can get though up to three sealed containers to reach the food within-- that they make inferences and remember what they’ve learned. They get bored, need to keep active. Bored octopuses held captive in tanks get in trouble, much like bored Border collies moping around a house get in trouble, but where the collie will likely chew up rugs and furniture, the octopus will try to escape, maybe migrate to a neighboring tank to eat the creatures inside it. Octopuses in captivity beg for food, appearing in the same part of the tank and adopting the same posture whenever food-bearers arrive. We can read their emotions in broad strokes: red, angry or excited: white, calm or indifferent.The books are written by seasoned science reporters. This is Montgomery’s ninth natural science book for adult readers and her twenty-first in all. For Williams, it’s her seventh. Both writers have won awards for science reporting. Montgomery’s is the warmer book, as she details her personal interactions with four octopuses in succession: gentle, friendly Athena; playful, inquiring Octavia; the more fiery Kali; and Karma.These are fascinating and informative books about a creature that’s like us in some respects but alien in most, an animal that sees and weighs us just as do it. Montgomery’s especially is about what it means to respect and love a creature without expecting it to become like us.

If you like underwater creatures you will love this book. The octopus is a most interesting creature!!!

Wonderful book. Almost everything I was looking for in a non-technical but not casual book on Octopus intelligence. Her writing is excellent, and her descriptions of her own and others emotional reactions to their experiences - even relationships - with the Octopuses they encounter are very well done and integral to understanding what the author is trying to convey: that these are alien creatures - yet nonetheless (to some extent) comprehensible to us, intelligent, communicative (including across the gulf of evolutionary time between our species), individuals beings worthy of our respect and friendship - not that all of nature shouldn't be respected, but in the sense of fellow travelers on the "sentient" pathway through life whether we are worthy of their respect and friendship remains to be seen. It is ironic and amusing to think we may even now be living in and continuing to build the cities - currently coastal and above water - that some far future Cephalopod Civilization may find the perfect homes; or which spur their further development. opOur opposable thumbs make us pretty awesome tool-users; imagine if Octopuses took up tool-use like we did!!!!I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 for a few, relatively subjective reasons (others may find my reasons trifling, and give the full 5 stars):— i think I wanted more stories/studies/etc. about the octopus, it's intelligence, and the state of research on it. What is currently "generally accepted" as known about them and what is not? There must certainly be many more stories (I hope) and studies demonstrating aspects of their intelligence/consciousness. I may have missed it somehow, but the famous (infamous?) "mirror" test for consciousness wasn't referred to; has it been tried? Why or why not? I suppose I wanted a bit more science and subject-based descriptions and less personal journey. Ditto on the many descriptions of the other animals in the Aquarium; maybe it's a bit OCD of me, but I found them annoying and distracting because I was so interested in reading the other parts of the book. The same could be said of the passages relating the many people that are part of the author's journey and personal life; however, these are kept to a minimum and in many ways enrich our understanding of the main theme; just to say it again: parts of the authors personal journey, and her and other people's emotional lives are integral to the book, and absolutely worth it. I enjoy and read about people, their lives, and much else of science and nature - I just wanted to read a focused book about octopus intelligence, emotions, etc. :-)despite the foregoing criticism, while this book clearly contains some of that, it is still highly focused on the author's tireless (and courageous) curiosity as well as her relentless (though entirely empathetic) drive to create a bond with an individual of another species. Along the way I did learn and enjoy learning a lot about the Octopus and its mind and way of being in the world. It succeeds admirably - I picked it up one morning to kill a few minutes and couldn't put it down.The other things that kept it from being a 5 was that her writing, while generally excellent, has the tendency to jump around quite a bit temporally - sometimes in the middle of relating sequential events. Combined with the necessary and interesting digressions into philosophy, cephalopod biology, etc. it can be confusing. It is as if she were torn between writing about Octopus souls and consciousness, etc. sprinkled with a few enlivening personal anecdotes vs. writing a straightforward, linear story of her life over this period of time. It is more the latter, but enough of the former to make it a mixture that is neither.Finally, and this may bear on the other issues, is that it reads somewhat as if it were several articles/papers written over a period of time but stitched together - but stitched together pretty well, I should add, better than most I have read. Several chapters end on cliffhanger-type sentences; several start with fairly obvious "hook" sentences or paragraphs. Some seem much more like a magazine article relating a particular period in her life (like the scuba-diving stuff), and others more like typical "division of the content into chunks" type chapters. I don't begrudge an author needing to selling chunks of content first, especially given how long it may take a book to emerge and then survive the publishing endurance trial. I point it out mostly in the vain hope more authors will take better pains to write their _books_ as a self-consistent whole; certainly with prior material reused appropriately, but it shouldn't be noticeable as such. I also mention it because this author does seem to have tried to do just that and succeeded more than many.As it often seems to be the case, my few nit picks take up most of the review. Give the wrong impression, I want to say again it was a wonderful, enjoyable read.

I read this right after reading Remarkably Bright Creatures (it was mentioned in that book) because I wanted to know more about octopuses (and yes that is the correct plural). The book is so interesting and talks about other sea creatures, but is so well written that you can feel the octopuses and see how they can become almost friends. Sy Montgomery also wrote The Good, Good Pig which I also really enjoyed. She has so much empathy for all creatures and has a great, lighthearted style which is both easy to read and yet detailed enough that you feel you are there with her. I highly recommend this book.

This book is an incredible read. It is written in a way that's intriguing and easy to digest.It will teach you a lot about not just octopuses, but also the surprisingly deep and meaningful connections that can be established between humans and octopuses.It goes beyond just octopuses but that is definitely the spotlight of the book (as the name suggests). And a creature that well deserves this kind of spotlight at that.

Enjoyed every word of this book! The photos at the end were wonderful but I wish I had known they were there as I was reading along.

Amei o livro....Eu o recomendo a todos. É maravilhoso !

this is a tremendous, sensitive and compassionate review of such an interesting and compelling creature. So much we dont know. This has become one of my favourites up there with Barry Lopez's 'of wolves and men' as both approach animals under such extreme misconceptions and offer enlightenment. Cannot say enough good things about soul of an octopus. I expect i shall re read it several times so i grasp it thoroughly.

A fantastic book about some of the most beautiful, intelligent creatures on this planet.I hope anyone who reads this book now has a deeper understanding of the Octopus. I bought a copy for my friend who also has a deep love of all creatures non human.

Ein sehr interessantes und informatives Buch!

Fascinante!!