The soul of an octopus

This one wasn't for me. I just ended up feeling so sorry for the octopuses in this book, captured, imprisoned, dying miserable in captivity in an aquarium for profit. I keep forgetting to not read books about animals written by nonvegans. Some bits were OK.

There was a bit too much of subjectivity projected as objective in this book for my taste. It's lovely and well written book, but somehow often a bit superficial. I am eager to know more about octopus intelligence, but there was a lot of anectodal evidence and subsequent speculation here and too little hard-core science. I possibly had bigger expectations.

A cute memoir interspersing one person's life with her learning about and meeting octopuses, primarily in the Boston aquarium, but also learning to SCUBA. It's definitely not an expert work on octopus physiology, and while it touches on consciousness, it's definitely not a philosophical work either. But it's fun, the otcopuses pictures are beautiful, it just overall seems a little shallow. I think I would have preferred a slightly deeper work.

Very interesting in parts, if this was a long article I would consider it a fantastic read and share it with friends and heap so much praise on it. Instead it's ultra padded out to justify selling as a book, to the point I feel a little used for having being convinced to purchase it.

That's the reason for the 1 star, that feeling of being tricked. It's highly subjective, I know.

Then again, so was this book.

A lovingly-written exploration of the author's experiences meeting and learning about octopuses as well as bonding with a group of people at the New England Aquarium. The book is less coldly scientific than one might expect, and should not serve as a textbook but rather as an emotional and intellectual inspiration. All the heart and emotion the author puts into her writing makes for a gripping and rewarding book that gives you the sense of sharing a glimpse into something alien and wonderful - the soul of an octopus.

The author not only vividly and eloquently describes her experiences and reflections on octopus behaviour and thinking, but she also captures the community and friendship and shared love of living creatures that animate the staff and volunteers of aquariums, something I've also experienced personally and strongly related to. It was wonderful to see that reflected in a way that was open and human, and yet still ultimately centered around these completely fascinating creatures.

I love octopuses.  I think they are fascinating.  I've never had the chance to meet one though like this author did.  She got to know three octopuses over the course of a few years.  It was amazing to hear about the ways their physiology lets them interact with the world. They can taste with their skin, camouflage even though they are color blind, and work through complex puzzles.She also lets you get to know the people working behind the scenes in the aquarium who love these animals.This book is wonderful for anyone who is interested in finding out more about these animals.  I am looking forward to reading more from this author.Plastic pollution in the ocean is a huge problem but it doesn't manifest in exactly the ways that it has been portrayed in the press.  Most of the ocean is polluted with microparticles of plastic that make any clean up operation almost impossible.  The author's goal is to require companies to take on more of the burden for reusing or recycling plastics they produce.  Now they are freed from responsibility by requiring consumers to recycle if they don't want the plastic going into a landfill.This book used the framework of the several month journey on Junk to tell the story of the Earth's plastic pollution problem.  It is full of ideas for making the problem better but there needs to be buy in from a lot of people to make it happen.The stories in the book are scary.  So much damage is being done through human carelessness.  Getting the word out about what needs to be done is important.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

More sentimental and anecdotal than scientific, Montgomery's tale of establishing relationships with mollusks may have you feeling warm and shedding salty tears for these cold-blooded invertebrates, as well as raising questions about aquarium practices.

This is a great book, the kind of book that should be written more often, and that we should be reading more often. It explores the natural mysteries around life in the ocean, and focuses on the author's experience with octopuses. As I read this book, I realized that I knew nothing about underwater life, and I developed a deep respect for the octopus.

My favorite thing about this book is that this is the kind of writing that exposes the writer's love and life-long passion for her field - and reading it will inspire budding naturalists and marine-life lovers to follow their dreams.

This book is more a memoir including some facts and many subjective observations about octopuses than it is a scientific look at octopuses. As such it's an interesting memoir and a fascinating picture of the personalities of a number of different octopuses that the author meets, as well as several aquarium staff members. It certainly highlighted how intelligent these creatures are, how little we still know about them, and it certainly made me want to go visit some octopuses in an aquarium.

However, if you're looking for any depth of scientific fact or even any depth of philosophical discussion, the book is rather lacking in this department. The author seems to spend some time justifying to herself that it's ok to keep octopuses in captivity -- even when they may occasionally tragically die accidentally -- without really examining the details of both sides of the argument. It feels as if the book COULD have been much more than just a memoir, so it's disappointing in that sense. And if you really don't care about the personal thoughts and philosophizing of the author then you'll probably find it annoying. But, if you're interested in octopuses, stories about them, and random tidbits of science and information, then you may still enjoy this book. Certainly, the more people become interested in learning more about these creatures, the better; so go pick up the book if you think you might like to learn more.