Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction * New York Times Bestseller * Starred Booklist and Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick * A Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year * One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodreads * Library Journal Best Sci-Tech Book of the Year * An American Library Association Notable Book of the Year “Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus does … Year
“Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus does for the creature what Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk did for raptors.” —New Statesman, UK
“One of the best science books of the year.” —Science Friday, NPR
Another New York Times bestseller from the author of The Good Good Pig, this “fascinating…touching…informative…entertaining” (Daily Beast) book explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus—a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature—and the remarkable connections it makes with humans.
In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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Fantastic insight on another creature in our world that we carelessly care for. The story helped me pause and look around at all the beautiful living creatures and their world within our world. Was a favorite amongst my friends
Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery, and narrated by the author, is such a delightful book that warmed my heart and I didn’t want it to end. I felt so entranced by the love of the sea life, especially these precious octopuses, that I felt I knew them. Warning, make sure you have tissue handy for happy times and grieving moments. This book was a …
I read every book on cephalapods I can get my tentacles–er, hands–on. Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus has been garnering a lot of attention, and for good reason. While this book does contain scientific information about octopuses (yes, that’s the correct pluralization) it is mostly as account of the author’s exploration into understanding …
This book was wonderful in that I will never again think of an octopus as being an ugly, wicked animal! The writer shows us what an intelligent being the octopus is. It is almost spiritual the way she describes the numerous eggs the octopus hangs up and how smart they are. They know people who like them and they even tease those people. What …
Fascinating, and told with humor and grace.
Here’s a sweet read written by a mesmerizing storyteller who spins a true novel all about a sea creature that I discovered I knew very little about. This book entertains with so much interesting information that surprises. The octopus lives an intriguing presence in the oceans, and in our Puget Sound.
The author studies octopus in the wild as …
Sy Montgomery learned to scuba dive in her fifties so that she could go down in the ocean far enough to study octopuses in their real setting. This book is full of new, fascinating facts about octopuses. It has been a long time since I read it, but The Soul of an Octopus is one of my very favorite books.
Sy Montgomery has an affinity for animals and writes about them so beautifully.
Who knew how incredible these creatures are…if you don’t think so, you have not read the book!
Last fall I was lucky enough to take a trip to Dauphin Island, Alabama and while there I visited The Esturaium at the Sea Lab. While exploring all the wonderful exhibits I found myself absolutely enchanted by one of it’s inhabitants, an Atlantic Octopus. I could have watched him for hours! I realized that my knowledge of octopuses (NOT octopi) …
Loved the book….Never knew that they had a soul….just beautiful…would recommend it and have many times….
This book was transformational. The Octopus captured my heart and my imagination. It was beautifully written as well.
Expands awareness of nature!
I tried a few times to get into this book and finish it because friends loved it. I never did finish it. I appreciate what is being said, but to me it seemed trite.
FASCINATING!
Enjoyed the intelligence of and interaction with octopus. Was saddened to read of some of the human insensitivity.
Mesmerizing writing about the complex lives of creatures we don’t really know and our relationship to their worlds.
A fascinating foray into the evolutionary origins of consciousness, using the cephalopods (here, the octopus) as a model, since they have clearly developed consciousness but in a far different manner and environment than land creatures.
I felt this book was more about friendship than consciousness. It was very interesting and enjoyable.
This opened a whole new world for me