Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 10/28/2022 + 1178 more book reviews

This was an interesting book about the author's love and dealings with octopuses and other denizens of the deep and elsewhere. Sy Montgomery is a German born, American naturalist, author and scriptwriter. In SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS, she "explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus and the connections it makes with people." As I was reading this, I couldn't help but relate it to my granddaughter's favorite TV show, Spongebob Squarepants. The book not only discusses octopuses (not octopi), but also other creatures such as starfish, crabs, and plankton. Her description of a large orange sunflower sea star fits Patrick to a tee: "with an arm span of more than two feet...this largest of all the species has no eyes, no face, and no BRAIN!" Then the intelligence of octopuses reflects Sqiuidward, the smartest of the Spongebob cast....

But seriously, the book really gives a life and death overview of octopus. Montgomery travels frequently to the New England aquarium to relate first hand with the sea life there. She gets to know the staff and volunteers there including a young autistic girl who is enthralled by the octopus. She is able to feel the octopus as they grab onto her arm with its tentacles (not sure If would be able to do this).


The octopuses encountered by Montgomery have very different personalities and show their cleverness in many different ways. These include escaping from their enclosures, jetting water at people to get attention, and playing tricks to get food. Unfortunately, octopuses don't live very long--only a few years--so when one is nearing its end, the aquarium gets a new one to fill its place. However, in some cases the new octopus has to live in a dark barrel for many months before it takes the old one's place. This seemed a little cruel to me given the intelligence and cleverness of the species. Sometimes I feel that animals should be left alone and not put in zoos or aquariums but then again this would be prohibitive to science.

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