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

Posted On June 6, 2022

Hi Readers! I had decided to read more of nonfiction this year. I read three books so far, of which 2 I loved (Factfulness & The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) and the third one was a self-help book which I did not enjoy (Do Epic Shit.) I realized I didn’t read any in the last two months, so I decided to read one in June right at the beginning. The Soul of an Octopus was a scientific nonfiction books. This sub-genre is one that I have found to love. I read Why Fish Don’t Exist which made me really obsess with science nonfiction. Although, The Soul of an Octopus turned out to be quite a disappointing read.

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

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.

~~QUOTE~~

“Here is an animal with venom like a snake, a beak like a parrot, and ink like an old-fashioned pen. It can weigh as much as a man and stretch as long as a car, yet it can pour its baggy, boneless body through an opening the size of an orange. It can change color and shape. It can taste with its skin. Most fascinating of all, I had read that octopuses are smart.”

~~WHAT I ENJOYED~~

When I read the first half of the title: The Soul of an Octopus, I was immediately intrigued. And then when I read the next half of the title: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness, I was sold! I knew I had to read it. But, soon I realised that the book title was too ambitious to ever match up with the content and writing style.

There are only a few things which kept me reading. Initially, I was amazed by finding out some random, weird and wonderful facts about octopuses. I was even liking the little stories of the author and her visits to the aquarium. So, the start of the book was quite good. I also liked how two of the octopuses in the book are named after considering Hinduism. The symbolism of Goddess Kali and the concept of karma was a refresher to read when it was not incorrectly or humorously written. It felt good to have the tiny bit of representation.

Lastly, I think the highlight of this novel for me was the inspiration to visit an aquarium and maybe even volunteer some of my time there. I do not have one fiber of being where I would proactively go out for anything, but this book made me think about doing that. And I’m sure it will make you more interested in marine life and octopuses.

~~WHAT I DID NOT ENJOY~~

~~Writing Style~~

When it comes to this genre, I feel that all authors need to write with the assumption that the readers know nothing. But Sy Montgomery took a different approach. Because of this, the writing looks a lot unstructured. It is also a lot random where you don’t exactly learn anything in a proper format. Facts are just strewn about throughout the book interspersed with other things. For Example, in ‘Why We Sleep’, Matthew Walker has written about facts, science & stories amazingly well so that the combination makes sense and also the readers get to actually learn from it. The Soul of an Octopus lacked that in a major way.

Another thought was that the book is written in a linear way. There aren’t multiple story lines. There aren’t proper introductions to aquarists or biologists. Everything is just too random as if the author is writing in her person diary. This was my major problem with the book. And since the author has written several books, I had not expected to struggle with it.

In continuation to an annoying writing style, I also felt that the author often drifted from octopus to talk about turtles or arowanas or fish or snakes. I get that they all are marine creatures, but if a book is titled for an octopus, then honestly any other random facts thrown with respect to other animals are not going to interest me. Not only does it make it more confusing, but it also breaks the reading link.

I also felt that the chapter ‘Transformation’ should have either been scrapped or else written in a manner that would connect to the holistic essence of the book. It did neither so it was a bit boring for me.

~~What Was Missing~~

I was surprised that there was nothing about the climate crises in the book. This was published in 2015 which is not long ago for the author to not have an insight into how climate change affects octopuses. We see so many articles about the snow melting, water levels rising, corals dying, species going endangered and so on. When there was nothing of the sort mentioned in relation to octopus or even marine life at large, I was disappointed.

Lastly, there were just some hints thrown about in the form of questions, musings and thoughts regarding how studying octopuses can lead to a study of consciousness. But, there was literally nothing concrete in terms of what was in the title of the book itself.

~~SOME FACTS YOU MAY KNOW & SOME YOU MAY NOT~~

1. An octopus can taste with its skin.
2. It is the fastest growing animal on the planet.
3. Only two in 100,000 hatchlings survive to sexual maturity.
4. Octopuses have 3 hearts.
5. They have 1600 suckers on their arms and can control each individually.
6. They have memory, can dream and have the power to empathize.
7. Octopuses are brilliant.

So, that is all that I have to say. I will be doing an even better research when I pick my next nonfiction book. I have rated The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery at 3/5 stars. Have you read this book? Did you learn anything from it?

Until next time,