The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
by Sy Montgomery
Related videos
7:00
CBS Sunday Morning chats with author + octopus footage
83K
1K
Aug, 2020
Spoiler:
Passionately speaking about the grace, intelligence, and playfulness of the octopus, the author insists that you would have to go outer space to come up with a creature more different from us. She says that Hollywood has unfairly demonized this beautiful animal, which has multiple brains: one large, central brain and eight mini-brains, one in each arm. Montgomery emphasizes their playfulness, saying that “play is one of those characteristics of higher minds.”
59:26
Author gives in-depth discourse on octopuses plus photos
62K
767
Oct, 2015
Spoiler:
Saying that she wants to share a bit of her “octopus odyssey,” the author observes that this journey changed her “thinking about thinking,” and that this change is at the heart of her book. She offers perhaps little-known facts about octopuses: they have three hearts, blue blood, “shocking strength,” their mouths are in their armpits, and they love to play with Legos and Mr. Potato Head. She movingly describes the feeling of having an octopus recognize you, respond to you, and seek you out.
20:04
Author describes friendships with octopuses in TEDx format
53K
1K
Apr, 2014
Spoiler:
In describing her first meeting with Athena the octopus, the author says that “across half a billion years of evolution, we’d had a meeting of the minds.” She then goes beyond her favorite animal to make a case that a wide variety of animals “think and feel and experience consciousness.” The fact that chimpanzees make tools, for example, shows that they don’t simply live in the present but anticipate the future. She says that despite what some linguists might say, “you don’t need language to think.”
2:23
Author describes deep relationships with octopuses that led to book
9K
104
Dec, 2015
Spoiler:
Saying that each relationship she has formed with an octopus has made her a more compassionate person, the author describes her friendship with Octavia, an octopus who arrived to the New England Aquarium very wary of humans. Octavia grew to relish her interaction with people, recognizing them and singling out her favorites. The author had the privilege of watching her lay and tend her eggs, calling her “mom of the year” and, after a separation, reunited with Octavia in the animal’s old age.
Follow the author
Ask Albert:
Rate the book
⚡️ Find Out Even More Wisdom
"The season of puppyhood feels as if it will last forever, but it is truly a blip in time. Savor each moment."
"A place filled with so much wonder, replete with so many layers of complexity, that there is nothing else like it, anywhere."
"We are closer than ever to understanding what it is like to be another animal, but we have made it harder than ever for other animals to be."
"Our relationship with the microbes that live within us is not just one of coexistence, but one of mutualism and symbiosis."
recommends
"The beauty of evolution is that it can explain both the diversity and the unity of life."
"The only way to achieve global harmony with nature is by rewilding the world."
"According to a growing body of research, some birds rival primates, dolphins, and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence."
"The bond between a mother koala and her joey is strong, with the young clinging to her back or belly for several months."
"People who climb mountains are like artists—obsessive, driven, and slightly mad."
"The human body is the product of three billion years of evolutionary tweaking. It is a wonder of optimization."
“Representing fidelity, self-reliance, strength, and courage, the founding bird quickly attained a vaunted perch in America’s iconography.”
"When a food becomes endangered, another seed lost, another skill forgotten, it is worth remembering the epic story of how they got here."
"Our food system has the single biggest impact on the climate. It affects every inch of our planet and every creature on it."