The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
by Sy Montgomery
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CBS Sunday Morning chats with author + octopus footage
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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.”
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Author gives in-depth discourse on octopuses plus photos
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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.
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Author describes friendships with octopuses in TEDx format
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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.”
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Author describes deep relationships with octopuses that led to book
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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.
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