But with a beak like a parrot, venom like a snake, and a tongue covered with teeth, how can such a being know anything? And what sort of thoughts could it think? Octopuses have varied personalities and intelligence they show in myriad ways: endless trickery to escape enclosures and get food jetting water playfully to bounce objects like balls and evading caretakers by using a scoop net as a trampoline and running around the floor on eight arms. Since then Sy has practiced true immersion journalism, from New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, pursuing these wild, solitary shape-shifters. Sy Montgomery’s popular 2011 Orion magazine piece, “Deep Intellect,” about her friendship with a sensitive, sweet-natured octopus named Athena and the grief she felt at her death, went viral, indicating the widespread fascination with these mysterious, almost alien-like creatures. In this astonishing book from the author of the bestselling memoir The Good Good Pig, Sy Montgomery explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus-a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature-and the remarkable connections it makes with humans. Library Journal Best Sci-Tech Book of 2015Īn American Library Association Notable Book of the Year One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodreads “One of the best science books of the year” - Science Friday, NPRĪ Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year

Starred Booklist and Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick

“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 Finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction

The soul of an octopus book review