2016 Reading Challenge: A National Book Award Winner

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


It has taken me 24 hours from finishing this book before I could sit down and start writing a review. It took me that long to figure out what issue I had with it. Simply put, I think that it was titled wrong and the blurb misleading.

The blub describes the book as one that "explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus--a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature" an the subtitle says that it is "A surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness". From both I went into this book expecting it to be a combination research/scientific study with a bit of philosophy thrown in. This is not at all what I got.

Instead I got a book about a woman who got to interact with various members of the octopus family and how it made HER think and feel. The only real extent of exploring the consciousness of the octopus... the soul... was for her to occasionally wonder what they were thinking or feeling. there were no profound discoveries about the species that hasn't already been published and presented elsewhere. No delving into what makes up a soul. No "it thinks, there for it is". It was more a Romanization of a species she really seems to have no knowledge about. Or if she does, she certainly didn't share it with the rest of us.

Had this book been sub-titled something else. Had the blurb given more, I might have liked this book more. But as it was, I felt cheated. Lied to even. For what it was... a personal journal like tale, it was good. But for what it was billed as, it was severely lacking.



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