The Soul of an Octopus

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery 261 pp.

I've always found Octopuses (yes, that's the correct plural) to be fascinating creatures. After reading this book I'm even more fascinated. The author's research, including personal contact and ultimately "friendships" with the 8 armed residents of the New England Aquarium in Boston as well as encounters in the wild while working with other researchers. Each of the aquarium's specimens had distinct behaviors and personalities that demonstrated a consciousness beyond what most people expect of cephalopods. The captive octopuses, named Athena, Octavia, Kali, and Karma,  were curious about the people taking care of them and expressed a kind of affection by gently using their suckers to explore the hand and arms of their caretakers. Octopus ingenuity is exhibited in a number of online videos showing large specimens exploring and escaping through the tiniest of openings as did one at the aquarium who unfortunately died from being out of water for too long. One even managed to steal an entire bucket of food by distracting the humans present with tentacle cuddles. This book makes me want to find an aquarium with opportunities to "pet the octopus." Highly recommended.

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness

 Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke (2021) 352 pages

I read this non-fiction graphic novel on the Libby app. The chapter breakdown is Listen, Watch, Click, Touch, Listen. Within these sections Radtke references various social psychology studies. She shares personal stories and probes our American cultural habits. Certain pages combine visuals and text in an especially meaningful way that I wish I could share as a meme on social media. However, the overall connection between the concepts felt disjointed. Each old generation blames new technology for breaking down how connected we are to those close to us. Radtke also shows that technology should not be the scapegoat for our sense of isolation. Loneliness is surely a complex concept to study. Ultimately this doesn't entirely succeed in tying together the different approaches to thinking about loneliness into a deeper understanding of the issue, and what to do about it, if we see it as a problem.

The Soul of an Octopus

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery, 261 pages

In this fascinating non-fiction book, Montgomery details her experiences with several octopuses (not octopi!) while volunteering at the New England Aquarium in Boston. She originally started volunteering as a chance to observe octopuses and get to know more about the fascinating creatures, but over the course of a few years, Montgomery got to know them, as much as any human can get to know a water-dwelling invertebrate, and eventually began planning world travels based around diving to seek them out in the wild.

Half-memoir, half-nature book, this is a touching, intriguing look into the most adaptable and intelligent creatures on earth (and yes, I am including humans in this estimation — some of Montgomery's stories bear this out!). Well worth the read, or listen.

Supernavigators

Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way by David Barrie  301 pp.

David Barrie, not to be confused with humorist Dave Barry, explains the science behind the abilities of different living creatures to navigate their surroundings. Many people know about the "dance" performed by bees to share directions to food sources or new hives. But how do animals know which way to go when they migrate? How do fish and sea mammals find their way in the depths of the ocean? How do the swallows return to Capistrano on schedule and Arctic Terns make their way from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again? It can't all be visual because their travel continues even in storms, fog, and the dark of night. Scientists around the world have studied this question and have proved or come near to proving that most use a variety of inborn methods including auditory, optical, and olfactory senses as well as the ability to detect the magnetism of the earth itself. This book examines the science behind all this and proposes even more questions about the mysterious abilities in the animal kingdom. 

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, 308 pages.
Rosemary tells us the tale of her broken family. Her brother Lowell left years ago and something happened to her sister, Fern. Rosemary doesn't tell us what right away, she lets her secrets out gradually. Fern was a chimpanzee raised as Rosemary's sister as part of her father's experiment.
Fowler tells of a time when this was a common sort of experiment with half-a-dozen animal-family experiments going on around the country. Lowell and Rosemary are left broken by the splitting of their family, and they both have to find a way to go on.
An engaging tale of family secrets, good intentions, and tragic results.

Animals Make Us Human

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin  352 pp.

Dr. Grandin has made the study of animal behavior her life's work. This book is mainly a discussion on the unique behavior's of different species including domestic dogs and cats as well as farm animals. She also delineates problems in the meat, poultry, and egg industry and delineates ways in which the animals can and should be treated humanely up to and including the slaughtering process. Many of these improvements in animal handling are actually more cost effective than what is being done now. Most of the time just retraining the handlers is all that's necessary. Much of her understanding of animal behavior has been learned from her own close observation of animals and relates them to her own thought processes as an autistic person. She also bemoans the fact that much of the study in animal behavior is now done strictly through computer modeling rather than observation in the field when ideally, both methods should be used. This is an interesting and informative book, now if only all the animal producers would listen to her.