I recently read a statement by a biologist that he felt fortunate to study biology because it offered a break from the solipsism of being human. Before reading this (and I desperately wish I could find this article again and quote and cite to this bioligist correctly, but alas it is lost to Facebook scrolling), I had been unable to completely understand why it felt like such a mental health treat to read Sy Montgomery’s Soul of an Octopus.
The book sometimes feels a little self-focused and a little privileged – the author writes very urgently about whether or not she gets to touch an octopus or observe an octopus. But these moments were forgiven by me: first, because Montgomery’s kindness and empathy shine through, and second, because I felt wistful for a non-pandemic time when people’s biggest worries could be whether or not they would get to see an octopus on a deep-sea dive. I knew very little about octopuses and the other sea creatures described here before reading Montgomery’s book, so I felt like a learned a lot. My kids, on the other hand, seemed to already know a lot of what I found amazing. I’d bust into the room and ask: “Did you know Octopuses can change . . .” Only to be interrupted with: “Yeah, they can change colors, we saw that on Wild Kratts or something when we were 4.” But it was all still very exciting to me. I think I may have been lucky, as opposed to reviewers KimMiE” and Sophia, because I hadn’t seen My Octopus Teacher on Netflix before reading this and otherwise was very uneducated on cephalopods so more of the information was new to me. I now plan to watch My Octopus Teacher, so thank you, fellow Cannonball Readers!
Montgomery loves the creatures she studied and her love and respect are contagious. I enjoyed reading about the intelligence and awareness of creatures I knew so little about. A valid criticism reviewer KimMiE” outlines is that Montgomery doesn’t really question whether it is right to keep octopuses in captivity. I also would have liked for her to explore this.
Overall, I savored this book and found it provided a nice respite from quarantine life.
I was trying to find your article because it seemed interesting, and found these two instead:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/jellyfish-sexbots-and-the-solipsism-problem/ and https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-i-know-im-not-the-only-conscious-being-in-the-universe/.
As someone who’s vegan for religious reasons but has nevertheless gotten grouped in/asked to stand in for those who follow the diet for reasons around ethics and animal rights, the question of consciousness and animals is one I’ve thought about. So glad I have found a new avenue of doing the thinking from reading your review!
Thank you so much for taking the time to find these two articles. They are very interesting. Your journey with veganism sounds very thoughtful.