I enjoyed this octopus book. It’s a little unusual to have three authors, but generally it comes off as one voice with many sidebars describing the individual research or first hand experience of the three. Having three authors may contribute to some repetition, but I looked on that as reinforcement. UPDATE: Spotted the two New England Aquarium Giant Pacific octopuses, Sy and Anna. Sy was in the front tank reaching out with thin tentacles to feel (?) taste (?) see (?) a spiny sea urchin. Amazingly the urchin was also reaching out, waving and stretching its tube feet to meet Sy's tentacles.

This is because the author read it herself and it's purpleness, it's fruitiness was increased by her emphasis on meaningless similes, one after the other. Her favourite word is, 'like' as in the egg trails of the octopus are like a wedding veil but more beautiful than any.... Simile on the next line too, about gossamer cobwebs, diamond air bubbles and golden... AFAIR. Why write one when two can fill the space? Many variations in observed habits are discussed here, but the important thing is that octopuses don’t generally have a long lifespan—usually around two years, though the range is six months to four years, depending on the species. Sexual activity takes place towards the end of the lifespan, the mother often dying shortly after the eggs have successfully hatched. During gestation the mother typically doesn’t eat, neither attracted to food nor interested to attract possible predators to the cave in which she is holed up with a bunch of developing eggs. Her last days are spent spurting oxygenated water over the eggs attached to the walls of caves. While I loved learning more about octopuses, the author’s attempt to muse philosophical fell flat and I didn’t particularly care that a portion of the book was more memoir than about octopuses. But I grew to care about Athena, Octavia, Kali, Karma, with their personality quirks, and couldn’t help but wonder if we can and should do better by them than putting them on display in small habitats. If you do that against an immobile surface, the octopus arm will crawl tip first away from the mouth, as each bit of substrate below it is passed towards the mouth,” says Scheel.When I started this I expected a scientific journal watered down for the non scientific reader. I did not expect it to be a personal journal with some scientific facts thrown in. I was looking for more science, more facts then offered. I was a bit miffed at the personal moments, her diving lessons, her ear troubles, relationships of companions. I wanted more information on the octopus and it fascinating life. Fascinating they are, and there is so much more that we still are far from understanding. More like us than our hubris allows … an octopus in an aquarium in Timmendorfer Strand, Germany. Photograph: Markus Scholz/AP An octopus personality test has been developed which is so well respected it is cited by cognitive neuroscientists and the Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness and signed by many, including Stephen Hawking. FLORIDO: Well one of the humans he observes is Tova, who's 70 years old. She just lost her husband to cancer. But more importantly, she lives, you know, with the unsettled grief of her teenaged son's disappearance at sea 30 years ago. And because of that, she's really stoic. She's emotionally inscrutable, as you describe her. And yet she seems open to Marcellus, in part because maybe she sees his sadness. The Pacific octopus can weigh as much as 110 lbs. and can expand to 16 feet. They can lift 100 lbs. per arm.

I did gain a new appreciation for the octopus. I was amazed by the interactions between the various beings and humans. They are so much more than taught in school. They are complex living creatures with different personalities, moods and fears. Understanding their types of communications comes from a lot of time spent interacting with them. They have gifts that we do not, which makes it hard for us to relate to them. That does not mean that they are brainless, unfeeling beings without conscious thoughts. The octopus has amazing abilities, their brain can have as many as 75 lobes compared to the human 4. It can see in panoramic views. There is new evidence that they may be able to see with their skin to get the perfect camouflage. This is just a small bit of their abilities, they are truly amazing.

Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature’s most intelligent and complex animals. After trying to convince the reader of how complex and intelligent octopuses are, the authors decided it would be a good idea to write entire postscript detailing how anyone can acquire and keep a captive octopus, and even encourage it: “Many people believe that keeping octopuses is extremely difficult, but with proper knowledge and marine aquarium experience, it is doable and fun.” They give detailed instructions on everything from how to obtain one (the options range from purchasing one from a local aquarium store, to using a “diver’s tropical fish-collecting net” while snorkeling, or even using “chemicals”, which the authors are “wary of because of the risk of damage to the octopus” but still provide detailed instructions for, including what dosages to use), to how to transport one over long distances (cephalopods apparently “do not ship well” and even with the most careful of transportation, octopuses are still at risk of suffocating on their own ink or excretions, etc.). At which point Montgomery decides she needs to experience the ocean; would “love to be actually in the real ocean with them.” She wants to be in the very ocean home denied the same octopus she wants to be in the real ocean with. Huh.

However, despite growing recognition that octopuses are intelligent and can feel pain, plans are afoot for octopus farming. Despite many years of reading everything I could about Cephalopods in general and Octopus in particular, and despite have read a fair few papers by two of the authors, this book charmed me. Within the covers, Mathers, Anderson and Wood give us the story of The Octopus from the egg to the end of its life which, often, is the egg laying. There is a final chapter touching upon the rest of the Cephalopods and a Postscript with useful information for anyone who would like to keep an aquarium with an Octopus. VAN PELT: He really does believe that he is the superior species. And he has endless amounts of time to watch the humans. And he has a very sharp observational capacity. And I think he relieves a lot of his boredom by sort of, you know, creating these little soap opera moments and just really honing his observations and his thoughts about humans and how we operate. There is some information on other species in the sea. Some fascinating facts and tidbits to wow you with the gifts of the sea.The body itself is protean, all possibility’ … an octopus hunting in a lagoon on the island of Mayotte near Madagascar. Photograph: Gabriel Barathieu

The book read more like a memoir and as in a lot of books of this genre, it seemed self-aggrandizing. I truly enjoyed the parts where the author concentrated on the qualities, she thought she perceived in the octopuses, but did not enjoy the long passages where she went on about herself. I would have enjoyed more research into these magnificent creatures and less self-praise. Octopuses (and not, as I learned, “octopi”) are fascinating, smart and have distinct personalities; they are able to solve problems and learn new strategies (though, like some other unnamed animals [hint: humans], they still have behavioral blind spots that no amount of new data inputs can override). No one knows how many octopus species exist, but it is estimated there are 100 members of the genus Octopus. Octopuses (not octopussies, everyone) are found at every depth in the ocean and while some are very large (up to 80 lb), most can be measure in millimeters at hatching. And yes, octopuses lay eggs.Montgomery's love of octopuses was so intense that it even got to me. I didn't think I could tear-up reading about the death of an octopus but these eight armed molluscs have so much personality and alien intelligence they seem rather like ET in the movie. Unfortunately there are rather a lot of octopus deaths in the book since they only live about 3 or 4 years. Just about every animal,” Scott says—not just mammals and birds—“can learn, recognize individuals, and respond to empathy.” Once you find the right way to work with an animal, be it an octopus or an anaconda, together, you can accomplish what even Saint Francis might have considered a miracle." Octopuses have their own intelligence that we can’t match,” Wilson said. “And hopefully we’ll learn from our mistakes. That’s the best we can do. After all,” he said, “we’re only human.” Heartache, loss and how friendship can help us get through that kind of pain. They are the themes at the center of a new novel. Its focus is on one particularly endearing friendship between Marcellus and Tova. Marcellus is an octopus who lives in captivity in a small town aquarium on Washington's Puget Sound. Tova is a grieving 70-year-old who works the night shift, cleaning the aquarium. The book is called "Remarkably Bright Creatures." And its author, Shelby Van Pelt, joins us. Welcome, Shelby. Ozone does act as a greenhouse gas, but only in the upper troposphere. The ozone layer itself is in the stratosphere, which is above the troposphere. In the upper troposphere, ozone is short lived, decays much faster than carbon dioxide, and doesn't have a strong global effect. So, as far as I understand it, ozone in the ozone layer is not a greenhouse gas, does not contribute to global warming, and is not actually reduced by plankton no matter where it is. Like trees, plankton acts as a carbon sink, not an ozone sink as they seem to be suggesting. I think what they meant was that plankton reduces the amount of CO2, which is a greenhouse gas, by metabolizing it instead of leaving it to zoom around the atmosphere and heat up the place.