2015 National Book Awards Longlists

[Dave Monroe]

The Soul of an Octopus
Atria/Simon & Schuster


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. 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. 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.
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. 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? The intelligence
of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees was only recently accepted by
scientists, who now are establishing the intelligence of the octopus,
watching them solve problems and deciphering the meaning of their
color-changing camouflage techniques. Montgomery chronicles this
growing appreciation of the octopus, but also tells a love story. By
turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an
Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about consciousness and
the meeting of two very different minds."

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2015_nf_smontgomery.html#.VfylO7RH3os

SUGGESTED LINKS

- symontgomery.com
- Twitter: @SyTheAuthor

On Fri, Sep 18, 2015 at 6:57 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2015.html#.VfykprRH3os
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l