redrosemoth's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

3.5


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mlynch133's review

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informative lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

3.25


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sapphic_in_the_stacks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

A narrative nonfiction story that details the author's journey observing and befriending octopuses at the New England Aquarium. From her first encounter, she was hooked and began to dedicate time to learning about octopuses and visiting often.
After the first octopus she meets and bonds with dies suddenly, she grieves her friend while also finding joy in meeting the new, young octopus who takes her place.
She goes on to meet several octopuses as they come to the aquarium, and forge friendships with a group that shares her interests. That group includes several aquarists, as well as aquarium volunteers, and octopus enthusiasts who spend time observing the octopuses with her. The author goes on to learn how to scuba dive in order to observe wild octopuses, she discusses her journey to become certified as well as her several trips. Throughout the book, there is a running thread the author continues to return to on the nature of consciousness, and how it relates to humans, octopuses, and friendship. 

I read this book after it was recommended to me by my tattoo artist. She said that it was a narrative nonfiction that read like a fiction book, and I think it lived up to that description! The narrative was well paced, and I never felt bored or like I was just waiting for the next thing to happen. The factual information was written in a way that felt like you were learning alongside the author, rather than being dictated to, which made for a much smoother read in my opinion. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this read. 

*Disclaimer: There were a few instances of insensitive, outdated, or challenged language. I will include censored versions of the words I picked up below tagged as "spoilers" for anyone who would like to know or potentially avoid this word usage. Topics included language used to refer to Autistic individuals, and words derived from language used to refer to Romani people. 
Word used: g*pped, Discussion of:  Asp*rger S*ndrome
 

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cammiem8's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I couldn’t put this one down! I learned so much about octopuses and the author does a fantastic job of framing the information around her stories of encounters with octopuses in the wild and at the aquarium. This is a great introduction to the subject, a very quick and easy read. 

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