Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness

Kali dies. It is absolutely gut wrenching and didn’t need to happen. She spent her whole life cooped up and when she was moved to a tank that they hadn’t ensured was octopus proof, she escaped and died. The fact that they didn’t have a 24/7 watch on her despite knowing that it might not be secure is shockingly lax.

The author does not do nearly enough exploration into what it means to hold such intelligent creatures in captivity, especially non-display animals. Really disappointing and I couldn’t keep reading even though I was almost done.

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cakemouse's review

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emotional informative reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

4.0

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laneyreadz's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

I enjoyed this book a lot, but it did have some slow moments throughout. I found the chapters named after the octopuses to be the strongest and most interesting. I definitely recommend if you already love the animal and want to learn more about them!

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s_marie's review against another edition

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For an author that claims to love octopuses so much, it's pretty disturbing not seeing her really question the aquarium keeping such an intelligent, sentient being in a completely bare pickle barrel for MONTHS. Even musing about why it seems Kali, a young octopus, doesn't seem to want to go back into her barrel. I wonder why??! Not only that, the author even says she'd love to have an octopus in her own house but her husband wasn't into the idea and that ultimately it wouldn't be "good for her marriage." I stopped reading after the aquarium finally moves Kali into a larger tank, where the staff are apparently in awe at how big she actually is because I guess she was never able to actually stretch out fully before. And that very same night, after the aquarium workers questioned that maybe the lid of the larger enclosure they put her in might not be octopus-proof, Kali escapes the lid, falls out of the enclosure and dies on the floor. This scene was a glaring showcase of human cruelty in my eyes....they had named Kali after a powerful god, and then proceeded to keep her stuffed in a barrel. And then didn't even take enough care to keep her safe when they moved her. And THEN the aquarium just ups and buys a new baby octopus without having solved the space problem that contributed to Kali's barrel-cage of 8 months and later death. I know a lot of people apparently got a lot out of this book but I found a lot of it cruel and self-absorbed.

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kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

5.0

I have never been so moved by a book before. It's beautifully written. You instantly fall in love with everyone, vertebrate or invertebrate. You learn so much about so many different animals, people and beliefs. I cannot recommend it enough, I'm seriously considering rereading it already because there's so much to take in.

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