Other Minds

An exploration of the minds of cephalopods (octopus, cuttlefish, squid) who are among the smartest creatures in the animal kingdom, while also being furthest removed from human brains, on the evolutionary tree of origin. Which makes them the most interesting “other minds” around, to study.

All the anecdotal descriptions of the cephalopod world, their sneaky behaviors, their watchful eyes, their forming of underwater society octopolis, and many more, were fascinating. The image of the lab-kept octopus with an attitude, who rejected its unsatisfactory meal by demonstratively dropping it into the tank's filter drain, while also making sure that the keeper watched, will definitely stick :)

It's also interesting to learn about the octopus's distributed neural system, and their color-changing and color-sensing skin. Such a crime that most of these fascinating creatures only get to live 2-3 years. All in all good read, but the book slightly lost me when it left the octopi world and dug more into general theories of consciousness.