4.3
Non-Fiction
BBC R4 Book of the Week‘Brilliant’ Guardian‘Fascinating and often delightful’ The Times What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?
In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself – a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared.
Tracking the mind’s fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so – a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take.
But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually ‘think for themselves’? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind – and on our own.
© 2017 William Collins (Audiobook): 9780008226305
Release date
Audiobook: 9 March 2017
4.3
Non-Fiction
BBC R4 Book of the Week‘Brilliant’ Guardian‘Fascinating and often delightful’ The Times What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?
In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself – a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared.
Tracking the mind’s fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so – a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take.
But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually ‘think for themselves’? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind – and on our own.
© 2017 William Collins (Audiobook): 9780008226305
Release date
Audiobook: 9 March 2017
Step into an infinite world of stories
Overall rating based on 450 ratings
Informative
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Sunitha
10 Dec 2023
Loved this narration examining the life and precious time of the other intelligent species apart from vertebrates, namely the octopus. Some descriptions are so beautiful that they make you want to cry. Their colors, their behavior, their life cycle, the uniqueness of their interaction with us humans.....wonderful!
Somdeep
19 Dec 2023
We humans think we are the most intelligent species.. are we? Very nice listening. Loved it.
Sourav
9 Jan 2024
Good read 👍🏻
Arun
2 Nov 2023
Mind blowing take on the evolution of life and the depth of the topic around beings like octopus and cuttlefishes. Though the author simplifies the whole world under and over land, the topic is complex and heavy. Loved it nonetheless
Subhransu
22 Jun 2020
It's a good book
English
India