Octopus!: The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea

By Katherine Harmon Courage

Book Overview

"A pleasant, chatty book on a fascinating subject." -- Kirkus Reviews Octopuses have been captivating humans for as long as we have been catching them. Yet for all of our ancient fascination and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591845270
• ISBN13: 9781591845270
• Release Date: October 2013
• Publisher: Current
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.9" x 6.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Charming!!

Unfortunately, I stopped reading halfway through so … blah. Not the author’s/subjects’ fault! I read half of it one sitting so very readable and engaging. I would describe Katherine H Courage as a cross between … Mary Roach and perhaps David Quannam. Her wording is hilarious and the visuals she provides in place of photographs are amazing! I really loved the questions she asked and tried to get answers to. This book is admirable because KHC isn’t into marine biology, let alone octopuses specifically and she isn’t an animal/science writer. And yet we have this gem of a book. I found it to be utterly fascinating and cannot wait to get newer books to see what’s been discovered (they were just getting to the DNA when this was published in 2013). The only thing I could have done without was the multiple cuisine descriptions but I hate calamari so doubt i’d enjoy octopus … so wouldn’t consider this a complaint or slowing the book down. (Oh - one complaint. Or two. There aren’t any color pictures. Just scattered black and white photographs. Not questioning the quality of her sources, but it was disappointing to see so many online sources. But if you’re reading it in 2026 and beyond, that might not matter.) If you just what an introduction to octopuses, I recommend this. It will definitely be a starting point on your love of octopuses 🙂

Wow! What?

The octopus is an amazing creature and the more that is learned about them expands the awe and wonder about this complex, ancient animal. Their history reaches further back than that of dinosaurs! This book adds considerable research and observations about this mysterious, intelligent being, even acknowledging character and personality to specific octopuses (not “octopi” as many of us have referred to the plural). Curiously, despite their uncanny and instantaneous ability to change their appearance, researchers have discovered that octopuses are color blind! As a nonscientist, portions of this book are difficult to follow, but other portions serve to amaze. My experience reading this book offers many responses of What?! And many others of Wow! There were enough Wows nevertheless to satisfy even this nonscientist and increase my respect and curiosity for this incredible cephalopod.