Other Minds

The Octopus and The Evolution of Intelligent Life

By: Peter Godfrey-Smith

Narrated by: Peter Noble

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

A philosopher dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousness.

Peter Godfrey-Smith is a leading philosopher of science. He is also a scuba diver whose underwater videos of warring octopuses have attracted wide notice. In this audiobook he brings his parallel careers together to tell a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself.

Mammals and birds are widely seen as the smartest creatures on earth. But one other branch of the tree of life has also sprouted surprising intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. New research shows that these marvellous creatures display remarkable gifts.

What does it mean that intelligence on Earth has evolved not once but twice? And that the mind of the octopus is nonetheless so different from our own? Combining science and philosophy with firsthand accounts of his cephalopod encounters, Godfrey-Smith shows how primitive organisms bobbing in the ocean began sending signals to each other and how these early forms of communication gave rise to the advanced nervous systems that permit cephalopods to change colours and human beings to speak.

By tracing the problem of consciousness back to its roots and comparing the human brain to its most alien and perhaps most remarkable animal relative, Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds sheds new light on one of our most abiding mysteries.

©2017 Peter Godfrey-Smith (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

amazing world of the octopus

You wouldn't think we'd have that much in common with something that lives in the ocean but the reality is we absolutely do.

This is beautifully written and read, it's compelling and curious with a wonderful.

You can learn a lot about humanity and evolution from this book and I recommend it.

Eye opening and mind-stretching, you’ll never look at octopuses the same way again

A really interesting and mind-stretching book. Among other questions, the author explores ‘what’s it like to be an octopus?’ And the evolutionary origin of the intelligence and the mind. Octopuses form the focus of this exploration as they are one of a small number of animals with large nervous systems and they evolved very separately from other animals we know to be intelligent, like some mammals and birds. I found it really informative on the nature of intelligence, consciousness and evolution and i will never look at these fascinating creatures the same way again. It was a touch dry at some points but as a whole super interesting and enlightening.

A Cephalopod Love Story

Some quite interesting info in parts of the text. Generally too speculative and wishy washy to receive a higher score. A philosopher's work of science rather than a scientist's work of science. Comes across as someone playing at being Edward O. Wilson out of an emphatuation with octopi but lacking the expertise to pull it off.

An interesting and thought provoking book.

I have been thinking about some of the topics and ideas from this book since starting it and I expect for some time. I feel much better informed about cephalopods, and this book fit well my my general interest in consciousness. the narrator was an excellent choice.