• Other Minds

  • The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
  • By: Peter Godfrey-Smith
  • Narrated by: Peter Noble
  • Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (2,080 ratings)

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Other Minds  By  cover art

Other Minds

By: Peter Godfrey-Smith
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Publisher's summary

Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousness in Other Minds

Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off lightbulbs by spouting jets of water, plug drains, and make daring escapes. How is it that a creature with such gifts evolved through an evolutionary lineage so radically distant from our own? What does it mean that evolution built minds not once but at least 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 subjective experience crept into being—how nature became aware of itself. As Godfrey-Smith stresses, it is a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind’s fitful development, Godfrey-Smith shows how unruly clumps of seaborne cells began living together and became capable of sensing, acting, and signaling. As these primitive organisms became more entangled with others, they grew more complicated. The first nervous systems evolved, probably in ancient relatives of jellyfish; later on, the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous mollusks, abandoned their shells and rose above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so. Taking an independent route, mammals and birds later began their own evolutionary journeys.

But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? Drawing on the latest scientific research and his own scuba-diving adventures, Godfrey-Smith probes the many mysteries that surround the lineage. 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”? What happens when some octopuses abandon their hermit-like ways and congregate, as they do in a unique location off the coast of Australia?

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.

©2016 Peter Godfrey-Smith (P)2016 Harper Collins

Critic reviews

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

One of the Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2016 and a Top Ten Science Book of Fall 2016, Publishers Weekly

"A philosophy professor focuses on one of our most distant human ancestors, the octopus, in this provocative audiobook about the evolution of intelligence. Narrator Peter Noble is a wonderful fit for the material. Along with his measured fascination with these issues and his intelligent-sounding South African accent, he conveys the warmth necessary to keep listeners connected to the often esoteric material." - AudioFile

"If this is philosophy, it works, because Godfrey-Smith is a rare philosopher who searches the world for clues. Knowledgeable and curious, he examines, he admires. His explorations are good-natured. He is never dogmatic, yet startlingly incisive." —Carl Safina, The New York Times Book Review

"A philosopher of science and experienced deep-sea diver, Godfrey-Smith has rolled his obsessions into one book, weaving biology and philosophy into a dazzling pattern that looks a lot like the best of pop science. He peppers his latest book with vivid anecdotes from his cephalopod encounters . . . [and] relates dramatic stories of mischief made by captive octopuses . . . [but] his project is no less ambitious than to work out the evolutionary origins of subjective experience . . . The result is an incredibly insightful and enjoyable book." —Meehan Crist, The Los Angeles Times

Featured Article: Dive Deep on Our Blue Planet This World Ocean Day


Earth’s oceans and the many ecosystems housed within them are foundational to all life, on sea and land alike. And yet, international waterways face greater threats than ever, imperiled by factors including climate change, pollution and plastic debris, offshore drilling, and destructive fishing practices. We’ve curated a collection of listens to inspire you to learn more and take action to recognize, restore, and protect the sea and all its inhabitants.

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Mischief and Craft

"When you dive into the sea, you are diving into the origin of us all."
- Peter Godfrey-Smith, Other Minds

"Mischief and craft are plainly seen to be characteristics of this creature."
- Claudius Aelianus, 3rd Century A.D., writing about the octopus

It is always fascinating reading a biology book that seems to resemble a physics book, or an economics book that borrows heavily from psychology. Cross-pollination and flexibility to squeeze into other academic boxes always pleases me. So, when I discovered a book that looks at the philosophy of cognition by examining the brains and evolution of cephalopods (primarily octopuses and cuttlefish) I was excited. One reason is my love for octopuses (while almost accidental) goes back nearly ten years. For most of the time I've had an Audible account, my avatar has been an octopus. Friends buy me Cthulhu masks and plush dolls (I'm still not sure what one does long-term with a Cthulhu doll. How long can you appropriately cuddle with an Elder God doll before it becomes creepy?).

Anyway, Godfrey-Smith uses the development of the Cephalopod brain as a way to highlight our own brain's development and also as a way to highlight different ways cognition may appear in other life forms. The unique neural patterns/structure in Octopuses makes the way they see the world significantly different than the way we see the world (despite our separately evolved, but similar eyes). As Godfrey-Smith also points out -- an octopus is probably the closest we will come to examining another mind:

"If we want to understand other minds, the minds of cephalopods are the most other of all" (p10).

As YouTube shows, part of the appeal of Octopuses is how they, for an animal so different from us (it is closer to a slug than us biologically) seems to flirt with behaviors that are both close to us (playful, clever, petty) and also completely foreign. They seem to exits in a weird uncanny valley that attracts us. How can we not be fascinated by something that seems to have almost dropped her from another planet, but acts a bit like a cat. Octopuses, and their brains, reminds me of the famous Montaigne quote about his cat:

When I Am Playing With My Cat, How Do I Know She Is Not Playing With Me?

Indeed. When we are watching octopuses on YouTube, they seem to be equally fascinated with us. It is strange and lovely, and opens up a lot of questions about what it means to be alive, to think, to have a subjective experience. Peter Godfrey-Smith moves well along this path and asks most of the big questions I would want asked. Many answers, however, seem largely unanswerable. But like a philosopher is want, he still asks.

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45 people found this helpful

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  • 05-24-17

suprisingly deep

i expected a more observation based book with some interesting facts but it appeared to be way more. there are consciousness theories, evolution and other deeper things discussed inside.

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34 people found this helpful

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Interesting and deep.

This book was interesting, fascinating, and Illuminating. as a biology major, I won't lie, my favorite parts were when the book delved more into the evolutionary history of cephalopods and the one-on-one encounters with these intelligent creatures. But, I really did appreciate the depth to which the author explained that same evolutionary path philosophically. towards the latter half of the book, when things started getting really heavy philosophically, I did have a little trouble actively listening. that being said, finishing out the book, things had a very roundabout way of coming back to the importance of this diversion early on and evolutionary history of the creation of complex thought. forgive me if my review seems a little scattered but, I did very much enjoy this book. I listen to it through Audible and it didn't take very long. the narrator was quite enjoyable and the flow of his speech was very relaxing yet kept me very engaged. Thank you Peter Noble. lol.

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24 people found this helpful

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if Philosophy and biology had a baby

This book is a happy marriage between philosophy and biology. It is captivating and enjoyable. I also think this is an interesting book for anyone who considers to or already work in academia.

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15 people found this helpful

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Enjoyable, intelligent yet still understandable

Sprinkled with lovely little tidbits and factoids about aquatic life. Great book. Great narration. Nice cover too. I can't say that sketch of the Octopus didn't draw me in.

I now know much more about Octopuses and have more material with which to theorize about human (and animal?) thought process when I recreationally toss around different ideas during my fits of amateur philosophizing.

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13 people found this helpful

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Wanted to love it, still liked it a lot

Good balance of marine biology and psychology. I'll never look at takoyaki the same again.

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9 people found this helpful

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Conflicted About This Book

The book is enjoyable and does deliver some very interesting ideas. I have to remind myself that this is a book written by a philosopher and not a scientist. That's not to demean the book, merely to set it on its proper shelf. I love science and fact so I wish there was more science in the book.

On the other hand, the philosophical ideas are pretty rich. I have never considered the octopus as having a brain which evolved on a totally different track from the mammalian brain. Having a distributed brain is an interesting bit of physiology to ponder too.

While I didn't love this book, I did like it enough to recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.

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8 people found this helpful

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Lots about evolution

Seemed like half the content was about evolution and I expected more evidence about their kind of intelligence. Some interesting content.

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7 people found this helpful

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some parts were hard to follow, but interesting

great book about Cephalopods and consciousness. some parts were hard to listen to while doing chores due to the complexity of some of the scientific explanations, but worth a listen while relaxing or in the car.

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Fascinating and insightful.

what a great book. And a stellar performance by Peter Noble. It is both thought provoking and educational and it's written in a 2ay that takes you along on a journey. and you can't help becoming fascinated by cephalopods along tge way.

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