This is a really good book for naturalists about soulfully connecting with animals!
The title piqued my curiosity and then the content dazzled me. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery was the perfect book to listen to while sculpting my spirit animals out of clay.
I was skeptical when the audiobook started up and declared “read by author.” There are very good reasons why most audiobooks are read by professional voice actors. If you’re not famous, then you don’t read your own audiobook. But, Sy surprised me.
She read the book well and wrote it with mastery.
This gem of a book exists in that special category that pulls all aspects of a subject together in a beautiful, holistic way. The Soul of an Octopus is an entertaining page-turning read packed with all kinds of interesting scientific facts and all wrapped up in a soul-deepening/mind-opening overall message.
Who needs a good fiction book when people are writing nonfiction books like this one?! And about the human connection with the wild, natural world, too!
Here’s my favorite passage from the book:
(I had to stop sculpting and rewind the tape to jot this gem down!)
“Expanding our minds beyond the self allows us to relieve our loneliness, to allow us to connect to, what Jung called, universal consciousness. The original, inherited state that is shared with all minds. It unites us with what Plato called, the animus mundi, the all extensive world soul, share by all of life. Through meditation, drugs or physical ordeals, certain cultures encourage seeking altered states to commune with the spirits of animals whose wisdom may seem hidden from us in ordinary life.”
Sy’s experiences with octopuses are so special.
Really, is there any experience more fulfilling than to be acknowledged and befriended by a different species of animal? A big thank you to Sy for so accessibly sharing her close moments with octopuses. I have never touched one, but now I very much want to!
Click here to put this special book on your Christmas wish list, if you love animals, then you won’t be disappointed!