Octopus, Squid, and Cuttlefish: A Visual, Scientific Guide to the Oceans’ Most Advanced Invertebrates First Edition, Kindle Edition

A lovely and enlightening book about the most beautiful of all molluscs, although some may think the snails and oysters more beautiful. It is a useful book because, as the authors explain, modern biotechnology are looking into this group to solve our problems since cephalopods (as this group are known) ‘have attributes that society and industry would like to incorporate into modern devices’ – such as the octopus inspired flexible robotic arm.Octopuses have eight arms, squids have a tubular shape but not naturally buoyant, and cuttlefish are like squids but have a ‘cuttlebone’ which they use to pump air in order to stay buoyant. They all have large brains and the octopus is regarded as an intelligent creature. There is a chapter on how intelligence is evaluated in these animals. The account of the Common European Cuttlefish as a wily predator is fascinating.This book traces the 500 million years of evolution of these cephalopods, and the effect of climate change on their continued evolution. The descriptions of the various species and types of these lovely sea creatures are accompanied by excellent photographs of the highest quality.Although this is a larger book than usual, it is not unwieldy, nor is it heavy. The chapter on world fisheries and consumption of these animals (some are poisonous but others are delicious) is educational and after reading and understanding them, we might change our dietary preferences.

If only I had had books with photos like these when I was a kid back in the dim past of the early 20th century..... instead of tiny black and white photos and line drawings in a 1944 encyclopedia. Ah, well, better late than never. You will be entranced by this book. Yep, the anatomy and physiology descriptions are somewhat above the ordinary layman, but you still be mesmerized by the intelligence and beauty of these cephalopods, part of the wondrous natural world that I just ache to be able to preserve against degradation and exploitation.

My 7 year old daughter is obsessed with Octopodes and anything cephalopod related. We have exhausted every kids book out there learning about these amazing creatures, but her thirst for knowledge is unabated. I ordered this book hoping it would actually give her the information she was craving...and it delivered! I read it aloud to her and she loves it! The book is written at a high school/college level, but I’m able to explain big concepts to her and she will sit looking at the pictures for hours. If you want a book with beautiful pictures and more than cursory information about these mysterious creatures, this book is perfect,

This is such a great book! We are very pleased with it! The pictures are beautiful, the book itself is sturdy, and there's great information in it! We have been reading it and looking through it almost every day since it arrived. Very pleased with the purchase!

I would not call this a scholarly work, but if you're looking for more information about cephalopods than you'd find on Wikipedia, this is a beautiful book. Superb photographs, interesting text. Highly recommended for the non-specialist.

Fantastic, really fantastic photos throughout. Very interesting text/content.

My almost four year old son is obsessed with sea creatures and this was a wonderful book, he’s obsessed!

This is a great present for my daughter

I am in love with cuttlefish after watching them in a certain well known series. Plus I have a house rabbit whose face, in repose, often looks like a cuttlefish's, which I find very endearing indeed. I have always loved octopuses - octopi - and squids are cool too, so this book was made for me with beautiful photographs and interesting information that is not too much for a layman to follow. Perfect. I am so very pleased to have bought it.

A well-written, informative guide with lots of great photos. However, I found it quite strange that they couldn't make room for a species description of either the Giant- or Colossal- squid. Apart from an extremely brief mention in a section about giants, there is virtually no mention of either species. Surely they could have extended the book by a couple of pages or even removed 2 of the profiles of the more obscure species, as I'm pretty certain that the vast majority of readers would have been more interested to read about the larger specimens.

Beautiful imagery

Really pretty, nice book, really happy about it !

Um baita livro para qualquer entusiasta de cefalópodes. A linguagem é fácil e acessível, bem detalhada (não a ponto de ser um livro técnico, porém). Cada capítulo trata de temas gerais sobre a biologia desses animais, se encerrando com uma série de fichas de algumas das mais representativas espécies. Tudo muito bem ilustrado, as fotos são um show à parte!