Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life (Collins Modern Classics) - Softcover

Godfrey-Smith, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0008485151 ISBN 13: 9780008485153

Publisher: William Collins, 2021

Synopsis

Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience – classics which will endure for generations to come.

What if intelligent life on earth not only evolved on land, but also in the sea?

Other Minds is a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself – a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind’s fitful development over millennia, Other Minds explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods. What kind of intelligence do they possess? And how did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart?

Heralded as the ‘scuba-diving philosopher’ when Other Minds first published, Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the underwater world and the concept of sentience to trace the question of inner life back to its roots. By comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Other Minds casts crucial new light on the octopus mind – and on our own.

Peter Godfrey-Smith's book 'OTHER MINDS' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-05-2021.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Godfrey-Smith is a distinguished professor of history and the philosophy of science at the University of Sydney. He is the author of four books, including Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection, which won the 2010 Lakatos Award for an outstanding work on the philosophy of science. His underwater videos of octopuses have been featured in National Geographic and New Scientist.

From the Back Cover

Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience – classics which will endure for generations to come.

What if intelligent life on earth not only evolved on land, but also in the sea?

Other Minds is a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself – a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind’s fitful development over millennia, Other Minds explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods. What kind of intelligence do they possess? And how did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart?

Heralded as the ‘scuba-diving philosopher’ when Other Minds first published, Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the underwater world and the concept of sentience to trace the question of inner life back to its roots. By comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Other Minds casts crucial new light on the octopus mind – and on our own.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Collins
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0008485151
• ISBN 13: 9780008485153
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272