The Search for the Giant Squid: The Biology and Mythology of the World's Most Elusive Sea Creature
by Richard Ellis
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
Social Ecologists
This book was given to me as a birthday gift from my friend Chris Werle, entomologist and musician. He likened it to the book Wasp Farm and I related it to other books of the same style, identified below.
This is a great book in the marine social-scientific realm. It discusses the anatomy, mythology, historical context, and modern understanding of the giant squid. A favorite for me are the numerous "encounter" stories retold ...more
This is a great book in the marine social-scientific realm. It discusses the anatomy, mythology, historical context, and modern understanding of the giant squid. A favorite for me are the numerous "encounter" stories retold ...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Amanda by:
sale table at Bordersrecommends it for: people who like giant squid
This book has a lot of information about giant squid - all of the scientific knows and unknowns and legends & fiction about the gigantic mollusks. It was very fascinating and compelling to read, especially the speculations and explanations for sea serpents, and the thoughts on what sperm whale and squid battles are really like.
There were great drawings reproduced of squid sightings and photos and the like. The only thing I thought was missing was a diagram of what the giant squid's roug...more
There were great drawings reproduced of squid sightings and photos and the like. The only thing I thought was missing was a diagram of what the giant squid's roug...more
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Read in January, 2008
I expected to enjoy this more. I am utterly fascinated by the giant squid.
Unfortunately, though we know so little about the creature, this book is exhaustive in enumerating what we do know - to the point of being somewhat tedious.
Still, you'll learn a lot about the subject.
Unfortunately, though we know so little about the creature, this book is exhaustive in enumerating what we do know - to the point of being somewhat tedious.
Still, you'll learn a lot about the subject.
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An interesting and rather detailed exploration of the giant squid. The author covered the topic well, considering no one has ever seen a healthy living giant squid before. I especially enjoyed the many photographs it contained. Stop after the chapter Battle of the Giants. The rest of the book focuses on Architeuthis in movies, literature, and museum models. To me, this seemed really out of synch with the other chapters, as though he just wanted to pad his scientific material with an extra fifty ...more
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I wish this book was better...My wife gave it to me for my birthday some years ago, and I anticipated inky deep-water unknown science, like James Burke or Lawrence Weschler (who wrote "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder" which I loved). The story is compromised by a confused timeline and too many stories of squid pieces washing up on indistinguishable shorelines. Neither enough science, nor enough human quirky stuff (like E. Annie Proulx might have included).
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This book is for chephalopod lovers everywhere. A mixture of myth and reality, it recounts the history of the giant squid.
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Admittedly, by now we have photos of the giant squid and even a specimen in New Zealand dissected during a multi-camera live webcast, so this book is a little outdated. That said, it is still a wealth of historical information on Architeuthis dux past and (nearly) present, with enough mystery to fascinate and enough trivia to delight.
Of course, I'm an easy mark: I'm a sucker for giant squid. (Ha!)
Of course, I'm an easy mark: I'm a sucker for giant squid. (Ha!)
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Read in January, 2007
Everyone who knows me knows I'm fascinated with sea creatures, especially the more monsterous ones (i.e. sharks and other predators).
This is the definitive book about the giant squid. Richard Ellis is one of the world's premiere marine biologists and in real life he was a good friend of Peter Benchley (author of Jaws).
A must read for anyone interested in ocean life.
This is the definitive book about the giant squid. Richard Ellis is one of the world's premiere marine biologists and in real life he was a good friend of Peter Benchley (author of Jaws).
A must read for anyone interested in ocean life.
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This book sort of covers all aspects of giant squids - the myths, the biology, the natural history, etc. Good primer. Some fascinating details, but the real charm of the book is that even in our time, when everything seems to have been discovered, examined, analyzed, and there's nothing left to see, there is still mysteries out there that are unexplained.
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I really wanted to finish this - I only had a few chapters left - and then....someone else at the library requested it and I couldn't renew it. I would love to know who the other person in town is that just had to read about giant squid. I think we could be good friends. As it stands, I'm just irritated that I couldn't finish the book.
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When this book was published, no one had ever seen a living giant squid in its natural habitat. Much like the Colossal Squid today, we'd seen dead and dying ones and remnants in predator's stomachs, but never the real thing. Ellis's book paints a fascinating picture of this elusive creature and its understudied deep ocean habitat.
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
squidheads
Boooooooring. Reads like an outline for a book that could have been awesome. Should have been called The Giant Squid Mini-encylopedia. Yawn. Richard Ellis is a badass researcher, but is clueless when it comes to important elements like pacing and progression. That said his fact finding is unsurpassed. He leaves nothing out.
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Read in January, 2006
How can you pass up a book with this title!? Ellis did a great job of offering information on the myth and fact of the giant squid. I can't wait until they finally get footage of a live giant squid in it's natural habitat. Proof that mother nature still has lots of good stuff in store for us!!
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Read in May, 2008
Jenessa's bookshelves are yielding some really amazing things that I never even thought of reading before: the Raymond Chandler was one, and now the Giant Squid! It's really, really nice to have friends who have great taste in books that you've never read or even heard of before
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A lovely portrait of the world's only real monster. Soon we will all have giant squid living comfortably in our swimming pools, snacking on flounder and the neighbor's babies, demanding frozen margaritas with extra extra salt, and listening to Slayer and Jimmy Buffett.
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Totally awesome subject. I learned so much incredibly cool stuff about both squid and octopi. Things both historical and biological are covered. Only reason it has only 5 stars is that the materail felt a little stretched. Should have been a shorter book.
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2 comments
Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
deep sea nerds
I learned all about my BFF Architeuthis. If I could dance around to "No One" by Alicia Keys with a variety of Teuthids under the ocean, I'd call that HEAVEN. "YOU AND ME TOGETHER/THROUGH THE DAYS AND NIGHTS!"
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