Notes

the octopus and the evolution of intelligent life /
Peter Godfrey-Smith.
Octopus and the evolution of intelligent life
xii, 255 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates :

illustrations (some colour)
First published as: Other minds : the octopus, the sea, and the deep origins of consciousness.Contents: Contents: Meetings across the tree of life -- A history of animals -- Mischief and craft -- From white noise to consciousness -- Making colours -- Our minds and others -- Experience compressed -- Octopolis.
Summary: Mammals and birds are widely seen as the smartest creatures on earth. But one other branch of the tree of life has also sprouted intelligence: the cephalopods. What does it mean that intelligence on earth has evolved not once but twice? And that the mind of the octopus is nonetheless so different from our own? By tracing the problem of consciousness back to its roots and comparing the human brain to its most alien and perhaps most remarkable animal relative, Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds sheds new light on one of our most abiding mysteries. (Publisher)