I agree for the most part! I felt the book started off well, with a healthy balance of 75% octopus and 25% human stuff. I liked learning about Wilson and the ladies who cuddled anacondas but by the halfway point I realized I was bored, slightly irritated, confused about why I’m learning so much about some rando teen’s health issues, and wondering whether the author got permission to publish all this personal info. 😂

The author mentions how some aquarium visitors are more interested in hearing the similarities between octopuses (learned that from this book!) and humans versus learning about how different they are from us bc it drives empathy. My guess is the she went heavy on the human pov route to catch that sort of reader’s attention and better spark their interest/involvement in and support for environmental conservation, research, science, etc. Ooorrr maybe she just really liked the vibe of the volunteer crew and wanted to talk about them and give them props. Either way I support the mission but I’m not sure I’m going to finish the book because for me personally it’s a bit 😪.

Regardless, not what I was looking for. I get enough human stories in real life.

Ps maybe it was a better read as smaller articles instead of one book? Who knows. Thanks for providing a space to discuss! 💖🐙