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Pulled off the library shelf at random.
Squid Empire: the rise and fall of the cephalopods, by Danna Staaf. Recommended. It's mostly a tight, short, book on cephalopod evolution, from the first Cambrian shelled swimmers, through the mighty ammonoid empire, to modern octopi etc. I found it fun and accessible, without the author pampering the reader much by talking about calamari and kraken. It didn't even talk that much about biology, beyond what was needed to explain the basics and some evolution. Staaf has her own PhD in cephalopod research, though then decided she preferred to write about science rather than do it; anyway, she's at home in the subject.
I also discovered that Firefox's spelling dictionary doesn't contain 'cephalopod' or 'kraken'. For shame.
The secret life of clams: the mysteries and magic of our favorite shellfish, by Anthony Fredericks. Meh. This one does regale you by telling you about songs about clams, and clams in movies, and lots of personal anecdotes and analogies. Somewhere in there might be actual clam biology, if I skim and skip forward enough. I won't say outright that it's _bad_, but coming straight off of the squid book it's certainly a shock and not what I was expecting. It has also run afoul of "when he talks about things I know, sometimes he's wrong", more than once in my not getting that far into the book. It very much feels like "pop science journalist trying to keep your attention with bells and whistles and human interest".
Or, like Anthony is a guy jumping up and down and waving his arms with lots of clam toys in his hands, "hey kids! fun facts!", while Danna is the shy person you asked at a party about her research and she's so glad you asked, while not actually getting too technical for the uninitiated. Granted I may not be the best judge of 'uninitiated'.
Anthony is said to be an "award winning science author" with multiple books, and also a professor of education somewhere.
I'm tempted to share cool squid facts I wrote down but maybe that should be another post.
Squid Empire: the rise and fall of the cephalopods, by Danna Staaf. Recommended. It's mostly a tight, short, book on cephalopod evolution, from the first Cambrian shelled swimmers, through the mighty ammonoid empire, to modern octopi etc. I found it fun and accessible, without the author pampering the reader much by talking about calamari and kraken. It didn't even talk that much about biology, beyond what was needed to explain the basics and some evolution. Staaf has her own PhD in cephalopod research, though then decided she preferred to write about science rather than do it; anyway, she's at home in the subject.
I also discovered that Firefox's spelling dictionary doesn't contain 'cephalopod' or 'kraken'. For shame.
The secret life of clams: the mysteries and magic of our favorite shellfish, by Anthony Fredericks. Meh. This one does regale you by telling you about songs about clams, and clams in movies, and lots of personal anecdotes and analogies. Somewhere in there might be actual clam biology, if I skim and skip forward enough. I won't say outright that it's _bad_, but coming straight off of the squid book it's certainly a shock and not what I was expecting. It has also run afoul of "when he talks about things I know, sometimes he's wrong", more than once in my not getting that far into the book. It very much feels like "pop science journalist trying to keep your attention with bells and whistles and human interest".
Or, like Anthony is a guy jumping up and down and waving his arms with lots of clam toys in his hands, "hey kids! fun facts!", while Danna is the shy person you asked at a party about her research and she's so glad you asked, while not actually getting too technical for the uninitiated. Granted I may not be the best judge of 'uninitiated'.
Anthony is said to be an "award winning science author" with multiple books, and also a professor of education somewhere.
I'm tempted to share cool squid facts I wrote down but maybe that should be another post.