Squid Martin Wallen

‘An educational . . . look at squids, in reality and fiction . . . The discussions of squids’ diet (they 'prey on almost anything that does not eat them first') and their 'highly aggressive hunting behavior' are especially intriguing . . . Some fascinating passages.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘John Steinbeck points out in The Log from the Sea of Cortez that “Men really need sea-monsters in their personal oceans.” Squid explores this idea by taking the reader on a recurring migration between the mesopelagic darkness of kraken mythology and the epipelagic zone of contemporary squid biology through a fascinating history of literary attempts to entwine these worlds. At first glance this book may seem like a charming Victorian cabinet of cephalopod curiosities, but it is more like a well used tackle box full of intriguing lures, hooks, and strange squid jigs – some beautiful, some ominous, and each with its own story that makes it part of an emergent whole. For anyone interested in squid and the cross-over between natural sciences and the humanities, this book will be a gem.’ — William Gilly, Professor of Biology, Stanford University