Why read Monarchs of the Sea?

Book cover of Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods

Book description

An epic and fun history spanning from the mollusks that invented swimming to the octopuses and other intelligent cephalopods of today Publisher's Note: Monarchs of the Sea was previously published in hardcover as Squid Empire.

Before mammals, there were dinosaurs. And before dinosaurs, there were cephalopods--the ancestors of modern squid,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Monarchs of the Sea as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Susan Ewing

Author

Evolution, extinction, evo-devo, a “vampire squid from hell”—what more could a paleo-curious reader ask for? Staaf keeps it interesting and breezy as she takes a deep dive into the mysteries of that most ancient and fascinating group, the cephalopods. The fossil record for this extraordinary, important, and long-surviving class (which includes ammonoids and nautiloids as well as the shell-free squids and octopuses) goes back 500 million years. The book is full of “wows,” like a 20-foot-long fossil shell, and the fact that ink has been reconstituted from fossil belemnites and used for illustration. Just wow.

From Susan's list on The best books on curious creatures from deep time.