The Search for the Giant Squidand mythology of the world’smost elusive sea creature
by Richard EllisRichard Ellis’ latest book of natural history often reads more like an adventure story of the depths rather than simply an account of the life of the giant squid. For an animal about which little is known, the giant squid has appeared in numerous sailor journals, logbooks, and scientific papers. And Ellis does a fine job of telling a fascinating tale by piecing together these accounts and forming his own theories about what the elusive invertebrate is really like, how it lives, what it eats, where it swims. Particularly intriguing is a chapter that discusses the mythic battles between Architeuthis and the sperm whale. Giant tentacles twist and grip at the leviathan’s body as it struggles to crush the squid in its jaws and swallow it en masse. Science was never so exciting.212-620-9580; 309 pages; $35.
