In 2016 scuba-diving philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith took the book world by storm with his unlikely best-seller “Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life,” which explored the ...

Ask Peter Godfrey-Smith to your cocktail party and chances are he’ll soon be distracted. Your average social gathering, the Australian philosopher tells us in “Living on Earth,” is “among other things ...

Two animals more unalike than humans and octopuses are hard to imagine. Where we have a brain, spine and central nervous system, octopuses are “probably the closest we will come to meeting an ...

Deftly blending philosophy and evolutionary biology, Godfrey-Smith (Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection), an Australian philosopher of science, uses his passion for cephalopods to address “how ...

Short stories, including the original "Brokeback Mountain" and more. I was given this book by a friend about 20 years ago, and it reset my view of what writing can do. Buy it here. 'The Honorary ...

Writer and journalist Kanishk Tharoor explains his short-story collection ‘Swimmer Among the Stars’. Plus, we speak with scuba-diving philosopher Paul Godfrey-Smith about underwater life and his book ...

Ask Peter Godfrey-Smith to your cocktail party and chances are he’ll soon be distracted. Your average social gathering, the ...

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The profound strangeness of certain animals can sometimes inspire a sense of metaphysical wonder. Aristotle pondered everything from the cause of flatulence in elephants to the nature of a hyena’s ...

You’re reading Book Currents, a weekly column in which notable figures share what they’re reading. Sign up for the Goings On newsletter to receive their selections, and other cultural recommendations, ...

When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team. Short stories, including the original "Brokeback Mountain ...