The most mysterious and elusive of all sea creatures, the giant squid--at least sixty feet long and weighing nearly a ton--is also one of the largest. Yet for all its magnificent size and threatening undersea presence, Architeuthis has remained a mystery. Until now. In this marvelous and beautifully illustrated book, marine biologist, explorer, and artist Richard Ellis presents all that is known about the giant squid. Delving into myth, literature, popular culture, and science, he brings readers face to face with this remarkable creature. He also provides a thorough, compelling study of what is known and what is still to be discovered about thisexotic animal that has never been studied alive. Interweaving his engrossing narrative with a wealth of fascinating illustrations and photographs, Ellis gives us the first comprehensive history of the only living creature that can truly be called a "sea monster."
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The sea contains many mysteries, and among the most enduring of them are giant squids of the genus Architeuthis. About this squid, known as the "kraken" in classical mythology, we know little, except, oceanographic writer Richard Ellis notes, that "it occasionally washes ashore--and when that happens, we don't know why." Some of these odd creatures, Ellis notes, are 60 feet long, cannibalistic and patently fierce, with the largest eyes of any animal on the planet (useful for seeing in the inky darkness of the deep sea). They're not the kind of thing you'd want to encounter on a benthic shelf, as Ian Fleming made clear in Doctor No, in which superspy James Bond had one such unpleasant meeting. But, thanks to Ellis's well-researched account, they make the perfect subject for armchair sleuthing, and he tells you just about everything you'd want to know about the giant squid, from the biologists and explorers and cryptozoologists who have hunted for it over the centuries, and much more. --Gregory McNamee
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Publisher
A look at the deep sea's most elusive creature.
It can grow sixty feet in length, possibly longer, and weigh more than a ton. It is a spindle-shaped creature with two elongated, whip-like tentacles at one end and a pointed tail at the other, a huge beak between its arms, and two lidless eyes the size of dinner plates. The giant squid is the least-known large animal on earth. In THE SEARCH FOR THE GIANT SQUID, one of this country's foremost authorities on ocean life, Richard Ellis, provides the first authoritative study of this most mysterious of ocean creatures. Delving into myth, literature, and science, he separates fact from fiction and brings us face-to-face with this aquatic beast. He also gives us a thorough, compelling study of what is known and what is still to be discovered about this most exotic animal, which has never been studied alive. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
It can grow sixty feet in length, possibly longer, and weigh more than a ton. It is a spindle-shaped creature with two elongated, whip-like tentacles at one end and a pointed tail at the other, a huge beak between its arms, and two lidless eyes the size of dinner plates. The giant squid is the least-known large animal on earth. In THE SEARCH FOR THE GIANT SQUID, one of this country's foremost authorities on ocean life, Richard Ellis, provides the first authoritative study of this most mysterious of ocean creatures. Delving into myth, literature, and science, he separates fact from fiction and brings us face-to-face with this aquatic beast. He also gives us a thorough, compelling study of what is known and what is still to be discovered about this most exotic animal, which has never been studied alive. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
A good calm dispassionate broad discussion of a topic often associated with hyperbole. I think it will be the standard reference for a few years to come. Repeats a bit of material from his earlier sea monster book and it would have been nice to have had even more material on the "other" giant squid species such as Taningia or Galiteuthis. If you are into giant cephalopods (!) this book is a must.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This is a wonderful book. It combines fascinating facts and figures on one of the world's most mysterious creatures with the spooky attraction of a ghost story. I've been intrigued by the giant squid ever since I first learned that it really existed when I was little, and I bought this book as soon as it came out. Not only is it scientific and scholarly in structure, but Mr. Ellis writes with humor and wit throughout, and in consequence you can learn and enjoy it at the same time. In fact, although the book is clearly intended for adult readers, I would not hesitate to recommend it for students and older children, since the eerie attraction of a story about a slimy monster from the deep is pretty irresistible at any age (I wish the book had come out when I was a child), and the fact that the "monster" really exists makes it all the more fascinating.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Richard Ellis takes us on a voyage of wonder and discovery in this book that is as big as the giant squid. His passion for this creature, unknown to science and a monster of folklore until recently, certainly issues from each page. Ellis's gathering of rare and old images of this beast is worth the reference nature of the work itself, but his text just makes it all that more valuable. Being a cryptozoologist myself, I highly recommend this volume as a vital and necessary addition to every public library, all students of natural history, and the cryptozoologists around the world. You will not be disappointed.
By C. Nielsen
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The giant Squid is a creature shrouded in mystery. Rarely seen, and then mostly as dead specimens, not much is known about these creatures and what is known is often more fiction than fact. In this book Ellis tries to separate fact from fiction while at the same time giving an acoount of how we have depicted these creatures in both science and entertainment. The scientific chapters are as good as one can expect given the nature of the subject. If you are looking for a good book about giant squids this is the best thing available at the moment.
By Bridgey
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
After reading Peter Benchley's Beast I starting getting more and more interested in Giant Squid. With this in mind I bought `The search for the Giant squid'.
To be totally honest I was hoping for more tales of encounters and the mythology surrounding the squid. Instead the book ran like an encyclopaedia with whole paragraphs being dedicated to just figures and statistics.
A whole chapter is dedicated to why the squid is called so many different things by different people... yawn!
A lot of the book I just scanned picking out the various interesting bits of data. A lot of what is covered has been long outdated or just proven wrong. If you want a quick and interesting read give this a miss and have a quick look on wiki, also saving a few quid in the process.
To be totally honest I was hoping for more tales of encounters and the mythology surrounding the squid. Instead the book ran like an encyclopaedia with whole paragraphs being dedicated to just figures and statistics.
A whole chapter is dedicated to why the squid is called so many different things by different people... yawn!
A lot of the book I just scanned picking out the various interesting bits of data. A lot of what is covered has been long outdated or just proven wrong. If you want a quick and interesting read give this a miss and have a quick look on wiki, also saving a few quid in the process.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
To paraphrase someone, I thought I'd like this sort of book, since this is the sort of book I like. But I didn't. The giant squid seems like a fascinating subject to me but apparently not enough of one for the author, especially with a lack of fancy and speculation on Ellis's part. Perhaps there isn't enough known about the giant squid to fill a book. The book seems like a long, dutiful graduate paper - exhaustive and heavily referenced (40 pages!) - in short, too much to the point.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book covers a lot of information dating back quite far. The fact that extremely little is known about the Giant Squid makes the length of the book somewhat impressive. However, Ellis is not the best proofreader; he includes a fairly significant quote twice in three pages almost verbatim. His summary of the Squid in Literature and Film becomes fairly personal as he takes potshots at other historic authors. And his summary of Squid Models, while detailed, is a bit strange; substitute Train Models for Squid Models and the chapter becomes only slightly less relevant. This may have been included because it was a canned piece.
The book is not nearly as good as I thought it would be, but it has its moments.
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