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OCTOPUSES Underwater wonders by Sheree Marris

Review by MIKE SCOTLAND - Editor - Dive Log Australasia

W hen you put your heart and soul into a two-year project, you put forward your best skills and hope it is well received. This is precisely the case for Sheree’s Octopuses - Underwater Wonders. I am very pleased to say that she has succeeded. It is an excellent achievement and it deserves all the accolades it gets.

a scaffold in the mind of the reader helping them to recall salient points. The use of “ Underwater Einsteins ” to introduce their intelligence and how they feed; and “ Lord of the rings” to describe Blue Ring Octopuses. These popular keywords highlight main points in a clear and nuanced way of incorporating good science with everyday terms. “ Pigment of your imagination ” covers colour mimicry, camouflage and shape shifting. All of this helps to captivate the reader.

It is a great way of teaching and communicating science to a wider audience; both young and old. Each two page spread focuses on an aspect of their fascinating biology or one species. There is a great photo and a description of each animal, behaviour or feature. After reading the book properly, it is abundantly clear that she has done so much research. The information within is

Octopuses - Underwater Wonders is a wonderful production. It only takes a quick read of the book and you get a clear sense of how much effort and thousands of hours of hard work that she has put into her book. On closer inspection, you can see that her huge investment of time and effort has paid off handsomely.

comprehensive and well-illustrated. I would have been proud to have written a book of this quality. It deserves a place on every marine lovers’ bookshelf. Octopuses - Underwater Wonders is most definitely a success for Sheree.

I would say without hesitation that she has created a comprehensive insight into the world of Octopuses. It is filled with a seriously addictive mix of passion and admiration about octopuses. It is supported by good science research and great photography. I was mesmerised straight away by this excellent production.

The bright colour presentation is an eye catching display. Her descriptive language and use of photos that illustrate specific topics help to elucidate each point accurately. Sheree is a self-confessed Science communicator and creative sea nymph. This is abundantly clear in each page where a

specific point of octopus anatomy or lifestyle is highlighted effectively and professionally. Special catch-phrases help the reader to engage and then become captivated by dramatising each point effectively. These also create

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DIVE LOG Australasia #408 - October ‘24