Leaving the Ocean Was a Mistake: Life Lessons from Sixty Sea Creatures

by Cara Giaimo

Sixty bizarre and beautiful marine creatures offer affirmations for self-confidence, serenity, and fulfillment—drawn from real-life facts about our fascinating natural world.

If you sometimes wish you could sink back into the depths of the ocean, great news—the strange little guys who still live down there will receive you with open arms (and fins, claws, and tentacles). But if you’re not quite ready to take to the sea, these friendly denizens of the deep offer solid advice for living on dry land, such as the following:

- “If you’re happy and you know it, digest your brain.”—The star tunicate, who avoids anxiety by digesting much of its own body
- “Never be afraid to set—and enforce—your boundaries.”—The gloomy octopus, who protects its personal space by throwing dirt at anyone who bothers it
- “It’s good to get it all out.”—The fire-breathing shrimp, who vomits bioluminescent goo when threatened
- “If you love someone, absorb them into your bloodstream.”—The fanfin anglerfish, who expresses love by fusing with its mate
- And more wonderfully wacky undersea weirdos who really know how to live!

Beautifully illustrated with striking watercolor portraits of the ocean’s most eccentric creatures, Leaving the Ocean Was a Mistake will make you long to return to the seas—but it will also help you bring a freewheeling, relaxed, self-actualized ocean spirit to even the driest life.

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Cara Giaimo is a science journalist and alum of the MIT graduate program in science writing. Cara writes about the amazing lives of animals. You can find Cara's work in the New York Times, Atlas Obscura, NOVA, and other outlets. Cara lives in the Boston area.

Reviews

[LuAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great little book! In just a little over 100 pages, we learn how to deal with so many obstacles that get in our way as we travel through life. For example, the pom-pom crab tells us, “Don’t let anything stop you from cheerleading for yourself.” A good lesson for all of us. And all these lessons are taught in such a fun way through a variety of different sea creatures and their unique features.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey! No — over here in the water. It’s us, the friendly creatures of the sea.

You’ve sent us so many messages over the years, although we’re not sure we understand the really oily ones. We think they might be cries for help? So we’ve been putting our heads, front segments, decentralized neurons, etc., together, and now we have a message for you.

That message? “So we wanted you to know if you’re ever inspired to sink back into the sea’s watery depths, we’re here to welcome you with open tentacles and gaping mouths.”

Author Cara Giamo has packed this amusing book with some of the strangest of sea creatures, some from every level of the ocean, from surface to the darkest depths. And Vlad Stankovic’s illustrations do justice to the words — which is saying a lot! Leaving the Ocean Was a Mistake: Life Lessons from Sixty Sea Creatures will be the perfect gift for that middle-grade science- and/or animal-lover. Or for science- and/or animal-loving adults! Five big Brisingidae starfish!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Quirk Books in exchange for an honest review.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute book full of life lessons and fun facts about some of the really interesting creatures in the ocean. The drawings were great too!

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Actual Star Rating: 2 ***Actual Star Rating: 2.5 Stars***

Leaving the Ocean Was A Mistake is one of the more interesting self-help books out there for instead of just being a collection of affirmations, it works as a tour book plus "neighborly directory". Here the oceans animals take a concerned stance with the world of humans and offers us an out that allows us to escape some of the damages we as a species have caused by allowing us to return to the oceans of our birth.

The book takes the reader on an exploration of the various ocean levels, their names and the depths they are at. Furthermore each of these levels are filled with a sample of animals species that may be found within them. These animals are presented in one of two ways: first the animal has a full spread with illustration as well as common and scientific name while on the opposite page can be found the affirmation followed by a trivia blurb of the subject animal. Otherwise other species only get a whole page and usually share an affirmatio

[Nicole Chipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a delightful, beautiful, and informative book covering 60 fascinating sea creatures from the surface to the abyss. As an ocean and ocean-creature enthusiast, I loved this book. I found the illustrations gorgeous and adorable. Each creature comes with a snippet of advice based on an interesting fact about them. I was excited to be introduced to multiple creatures I'd never heard of before, such as the Pom-Pom Crab, the By-The-Wind Sailor, the Sea Elephant, and many more!
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the ocean and wants to check out a lighthearted, fast read. This would be a great coffee table book.
Thank you to Cara Giaimo and Quirk Books via Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Marie Zhuikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cute book in which sea creatures give advice to we humans because they feel sorry for us stuck out here on land. You'll learn useful things like, "If something makes you mad, just punch it so hard it blows up, " (my favorite), or "Every once in a while you should eat the yellow snow." While I don't recommend following that particular advice, there are many other delightful tidbits in this book.

[Ruthann Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

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