The Search for the Giant Squid: The Biology and Mythology of the World's Most Elusive Sea Creature

by Richard Ellis

The most mysterious and elusive of all sea creatures, the giant squid—at least sixty feet long and weighing more than a ton—is also one of the largest. With two whip-like tentacles, eight arms studded with toothed suckers, and two lidless eyes the size of dinner plates, Architeurthis has inspired myths and movies, nightmares and religious conversions. Yet it has never been studied while alive.

Marin biologist, explorer, and artist Richard Ellis delves into myth, literature, and science to bring readers face-to-face with this remarkable creature as it terrifies sailors ad fishermen throughout history and battles for its life against the great sperm whale. Ellis continues his exploration into the modern era, when scientists rush to study a rare carcass, and the giant squid is a staple on the big screen.

Interweaving his narrative with a wralth of illustrations and photographs, Ellis gives us the first scientific and cultural history of the only living creature that can still truly be called a sea monster.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Animals, History, Nature, Natural History, Biology

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Richard Ellis is a celebrated authority on marine biology and America’s foremost marine life artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide. His nine books include The Search for the Giant Squid (a Publishers Weekly 1998 Best Book of the Year), Great White Shark, Encyclopedia of the Sea, Men and Whales, Monsters of the Sea, Deep Atlantic The Book of Whales, and Imagining Atlantis.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thorough--possibly over-thorough--examination of a creature we know very little about. The author seems aware of this, and for the most part does a decent job juggling mythology and science of the kraken, poulpe, or calimari gigante. First he covers all the mythological creature sightings throughout history that could conceivably be explained by giant squid. Then he covers, in text-book level detail, every last dead squid that washed ashore since the early 1800s, including lengths of bodies and tentacles, level of decay etc. (I couldn't help zoning out through much of this). Then we're back to mythology, this time a catalog of every instance a giant squid starred in a fictional work, from Moby Dick to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea to The Shipping News. This was a fun bit, but strangely out of place after those pages and pages of squid chemical composition and reproductive structures. I did enjoy how the author smirked at those amateur authors and movie producers who completely butchered their squid portrayals. The tentacle on the cover of Beast has hooks in the center of the suction-cups! For shame! If I ever write a kraken into a novel, I'm so going to nail it now that I've read this book. Richard Ellis will be so proud...

[SR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun snarky history by an eyerolling expert on a fascinating topic. The only fault I found with it is the repetition of certain historical reports - the book makes good use of page citations, so not sure why I had to read that passage from Moby-Dick four times. Regardless, good fun, and an excellent example of intrafield arguing.

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

"With a head like a bishop's miter and eyes big as dinner plates," runs a typical description of the giant squid. He's been much-sighted by sailors, though never studied in his natural habitat (or even alive). The giant squid was so elusive for a time that it was categorized as a cryptid, along with Bigfoot and the Chupacabra. And while there is still some debate about its gross morphology, habits, and habitat, we know for a fact that the giant squid exists. And not much more.

Author Richard Ellis sets himself the task of trying to unriddle the mystery of this strange cephalopod. Why is it so seldom sighted? Why, when it is spotted, are descriptions of the squid so divergent and many times fanciful? Everyone from fantasist Jules Verne to American literary icon Herman Melville has locked eyes with the monster from the depths, and come away with radically different impressions, insights, and literal perceptions of the thing.

"The Search for the Giant Squid" takes the reader on a tour through history, literature (some pretty bad), and biology to explore the subject. It's popular science written so that the layman can access it while the specialist can recommend it to colleagues in good conscience, as light reading. It didn't quite live up to the encomiums showered on it (unless I missed something), but I liked it. With photos and illustrations (though no photos of the squids squirting around the depths in-situ). Recommended.

[Nostalgia Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, not good enough to round up, though.

For a book about a creature that seems to be relatively impossible to study accurately, this book is full of information on all aspects of giant squid, including detailed chapters on the various sightings and studies of beached squid.

However, much of the time I spent reading felt like I was reading a textbook designed for marine biology majors. For me, there was never a solid introduction to the squid, and much of the information was presented in a way that, although I could follow, seemed to jump around and focus purely on measurements of the squid and where they were found. Of course this was interesting, but my mind a) doesn't think in numbers and b) wanted something that was tailored more towards a casual non-fiction reader. There were parts were I found myself very bored because the information was presented like a thesis paper.

The set up was also a bit odd... there were sections that didn't flow together very well, as if each was a separate article, then just pieced together for the book. It also seemed like the author wanted to point out every single mistake that early researchers and authors made in their reports and stories. And yet, in the conclusion, he makes a point that maybe he shouldn't exclude certain reports and sightings simply because they didn't fall into the "accepted" range of facts that he used to qualify a "giant squid."

Even though I was disappointed with the formatting and presentation of facts, I did still learn a lot about squid (giant and otherwise). I originally wasn't going to pick this up when I say it, but then decided that squid are cool and that I subconsciously wanted to learn more about them. Anyone interested in squid, both in a scientific and cryptozoological realm, should at least give this book a try. I'm sure there are other books that are more reader friendly, though, so if you don't read this one, there's probably others that are an easier read.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for the biology, 2 stars for the mythology. That evens out to a 3 right? The Giant Squid is a fascinating and elusive creature. Up to 60 feet long with nothing hard in it's skeleton except a vestigial shell (squids have evolved from mollusks like snails). All of our knowledge of the creature comes from remains that are washed ashore or the contents of whale's stomachs. No one has seen or observed an Architeuthis in its natural habitat so everything about it is open to speculation. What it eats, how it hunts, is it social or solitary, how it mates ... everything. The author does a good job of picking out the most likely scenarios for each based on the evidence and his research on other squid species. The mythology around the squid is another matter. The author's presentation boils down to critiquing inaccuracies in how the Giant Squid is portrayed in various popular media (books and films). Since he himself has a hard time describing the squid accurately, i miss the basis of his criticism. That part of the book could have been edited. It was mostly a good read though, particularly for a non-fiction work.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I skimmed most of the back half of this. It's just a pile-up of details (this many giant squid parts came out of this many sperm whales over the years, these were the lengths of body parts and tentacles found, here are all the stories and movies that have giant squid in them [and that they all misrepresent the giant squid but I won't say how--you shouldn't have skimmed the earlier chapters]) and LONG quotations by other authors (biologists and Peter Benchley of Jaws fame sometimes cited in the same paragraph). It's summary without significance. Even in the Conclusion, when he's trying to bring it all together and make it mean something, he ends up going back to listing details I'm sure this represented a nice compendium of knowledge and stories about giant squid as of 25 years ago.

I did learn some things: giant squid have 8 arms and 2 tentacles. Some guy finished his dissertation defense by inviting people over to eat some pieces of giant squid, but the chunks were so bitter from ammonia that they couldn't eat them. This led to him writing an article about ammonia in giant squid that makes them neutrally buoyant in water. Huzzah!

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty fun!

[Matteo Negro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante monografia sulla specie di invertebrato più grande e misterioso del pianeta. Come sempre Richard Ellis intreccia mito e realtà come solo lui sa fare. Alcune parti del libro, in particolare quelle in cui l'autore descrive minuziosamente ogni singolo ritrovamento di Architeuthis, risultano un pò noiose ma nel complesso il saggio si candida ad essere l'opera di riferimento per tutti coloro che vogliano approfondire la conoscenza di questo mitico animale. Il libro venne pubblicato nel 1999 quando nessun ricercatore era ancora riuscito a fotografare, avvistare o semplicemente osservare un calamaro gigante in vita. Tutti i reperti derivavano da animali spiaggiati o presenti negli stomaci dei capodogli. Tuttavia recentemente, per l'esattezza il 22 dicembre 2006, un ricercatore giapponese, Tsunemi Kubodera, del National Science Museum, è riuscito a filmare e fotografare una femmina di calamaro gigante di 7 metri vicino all'isola di Chichijima, 960 chilometri a sudest di Tokyo. L'animale venne attirato mediante un'esca fissata su di un cavo. Se Richard Ellis deciderà di pubblicare una seconda edizione del libro non potrà che descrivere minuziosamente questa fantastica scoperta!!

[Pete · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because my son is fascinated with giant squid. But there was not enough info on the giant squid for a book apparently, as this one surely demonstrates. As other reviewers have mentioned, the chapter on giant squid models almost made me put the book down.
And despite time to explore that in excruciating detail, there was nothing on squid anatomy, and very little on how other squid work in general for comparison. Also, very little on the sperm whale which would've provided some information on the giant squids only predator. Instead we get a review of poetry involving the giant squid. Do not read this book.

[Michael Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more interesting than I had imagined, as I have only a passing interest in Giant Squids. The book is incredibly detailed, and that was a good thing in parts I found interesting and a bad thing in parts I found less than interesting.

The chapters on the history of the giant squid, it's representation in fiction, and it's relationship to the sperm whale were really interesting! The chapters on it's theorized biology, not so much, but that could just be a lack of interest on my part.

Overall, if you want to know more about squids, turn here. If you don't, it still has some fun facts and stories to read!

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fully agree with some of the other reviews that this is an exhausting and thorough study of the history of Architeuthis spanning what is factually known as well as what has become immortalized in pop culture and fiction. Ellis certainly did his research on the subject well.

Personally, having learned how little is actually known about Architeuthis I became more and more disappointed in a way, and fascinated in another as the book went on. We know so little about them that over three quarters of a book about them ends up being nothing more than a history of the myths surrounding them and we're already on the road to wiping them out.

[Doc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book serves as more of a historical biography on the concept of the giant squid (Architeuthis sp.) rather than providing any new or incitful information, though it is extremely thorough. I wish for and expected more biology and morphology, but it was published in 1997 and that information was still lacking at the time being. Accounts for more cultural affects of this biological phenomenon than I expected; the author ends on a surprisingly open-minded note.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love giant squid. This book is devoted entirely to all aspects of giant squid. I read it as a lonely, zoology-obsessed 8th grader and it's been one of my most re-read books ever since.

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful study of a creature so rare it's, well, impossible to study. Best bathtub reading ever. Bring your diving mask and submersible.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The by line of this book is "an authoritative look at the biology and mythology of the world's most elusive sea creature" and that is not an idle boast. Authoritative, thorough, exhaustive...and exhausting. This is an impressively well-researched tome, but it is also a bit repetitive and lacking in critical analysis. I learned many things, such as the scientific name for the giant squid is Architeuthis and that squid specialists are called teuthologists. I'm sure this would be a great reference book for the office of any teuthologist who wants a handy guide to all of the known information on the giant squid as of 1997. I'm not sure I would recommend it to the casual reader who like myself is just naturally curious about giant squids.

Specific issues I have with this book:

- Certain bits of information get repeated over and over again throughout the book. Multiple times a half paragraph was devoted to re-stating that giant squids have a high concentration of ammonium which makes them neutrally buoyant and also distasteful to humans, though sperm whales don't seem to be bothered by the taste. I will probably know that forever, but I probably only needed to read it once.

- There's just too much data dump, not enough thoughtful insight. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the chapter on giant squid appearances in books and movies. That chapter is basically just a hit list of the most well-known books and movies featuring a giant squid, giving a plot summary of the work, and then including an excerpt of the relevant scene. Not interesting to read (and the paragraphs devoted to the differences between a book and its movie were especially unnecessary) and furthermore, not all that relevant to the actual animal. Some critical analysis about why the giant squid is such a frequent monster, which parts of its anatomy get emphasized, what it says about human fears, etc, would have been much more pertinent.

- Why exactly is there an entire chapter devoted to the (often now defunct) museum models of giant squids? What purpose did that serve? Again, no overall insights, just info dumps.


I will say that this book was published over 20 years ago and that it may be somewhat unfair to judge it based on the standards of science writing today. I would love if Ellis wrote a new edition (or even just a new book on the subject) that included more of his insight as a career marine writer, not to mention the new scientific discoveries on giant squids that have happened in the last two decades.

[Aja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love giant squid. I think they are creepy and how is it that they are so huge and yet no one has seen them in action (at least not with evidence). When I saw this book, I had to read it. The author did a great job of looking at many aspects of the biology and myths of the giant squid, but he was a little critical of those accounts that didn’t fit into his narrative. I’m all for them! You saw a 200 ft squid? Tell me about it. I’ll believe every word you say. No sense in trying to prove a false - just fall into the story!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters on mythology and models really dragged. We got it. A lot of people saw carcasses of giant squids. We don't need to revisit all of them. And surely the chapter on the models could have been summed up in a page or so. It was the least interesting part of the book, and so at odds with the rest of the book! It was very interesting and well written, which is perhaps why those two chapters stood out to so many: they just don't seem to be by the same guy.

[Becky Bringewatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun for a research non-fiction book. I appreciated the author's sense of humor and sense of the absurd, and also how he represents myth and fact together. I enjoyed learning about the squid, and came away with a new respect for cephalopods. Not sure where this came from, but glad it found it's way into my hands.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big excitement: what's up i twenty+ years since this? Discuss.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best book i have ever read in my whole life

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing and organization occasional flounder a bit, but overall the material is just too good to let minor flaws mar the experience.

[Christine Hassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information in it is interesting although I think the most interesting thing about the book is how he managed to spin out a subject that we know almost nothing about to 200 pages.

[Oren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because we know so little about squid, Ellis wasn't really able to put out as good of a book as his tuna, swordfish and sperm whale books. This isn't his fault of course, but the best parts of the book were those detailing the squids' anatomy, hunting and mating, etc. And they truly are fascinating creatures. But in order to write a full book Ellis has to long chapters detailing man's history with squid. Every dead giant squid that washed ashore is detailed, which is pretty interesting but not as interesting as the pure biology sections. Worse, there's a big section on squid in popular culture - tv, movies, books, etc.. I skipped it.

This is the basic template for Ellis books; the history of hunting and beached squid followed by biological aspects. But again, because we know so little about squid, it just didn't work quite as well with this book.

[Dan Lalande · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marine illustrator-writer Ellis collects just about all that is known about the elusive giant squid, the only known animal never to be seen alive. Choicest chapter: a cheeky audit of the squid's demonization at the hands of popular culture.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

of the known creatures of the world, the giant squid is one about which not a lot is known, so i recognize that this means that a lot of the info contained within such a difficult project as writing a scientific book about architeuthis, is going to be based on speculation and prior reports, rather than first-hand examination or research.

it would also make sense then, that in the interest of not plagiarizing, and not wrapping up within 50 pages, there would be a considerable amount of excerpting going on to provide that aforementioned known information. unfortunately, aside from just making the book feel like a research paper, it ends up that a lot of what is written about is hypothosizing on unconfirmed info.

this is, i guess, mostly just a personal complaint based on what i was hoping to get out of the book. much like many others, i'm fascinated by the idea of these giant cephalopods swimming around in the depths where we can't see them, and i've long been interested in both the fact and fiction about them. what i hoped for, then, was a little more clarity, and what i got was, well, a very little bit more clarity.

the chapters on the history of the squid and what we know of it & the squid in pop culture and fiction were the most interesting to me because they felt the most arguably concrete, being as they are about the mythology and fiction of the squid and therefore, it's not important that there isn't a whole lot of hard fact.

ellis's conclusion to the book also makes me want to give the book a 3.5, rather than a 3 because it puts everything else that's come before into perspective, consoling while not apologizing for not having a whole lot of definitive info. it also ends with an excellent quote from john steinbeck from the log from the sea of cortez: "men really need sea-monsters in their personal oceans...for the ocean, deep and black in the depths, is like the low dark levels of our minds in which the dream symbols incubate and sometimes rise up to sight like the old man of the sea...an ocean without its unnamed monsters would be like a completely dreamless sleep." ellis then ends with: "we need to find the giant squid, but we also need to not find it," and in many ways he's right for exactly those reasons that steinbeck mentions.

being a fan of horrors and monsters, though, i guess then i just wanted to see a little bit more.

[Danielle T · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the time of publication, this was one of the most definitive compilations on Architeuthis. Alas, that was 1998, and this book is now showing its age, but it's still a very good survey of the historical and cultural accounts of the giant squid. I checked this out shortly after the Discovery special aired January 27th, 2013 because I was curious about previous information in deadtree edition. Also swore to actually finish an Ellis book because I frequently check them out, but never get to them in time.

Besides the obvious change from no live sightings until last year, the other science/technological difference I noticed is that while discussing how many species there could possibly be within Architeuthis, gene sequencing was never mentioned as a tool. All proposed species were based on morphology, and even then those could be variations between indivduals, life stages, etc... but now that we have the power of sequencers, could we check out preserved specimens and discern patterns? Probably, and that's probably been written about elsewhere but I haven't gotten to it yet.

The species now known as the colossal squid is also mentioned, but not by that name- Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni was the only one given, no common name at that point, only known by Antarctic carcasses. Another interesting thing- Architeuthis sightings and carcasses mentioned are predominantly in the Atlantic, with some in New Zealand but only a handful mentioned in the northern Pacific (which is where footage of live giants have been obtained).

Still, a very interesting read, especially for the historical and mythological contexts of monstrously large cephalopod sightings and then-speculation as to what the living creature might actually be like.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was given to me as a birthday gift from my friend Chris Werle, entomologist and musician. He likened it to the book Wasp Farm and I related it to other books of the same style, identified below.

This is a great book in the marine social-scientific realm. It discusses the anatomy, mythology, historical context, and modern understanding of the giant squid. A favorite for me are the numerous "encounter" stories retold in the book, of tentacles chopped from an attacking squid or of a strange beast floating by a merchant schooner... The book is fairly dry otherwise, like a college biology text.

Although less engaging, I'd put it in the same category as Cod and The Secret Life of Lobsters, both exceptional books in their ability to communicate the entire essence of an animal, particularly in relation to the human environment and social conditions it is involved with.

The last chapters of the book are interesting but almost formulaic in their presentation, again invoking the "textbook" feel. I can appreciate the thorough research, but a catalog of models of giant squid is almost too much. The conclusion of the book leaves the reader with the assertion of an open mind on the part of the author and tries to rekindle the flame of possibility he spent much of the book dismissing. This is like asking a question, answering it yourself, then asking it again just so no one can say you didn't allow your definitive answer to be questioned. Probably something forced by the editor to soften the text.

Overall a very good book if you've got an open mind about it! Interesting the way that works.....

[Chriss · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good book to get a history on thought and theory about the giant squid and other large cephalopods. There's also an interesting section relating 'sea serpent' accounts and how other researchers have postulated that these were really giant squid sightings.

This is a scientific book, though, and while it is easy to read it is repetitious. Each chapter begins with several paragraphs that set-the-stage, then come a bunch of paragraphs of data and quotations, than the chapters end with several paragraphs that sum up the chapter. It's not bad, it's just that you get a little over whelmed by the repetition when you sit down to read the whole thing at once.

There is recent research (as in new this century, in the aughts/2000s) on the giant squid that isn't in this book because it was published in 1999. There has also been a successful scientific mission to videotape live giant squid in the ocean during this century. Which, again, doesn't appear in this book. So, this is a good resource of past thoughts on the giant squid and great if you want to know about the history of giant squid hunting and sea monster. But you should get a book published 2005 or later if you want to know the current knowledge we have about these nifty critters. (note: this review was written in 2010)

[Allyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh this is a slow mover! The first part was really dry, a lot of biology and quotes from scientific journals. Here's my favorite, from Captain Arthur de Capell Brooke, who wrote of his travels in the northern seas: He trusts fishermen because they are "an honest and artless class of men, who, having no motive for misrepresentation, cannot be suspected of a wish to deceive." Therefore, he totally believes their accounts of sea monsters that are actually Architeuthis (giant squid).

OK, too much scientific language for me. I began to read the words automatically without 'listening' to them anymore. That is when I know I'm wasting my time with a book. But I enjoyed skimming the rest of the book, looking at the pictures and reading a few paragraphs here and there. I will be in my 80s when the next big squid uprising is predicted to happen off the coast of Nova Scotia. It will be interesting to see if the predictions come true.

[Immanuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Ellis’s novel the search for the giant squid vividly compares and contrasts myth, legend, and fact about the giant squid. Richard Ellis carefully balances his information about this elusive sea creature with legendary stories and artifacts that tell us about this beasts long and forgotten past. Richard Ellis’s novel explores deeply into the unimaginable, while taking you on an adventure with a ghostly secret. I enjoyed this book mainly because of its pace. The books plot and information is given to the reader at a steady pace. I would say that some of the information is repetitive and sometimes quite hard to understand. I recommend this book to a reader who enjoys reading a mysterious book. The book does not give a lot of straight facts, the reader must interoperate the facts according to his/her judgment.