In myths and legends, squids are portrayed as fearsome sea-monsters, lurking in the watery deeps waiting to devour humans. Even as modern science has tried to turn those monsters of the deep into unremarkable calamari, squids continue to dominate the nightmares of the Western imagination. Taking inspiration from early weird fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, modern writers such as Jeff VanderMeer depict squids as the absolute Other of human civilization, while non-Western poets such as Daren Kamali depict squids as anything but threats. In Squid, Martin Wallen traces the many different ways humans have thought about and pictured this predatory mollusc: as guardians, harbingers of environmental collapse or an untapped resource to be exploited. However humans have perceived them, squids have always gazed back at us, unblinking, from the dark.
1 Natural Histories from Aristotle to Steenstrup
2 Modern Teuthology
3 Folk Tales and Legends
4 Kinetic Squid
Websites and Organizations
Martin Wallen is Professor Emeritus at Oklahoma State University. He is the author of many books, including Fox (Reaktion, 2006).
"An educational [...] look at squids, in reality and fiction [...] The discussions of squids' diet (they 'prey on almost anything that does not eat them first') and their 'highly aggressive hunting behavior' are especially intriguing [...] Some fascinating passages."
– Publishers Weekly
"John Steinbeck points out in The Log from the Sea of Cortez that "Men really need sea-monsters in their personal oceans." Squid explores this idea by taking the reader on a recurring migration between the mesopelagic darkness of kraken mythology and the epipelagic zone of contemporary squid biology through a fascinating history of literary attempts to entwine these worlds. At first glance this book may seem like a charming Victorian cabinet of cephalopod curiosities, but it is more like a well used tackle box full of intriguing lures, hooks, and strange squid jigs – some beautiful, some ominous, and each with its own story that makes it part of an emergent whole. For anyone interested in squid and the cross-over between natural sciences and the humanities, this book will be a gem."
– William Gilly, Professor of Biology, Stanford University
Katika hekaya na hekaya, kalamu huonyeshwa kuwa viumbe wa baharini wenye kuogopesha, wakisubiri katika kina kirefu cha maji ili kula wanadamu. Hata wakati sayansi ya kisasa ilijaribu kugeuza wanyama hao wa ajabu wa baharini kuwa kalamu, makapi wanaendelea kutawala katika ndoto mbaya za watu wa Magharibi. Kwa kuchochewa na mwandishi wa mapema wa hadithi za ajabu H.P. Lovecraft, waandishi wa kisasa kama Jeff VanderMeer huonyesha squid kama mwingine kamili wa ustaarabu wa kibinadamu, wakati washairi wasio wa Magharibi kama Daren Kamali huonyesha squid kama kitu chochote isipokuwa vitisho. Katika kitabu chake Squid, Martin Wallen anaelezea njia nyingi tofauti ambazo wanadamu wamefikiria na kuelezea mollusk hii ya kuwinda: kama walinzi, watangazaji wa kuanguka kwa mazingira au rasilimali isiyoweza kutumiwa. Hata wanadamu wawaoneje, sikuzote squid wametutazama kutoka gizani bila kutikisa macho. "Mwanzo wa ""Mambo ya asili kutoka Aristotle hadi Steenstrup"" ni kitabu cha kihistoria cha kisasa cha teolojia, ambacho kinajumuisha hadithi za watu na hadithi za watu, na kinachohusu ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid"" na ""Kinetic Squid.""" Yeye ni mwandishi wa vitabu vingi, ikiwa ni pamoja na Fox (Reaktion, 2006). "Mtazamo wa kielimu [...] juu ya squid, katika ukweli na hadithi za uwongo [...] Majadiliano ya mlo wa squid (wanatumia karibu chochote kisichowaula kwanza) na'mwenendo wao wa kuwinda wenye fujo sana' ni ya kuvutia hasa [...] Baadhi ya vifungu vya kuvutia". <unk> Publishers Weekly "John Steinbeck aonyesha katika The Log from the Sea of Cortez kwamba "Watu kwa kweli wanahitaji viumbe wa baharini katika bahari zao za kibinafsi". "Squid inachunguza wazo hili kwa kuchukua msomaji kwenye uhamiaji wa mara kwa mara kati ya giza la mesopelagic la hadithi ya Kraken na eneo la epipelagic la biolojia ya kisasa ya squid kupitia historia ya kuvutia ya majaribio ya fasihi ya kuunganisha ulimwengu huu. """ Kwa mtazamo wa kwanza kitabu hiki kinaweza kuonekana kama kabati la kifahari la Victoria la vitu vya kushangaza vya cephalopod, lakini ni zaidi kama sanduku la vifaa vilivyotumiwa vizuri, laden na vishawishi vya kuvutia, hooks, na jigs za squid za ajabu - zingine nzuri, zingine mbaya, na kila moja na hadithi yake mwenyewe ambayo inafanya kuwa sehemu ya jumla inayoibuka. Kwa yeyote anayependezwa na kalamu na mpito kati ya sayansi ya asili na sayansi ya kibinadamu, kitabu hiki kitakuwa kito cha thamani".  William Gilly, Profesa wa Biolojia, Chuo Kikuu cha Stanford