This is a phenomenal book. It's taken me a while to write this review, because I can't put into words how incredible it is.

On one hand, it's a coffeetable book filled with the most astounding underwater photography and details (so many amazing details!) about the creatures that inhabit the Great African Sea Forests where the documentary "My Octopus Teacher" was filmed. We learn about the myriad creatures who live in these forests, the stories they tell, and uncover amazing behaviours not previously documented.

On the other hand, it is an intimate journey of personal discovery and reflection. Both Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck (producer and associate producer of "My Octopus Teacher", respectively) write eloquently of their journeys into the Sea Forest, and the journeys they have taken in their lives to get to this point. This *now*. To inner peace, wonder and enlightenment. There are stories of loss, of joy, of heartbreak, and of transformation. Above all, it is a book about the oneness, the wildness that lives in us all, if only we are open to finding it again.

I have pre-ordered a copy, because this is too beautiful for one read only.

This book will be pubished on 19 November.

~~Many thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.~~

A fantastic coffee table book. The authors of My Octopus Teacher are back with an amazing book about their experiences diving off the coast of South Africa. What makes this unusual is that they dive without wetsuits or tanks. As a diver, I cannot imagine how difficult this must be. The reader gets to enjoy the road Ross travels in acclimating his body to this type of diving. In doing so, the duo can truly see the underwater wonders.

The stories they are willing to share are intimate, including Craig’s disclosure of his traumatic reaction to his divorce and leaving this wife and son. The narration is moving and vast. It makes the reader feel as if they are enjoying the same experiences. For instance, Craig tells of riding the backs of giant tiger sharks in the open ocean and swimming freely among five great white sharks, “…learning how to interact with the world’s largest predators. His next film took him ‘into the dragon’s lair’, where he pioneered the world’s first film of diving with Nile crocodiles in the Okavango Delta.”

The photographs are incredible and beyond description. The photo of the pyjama catshark’s eye reflecting the underwater world is something very few people get the opportunity to experience.


I received an ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

I was expecting to like this book but not as much as I did. This book was a perfect fit for me, I’m currently studying biology at college and this only made me more excited about my future. I loved the photographs and the texts that go with them.

Thank you for the E-Arc NetGalley & Houghton Mifflin Press. This is a stunning tale of two men and their relationships with their family, children the sea and its creatures. Beautiful photos accompany thier stories throughout and I couldn’t have been more enchanted.

If you were as mesmerized and moved by My Octopus Teacher as I was, you will be moved to tears by this beautiful, magnificent book. You will be immersed in the aquatic world, surrounded by octopuses, cuttlefish, and dozens of other amazing little seen, little understood creatures. Read this book and be charged forever, as you see yourself as a cog in a much larger, much more important world