The Lady and the Octopus, Danna Staaf
The Lady and the Octopus, Danna Staaf
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The Lady and the Octopus
How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology

Author: Danna Staaf

Narrator: Suzie Althens

Unabridged: 4 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/04/2022

Synopsis

"Jeanne Villepreux-Power was never expected to be a scientist. Born in 1794 in a French village more than 100 miles from the ocean, she pursued an improbable path that brought her to the island of Sicily. There, she took up natural history and solved the two-thousand-year-old mystery of how the argonaut octopus gets its shell. In an era when most research focused on dead specimens, Jeanne was determined to experiment on living animals. And to keep sea creatures alive for her studies, she had to invent a contraption to hold them: the aquarium. Her remarkable life story is told by author, marine biologist, and octopus enthusiast Danna Staaf."

About Danna Staaf

Danna Staaf is a freelance science communicator with a Ph.D. in marine biology. Her writing has appeared in Science, KQED, Earther, and io9, and her first book, Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods, was named one of the best science books of 2017 by NPR. She created the science outreach program Squids4Kids and visits schools at every grade level, as well as museums, libraries, and tech companies. She lives in San Jose with her spouse, children, and innumerable plush octopuses.

About Suzie Althens

Suzie Althens is an experienced narrator who works regularly with major publishers. She narrates titles in a wide variety of genres, including nonfiction, cozy mysteries, chick lit, suspense, and romance. A resident of Alaska, she spends her free time gardening, sketching, cooking for friends and family, and staring at the mountains.

Reviews

Goodreads review by George on September 22, 2024

This is a large format book intended for the educational market, and younger readers. It has sidebars or full pages, scrapbook style, explaining tangents, and history, minor characters, the meaning of this or that; at times these digressions are interesting but others might be skippable. I did learn......more

Goodreads review by Emily Joy on March 12, 2025

Most people probably don’t know I wanted to be a marine biologist. Then took AP Literature and the rest was history. Reading this fantastic book sparked that love of science and marine biology in me again! All of the side tangents and historical context were great for someone like me who asks a mill......more

Goodreads review by A. on July 25, 2022

I love the organization of this book. Kids can have short attention spans, so I like that this offers information in short sections. I also like the vivid colors and photographs. There's a diagram of an argonaut, which follows the montessori method of learning about animals. It's also nice that it h......more

Goodreads review by Erin on January 21, 2023

I really appreciate the full context given by the author here. Staaf doesn’t just tell us about the life of Jeanne Villepreux Power, she tells us of her relationships with other scientists, and in turn their relationship with today’s scientific community. And it’s not just a hagiographic ode to girl......more

Goodreads review by Libby on September 27, 2022

This fascinating YA nonfiction title introduced me to Jeanne Villepreux-Power, born during the French Revolution, who not only invented the aquarium but also led the way in studying live animals, not just dead specimens. Although her interests and scientific studies were wide-ranging, she is best kn......more

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