Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Published 2016 · 65,000 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Nonfiction, Philosophy, Science & Nature
How hard is Other Minds to read?
Other Minds scores 28 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 30 out of 100
- Philosophical and biological terms, but explained clearly for a general audience.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Abstraction: 38 out of 100
- Philosophical questions grounded in concrete encounters with octopuses.
- Information density: 45 out of 100
- Balanced mix of evolutionary biology, philosophy, and field observation.
- Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
- Straightforward chapters building from evolution to consciousness.
- Symbolic density: 18 out of 100
- The octopus as alien mind. The sea as crucible of consciousness.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Warm, wondering tone. Genuine awe at cephalopod intelligence.
- Resolution withholding: 22 out of 100
- Godfrey-Smith raises questions about octopus consciousness he cannot fully answer.
- Structural complexity: 22 out of 100
- Eight compact chapters moving from biology to philosophy.
How Other Minds is regarded
Other Minds holds a literary regard score of 44 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.