The Groundwork Erie environmental book club’s first entry of 2026 was Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness (2015). A nonfiction bestseller and National Book Award finalist, this book was an engaging account of Montgomery’s introduction to and engagement with several octopuses, primarily at the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA, and with the staff and volunteers whose lives intertwined with those of the octopuses. As the book’s title intimates, Montgomery approaches the octopuses she meets as individuals …

While Richard Powers’ 2018 novel Overstory was written around trees and life on land, his 2024 novel Playground turns readers’ attention toward life Earth’s grand oceans. Considering that oceans cover approximately 71% of Earth’s surface, we humans ought to attend more carefully to its health and inhabitants, and Playground certainly encourages us to do so. At the same time, the novel also asks readers to consider the role of AI in society and challenges readers to consider the ethics of decisions that affect ocean life.

Brave New World (1932), Aldous Huxley’s vision of a dystopian future, is counterbalanced 30 years later by Huxley’s final novel, Island (1962), which was about an ecotopia. He uses Pala, the novel’s ecotopian island paradise, to show readers a vision of an alternative way of life characterized by sustainable ecological practices and a high standard of living. It is a rare novel that depicts such a hopeful vision of a different way of living, and a welcome change from the usual dystopian fare.