Id of the Squid

Every year, International Cephalopod Awareness Days (October 8-12) mark the beginning of the holiday season.*

To honor this very real and traditional celebration, we are highlighting Id of the Squid by Arch E. Benthic. The pen name of oceanographer Harris B. Stewart, Arch E. Benthic is a joke about the continental shelf (archibenthic) and immediately sets the playful tone of the book. Stewart was a dedicated marine scientist whose career spanned 40 years, as well as the author of over 120 scientific articles and 12 books ranging in topic from oceanography, to humor, to poetry. Id of the Squid, which includes fifty hilarious poems about marine science, is a combination of all three.

Each poem is illustrated by geologist John C. Holden, and while the overall theme is oceanography, some poems make allusions to contemporaneous events, such as An Oceanographer’s Suggestion, which references the first moon landing. Other poems, such as the untitled one on page 24, dispense eternally useful pearls of wisdom.

Miller Library’s copy of Id of the Squid is inscribed by the author to David Wallace, who was a 1935 Washington College graduate and later director of the U.S. Office of International Fisheries.

For more information about this title, or any of our other resources, check out our online catalog!

*Citation needed.