An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

  • Downloads:6728
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2022-01-22 03:19:24
  • Update Date:2025-09-06
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Ed Yong
  • ISBN:0593133234
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

A grand tour through the hidden realms of animal senses that will transform the way you perceive the world --from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes。

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields。 But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world。 This book welcomes us into a previously unfathomable dimension--the world as it is truly perceived by other animals。

We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth's magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and humans that wield sonar like bats。 We discover that a crocodile's scaly face is as sensitive as a lover's fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision。 We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street。 We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries which lie unsolved。

In An Immense World, author and acclaimed science journalist Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us。 Because in order to understand our world we don't need to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes。

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Reviews

Chantal Lyons

Ed Yong has produced an immense book that delves into the mind-blowing world of senses across the animal kingdom - prepare to say "wow" out loud a lot as you read it。'An Immense World' is not a book you can read in a few sittings。 Yong actually expects quite a lot of his readers, which isn't a bad thing。 Every page is full of fascinating information。 By coincidence, shortly before starting Yong's book, I started listening to 'Sentient' by Jackie Higgins which, perhaps unfortunately, is extremely Ed Yong has produced an immense book that delves into the mind-blowing world of senses across the animal kingdom - prepare to say "wow" out loud a lot as you read it。'An Immense World' is not a book you can read in a few sittings。 Yong actually expects quite a lot of his readers, which isn't a bad thing。 Every page is full of fascinating information。 By coincidence, shortly before starting Yong's book, I started listening to 'Sentient' by Jackie Higgins which, perhaps unfortunately, is extremely similar in theme to this book (they even cover a lot of the same scientists)。 However, I prefer Yong's book, because in true journalistic fashion the author physically meets with many of the scientists whose work he covers, and gets to meet quite a few of the animals too。 Which led to quite a few fun moments - a nice injection of brevity and illumination。 Another element that makes 'An Immense World' superior, in my view, is the analysis he frequently presents along the lines of "we never used to imagine this。。。 what else are we missing about this animal?"。 There's a sense of deep wonder and mystery。 For all my praise, I cannot give this book 5 stars。 The reason? THE FOOTNOTES。 OH MY GOD。 Most pages had at least one footnote, sometimes three or even four。 On some pages, the footnotes took up at least half the page。 I hate the idea of missing out on any information, so I read them all, but it really broke up the narrative for me。 Neither did it help that on my e-reader, a lot of the footnotes went over onto the next page。 Even more galling is that a lot of them could have easily been folded into the narrative。 What I suspect has happened is that Yong went over his word limit, so he simply moved some content to the footnotes。 The result is that it sadly diminished my reading experience。(With thanks to Random House and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review) 。。。more

Nicola Michelle

Having read Ed Yongs previous book (Life contains multitudes, a book I loved- as a microbiologist, it hooked me) I was so excited to read this new one: An immense world。 And it did not disappoint! It’s on such an interesting topic。 How the senses of animals give us a glimpse into a unseen realm, one of which we all perceive differently。 We live in a world that we all experience in a different way depending on our senses and the picture that builds around us。 This book introduces the concept of ‘ Having read Ed Yongs previous book (Life contains multitudes, a book I loved- as a microbiologist, it hooked me) I was so excited to read this new one: An immense world。 And it did not disappoint! It’s on such an interesting topic。 How the senses of animals give us a glimpse into a unseen realm, one of which we all perceive differently。 We live in a world that we all experience in a different way depending on our senses and the picture that builds around us。 This book introduces the concept of ‘Umwelten’ which I just loved。 So many things were new to me and I learnt so much。 If you’re expecting a cut and dry guide to the senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight, you won’t get that here! Instead? Ed Yong brings the senses to life。 He walks you through a word seen through the eyes of another。 From different species who perceive the world in extraordinary ways。 He takes you out of the human perspective, and into that of a different sense。 There was also a great addition in how the anthropocene (the current age of humans) and how we are changing our environment and how that’s related to affecting wildlife。 From the lights bamboozling senses to strange molecules and environmental disruptions and what that means for different species。 It’s written brilliantly and is so engaging。 Right when I picked it up and dived into the first few pages, I knew it was going to be a five star read。 It’s beautifully written and a perfect example of how non fictions should be。 It’s perfect for those who don’t have much background in science and is bound to engage and mystify you。 I devoured the pages and banked a lot of amazing knowledge along the way! Seriously couldn’t recommend enough。 Thank you to the author and publishers via NetGalley for this book in return for my honest thoughts and review。 。。。more