Where We Meet the World: The Story of the Senses
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2023-04-08 16:25:15
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Ashley Ward
- ISBN：1541600851
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Summary
The thrilling story of how our senses evolved and how they shape our encounters with the world
Our senses are what make life worth living。 They allow us to appreciate a sip of an ice-cold drink， the sound of laughter， the touch of a lover。 But only recently have incredible advances in sensory biology given us the ability to understand how and why our senses evolved as they have。
In Where We Meet the World， biologist Ashley Ward takes readers on a breathtaking tour of how our senses function。 Ward looks at not only the five major senses—vision， hearing， taste， smell， and touch—but also a host of other senses， such as balance and interoception， the sense of the body’s internal state。 Drawing on new research， he explores how our senses interact with and regulate each other， and he uncovers what we can learn from how other animals—and even bacteria—encounter the world。
Full of warmth and humor， Where We Meet the World shows how new insights in biology transform our understanding of the relationship between ourselves and our environment， revealing the vibrancy—and strangeness—of both。
Our senses are what make life worth living。 They allow us to appreciate a sip of an ice-cold drink， the sound of laughter， the touch of a lover。 But only recently have incredible advances in sensory biology given us the ability to understand how and why our senses evolved as they have。
In Where We Meet the World， biologist Ashley Ward takes readers on a breathtaking tour of how our senses function。 Ward looks at not only the five major senses—vision， hearing， taste， smell， and touch—but also a host of other senses， such as balance and interoception， the sense of the body’s internal state。 Drawing on new research， he explores how our senses interact with and regulate each other， and he uncovers what we can learn from how other animals—and even bacteria—encounter the world。
Full of warmth and humor， Where We Meet the World shows how new insights in biology transform our understanding of the relationship between ourselves and our environment， revealing the vibrancy—and strangeness—of both。
Reviews
Petra fixed her computer and is feeling very happy
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When I am selling books meant for very young babies， either board books to chew on or books to read to them， I point out that pictures are often symbols and that our brains are wired to recognise a symbol。 Specifically， the illustrations of children's faces look absolutely nothing like a real face， but even the very young recognise that it is a face， even a cartoon one。 Recognising symbols is a precursor for reading。 So， I was interested to read in this book that in the third trimester of pregna When I am selling books meant for very young babies， either board books to chew on or books to read to them， I point out that pictures are often symbols and that our brains are wired to recognise a symbol。 Specifically， the illustrations of children's faces look absolutely nothing like a real face， but even the very young recognise that it is a face， even a cartoon one。 Recognising symbols is a precursor for reading。 So， I was interested to read in this book that in the third trimester of pregnancy， that babies， foetuses， respond to light patterns shone on their mother's bellies。 If the pattern is an arrangement of dots and lines that approximates a face， it holds their attention for much longer than other patterns。 I knew unborn babies could react to sound， but I had no idea they could see light patterns。I knew about sound because my baby was at term and had stopped moving。 I went to the hospital for an ultrasound and they said he was practicing breathing and sucking his thumb！ So that afternoon I went to a Tibetan concert in Crystal Palace， London， and it started with a monk running up to and striking with a mallet a giant cymbal。 My baby， jumped inside me！ （And all was well）。 。。。more
Peter Tillman
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TBR based on Nataliya's 5-star review:"Loved it！ Sensory biology made fun。When I read popular science books， I look not just for information （hey， had I wanted to read a dry boring textbook I would have read a dry boring textbook） but for how accessible it is， how interesting and how fun。 Well， Ashley Ward got it right again。 He hit all the points with his previous book， The Social Lives of Animals， and with this book he proved that he’s not a one-hit wonder。 。。。"I liked that one， too。 For when TBR based on Nataliya's 5-star review:"Loved it！ Sensory biology made fun。When I read popular science books， I look not just for information （hey， had I wanted to read a dry boring textbook I would have read a dry boring textbook） but for how accessible it is， how interesting and how fun。 Well， Ashley Ward got it right again。 He hit all the points with his previous book， The Social Lives of Animals， and with this book he proved that he’s not a one-hit wonder。 。。。"I liked that one， too。 For when the library gats copies。 。。。more
Nataliya
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Loved it！ Sensory biology made fun。When I read popular science books， I look not just for information （hey， had I wanted to read a dry boring textbook I would have read a dry boring textbook） but for how accessible it is， how interesting and how fun。 Well， Ashley Ward got it right again。 He hit all the points with his previous book， The Social Lives of Animals， and with this book he proved that he’s not a one-hit wonder。 “The hákarl is delivered to me in chunks， sealed in a Kilner jar lest its Loved it！ Sensory biology made fun。When I read popular science books， I look not just for information （hey， had I wanted to read a dry boring textbook I would have read a dry boring textbook） but for how accessible it is， how interesting and how fun。 Well， Ashley Ward got it right again。 He hit all the points with his previous book， The Social Lives of Animals， and with this book he proved that he’s not a one-hit wonder。 “The hákarl is delivered to me in chunks， sealed in a Kilner jar lest its terrible smell frighten the horses。 My friends， who stubbornly refuse to participate， watch on as I timidly unfasten the container and retrieve a gobbet with the toothpick supplied。 There’s no going back now。 I pop the heinous morsel in my mouth。 I don’t gag， though many first-timers do， apparently。 A wave of flavour breaks over my tongue， a gustatory collage of particularly disreputable public toilets。 There’s a note of elderly fish， swimming valiantly against the lavatorial flow。 The texture is troubling， too， a kind of rubbery malevolence。 To sum up the experience， I’d probably go with ‘vulcanised litter tray’。” Our five senses may seem pretty clear and simple on initial glance （and hey， like many I seem to default to visual metaphors all the time， prioritizing the visual like most of us seem to do）， but once you delve deeper into it they are anything but。 Sensation is one thing， perception is another。 There’s endless integration and collaboration going on constantly， with fascinating interplay。 “We also have taste receptors sprinkled around the body in places such as the liver， the brain and even the testes。 This latter revelation， from a paper published in 2013， gave rise to a fad among young men to dangle their balls in such things as soy sauce， with some even claiming to have registered a savoury hit。 The thing is， though taste receptors may be found in such extraordinary places， they’re not organised into taste buds and nor are they wired to the brain in quite the same way as the receptors in our mouths， so they don’t deliver the experience of flavour。 The net result is that the participants exposed themselves not only to condiment-covered gonads but to accusations of wishful thinking。” While I quite enjoyed the sections on vision， hearing and touch， the chapters on smell and taste were by far my favorite。 I’ve never really appreciated the richness of experience coming from these， and when I lost both of these for a few weeks due to Covid I didn’t miss them at all — but Ward made me care a bit more about them， as well as give me many moments of hilarity and horror: “For example， one of those chemicals that makes up the smell of coffee， indole， can cause problems for coffee-loving mums-to-be。 To most people， indole has the odour of bad breath or faeces。 In the melee of hundreds of different aromas in coffee， hardly anyone notices it。 When some women become pregnant， indole’s shitty odour comes to the fore and ruins the whole experience。” Humans can be quite disgusting and I’m never touching a perfume bottle ever again: “As well as things like musk and castoreum from these animals， perfumes often contain a hint of urinary fragrance。 Horrible as it may sound， our noses seem to like it。” Even supposed wine connoisseurs can get fooled by a trick of adding food coloring to wine and involving preconceived expectations to replace supposed objectivity with subjectivity。 When blindfolded， quite a few of us cannot identify coffee smell。 “There are many answers to the question of how many senses we have。 It’s more than five， perhaps more than fifty。 I’d argue that we learn little from the dry arithmetic process of accounting the senses。 The important thing is to understand that the end result， perception – our overall sensory experience – is an alloy， an extraordinary conjoining and melding of the separate senses。” Ward keeps it compulsively readable， sticking with an easy-to-follow humorous conversational tone while delivering quite a bit of information which never gets overwhelming or dry。 Easy 5 stars。——————Thanks to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review。——————Also posted on my blog。 。。。more
Nicole Barbaro
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Fantastic read detailing the science behind the five major human senses。 While primarily focused on humans he integrates other animal research on senses as well。 Learned so many interesting facts about out senses。
Dea
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Fascinating overview of sensory biology！ Ward divides the book by each of the five senses， but then describes how all of the senses are intricately integrated during the complicated process of perception。Naturally， there are some gender differences when it comes to perception， with men having the evolutionary advantage for visual acuity and motion sensitivity， while women have better color discrimination。 Women also have 50% more neurons in olfactory processing brain regions， making them far mor Fascinating overview of sensory biology！ Ward divides the book by each of the five senses， but then describes how all of the senses are intricately integrated during the complicated process of perception。Naturally， there are some gender differences when it comes to perception， with men having the evolutionary advantage for visual acuity and motion sensitivity， while women have better color discrimination。 Women also have 50% more neurons in olfactory processing brain regions， making them far more sensitive to scents。 The theory is that this evolved as a way to protect fetuses; a strong sense of smell allows （aka， pretty much forces） a mother to avoid things that give off a strong odor that could hurt the developing fetus。 The reproductive hormones involved also give women of reproductive age a better sensitivity for taste compared to age-matched males。 I also thought the cross-culture comparisons on sense perception to be really interesting as well。 Due to changes of lifestyle per culture， Westerners have a disadvantage when it comes to scent ability。 For example， only one in four US adults were able to correctly identify the smell of coffee on a blind scent test。 The variety of diets cross-culturally also explains the differences for taste， with 1 out of 4 Caucasian subjects being classified as "non-tasters" while East Asian and Afro-Caribbean samples performed astronomically better。 I always thought that humans have weaker perception than many mammals， but it turns out cats are legally blind by human standards！ Dogs perform better， but worse than humans， and birds' eyesight puts the rest of the animal kingdom to shame。 When it comes to taste， humans actually have more than 10x the amount of taste buds compared to dogs， which could explain why dogs have no issue eating poop。 And while humans can't exactly replace TSA dogs when it comes to sniffing， we have a better sense of smell than I ever imagined。 Ward described how study subjects were able to differentiate between the smell of fear rather than from exercise just by sniffing sweaty t-shirts！ Lastly， humans， similar to other animals， seem to have a subconscious magnetic-driven perception of cardinal directions。 Some humans have a stronger， subconscious brain activation to the change in magnetic fields， which could explain why some people are just more navigationally-skilled then others。 These sections of the book are not only little fun facts， but sparked many conversations！ Sometimes this integration leads to inaccurate perception， and Ward provides amusing and thought-provoking examples of these situations。 For example， just by dying white wine red， even experienced wine connoisseurs ended up mistakenly （but confidently） mislabeling it。 Further studies revealed that background lighting and music also have a strong effect on how we perceive the flavor notes in wine; all to suggest that our perception is a conglomeration of multiple inputs of information in the setting; a sensory crosstalk， as Ward put it。 The only drawback of the writing style was the extremely long paragraph formatting at times， some of them a full page long。 I felt like this would have made reading a bit smoother if they were reorganized， but that's minor。 The book overall was excellent and very intriguing， highly recommend！ Thank you to NetGalley and Basic Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy before publication。 "The fact remains that we experience our surroundings in very different ways， and this shapes not only what we perceive， but how we relate to the world。" 。。。more
Steve
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I generally don’t read popular science for the laughs; I’m there for well-explained content， hopefully with a conversational tone。 But this book delivers it all; the content， the style and the humor that makes for great science writing。 Written in a conversational tone with minimal use of jargon， this book gave me an excellent， well-explained tour of the senses。 The book is well-paced and there is never a dull moment， making it hard to put the book down。 Thank you to Netgalley and Basic Books fo I generally don’t read popular science for the laughs; I’m there for well-explained content， hopefully with a conversational tone。 But this book delivers it all; the content， the style and the humor that makes for great science writing。 Written in a conversational tone with minimal use of jargon， this book gave me an excellent， well-explained tour of the senses。 The book is well-paced and there is never a dull moment， making it hard to put the book down。 Thank you to Netgalley and Basic Books for the digital review copy。 。。。more
Jeff
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Interesting， Well Written， Readable- But Needs Well-Sourced Bibliography。 This book was an utterly fascinating mid-range dive into each of the human senses （even including at least one chapter on senses *other* than the "Big 5"）， their biology， evolution， and overall impact on the human body and mind。 It was truly well written for most anyone who can read at all to be able to understand， without too many technical or highly precise and specific terms that would require specialized knowledge。 It Interesting， Well Written， Readable- But Needs Well-Sourced Bibliography。 This book was an utterly fascinating mid-range dive into each of the human senses （even including at least one chapter on senses *other* than the "Big 5"）， their biology， evolution， and overall impact on the human body and mind。 It was truly well written for most anyone who can read at all to be able to understand， without too many technical or highly precise and specific terms that would require specialized knowledge。 It was humorous enough to increase its readability， while still being serious about its subjects and discussions。 Really the only flaw， at least in this Advance Reader Copy form， was the lack of a bibliography at all （where 20-30% is more common in my experience）， and I also want to call out the inclusion of a page listing a "selected further readings to come" or some such， indicating that the final version of the book would only have a limited bibliography。 To my mind， this would be a mistake， and I hope the publisher sees this with enough lead time to hopefully correct that direction before publication。 This dearth of a bibliography was the sole reason for the star deduction here。 Still， if nothing else changes about this book at all from the time I read it nearly three months before publication and for decades following publication， this is truly a strong book giving the reader a complete overview of the human senses as we currently understand them。 Very much recommended。 。。。more
Stitching Ghost
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This book is exactly what it says it is on the cover， it tells you some basic facts about your senses and offers theories about how and why they evolved the way they did blending a variety of scientific disciplines。 That being said， it was a fun read with just the right blend of stats， anecdotes， and ideas to keep it engaging all the way through。 A lot of the information presented I was already familiar with， and the language used was pretty accessible （no unnecessary lingo here） so I would say This book is exactly what it says it is on the cover， it tells you some basic facts about your senses and offers theories about how and why they evolved the way they did blending a variety of scientific disciplines。 That being said， it was a fun read with just the right blend of stats， anecdotes， and ideas to keep it engaging all the way through。 A lot of the information presented I was already familiar with， and the language used was pretty accessible （no unnecessary lingo here） so I would say this is a book that would be great for anyone who is discovering an interest in the topic or someone who is just drawn in by the pretty cover。 I particularly enjoyed the section about smell and how we tend to undervalue that particular sense even though is one that our bodies put a lot of resources in， while I'm not entirely surprised that we do when comparing it to our other senses we spend so much time and money on not smelling bad one would think we'd actually be pretty invested in that senseDisclosure: I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Basic Books in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more
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where we meet the world the story of the senses