464 pages
English language
Published Nov. 13, 2022 by Penguin Random House.
The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world.
In An Immense World, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning 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. 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 even humans who 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 …
The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world.
In An Immense World, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning 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. 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 even humans who 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 that remain unsolved.
Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called "the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes."
Even though the book is concerned with the sensory lives of animals, it teaches a whole lot about ourselves and how we perceive the world.
It is densely packed with information and needs a wake mind to read. Even if I will forget most of the facts in no time, the over all Message will stay. Recommend!
This book was really cool to listen to, especially because it's narrated by the author. I often find that books narrated by the author are a lot more fun, especially if nonfiction.
As for the actual content itself, this book was a lot of fun. I listened to the authors other book about microbes pretty recently, so I was super excited to know that he had another book about different animals and the senses that they have. In a way it's kind of a lot bigger scale than talking about microbes, but at the same time, the way the senses of many animals work, scientists are looking in really small places. Like a lot of the book talked about insects and I've just never thought about the sensory world of an insect before.
I also really appreciate how he spent part of the book talking about how human …
This book was really cool to listen to, especially because it's narrated by the author. I often find that books narrated by the author are a lot more fun, especially if nonfiction.
As for the actual content itself, this book was a lot of fun. I listened to the authors other book about microbes pretty recently, so I was super excited to know that he had another book about different animals and the senses that they have. In a way it's kind of a lot bigger scale than talking about microbes, but at the same time, the way the senses of many animals work, scientists are looking in really small places. Like a lot of the book talked about insects and I've just never thought about the sensory world of an insect before.
I also really appreciate how he spent part of the book talking about how human activity can have a negative impact on the sensory experience of other animals and how we can improve the situation. It's always really nice to see when animals just aren't used as some kind of interesting subject, but then their actual lives in relation to ours are ignored.
Super fascinating book that I probably would have got a lot more out of if I hadn't listened to most of it while trying to go to sleep and when I was sick with COVID. Definitely recommend either way though and I hope that the author has another book out at some point because these topics are wicked cool!
A very dense read because it’s so packed with startling facts, but definitely worth the investment in time. This is really an extraordinary book.
This is one of those books that will change the way you view the animals of the world. We take for granted just how amazing and mind-blowing the animal senses are and just accept them for being the way they are. Or maybe that's just me. But this has absolutely changed my view on a lot of things. I will certainly not look at an animal the same, even my dog.
There is a whole crap ton of information on here, so do not expect this to be a quick read. However, Young does a really great job of giving you the abundance of information in a way that doesn't make you feel like you're in a college class.
I did listen to the audiobook which Young reads himself. He did a really great job with his cadence and pacing so would definitely recommend the audiobook if you …
This is one of those books that will change the way you view the animals of the world. We take for granted just how amazing and mind-blowing the animal senses are and just accept them for being the way they are. Or maybe that's just me. But this has absolutely changed my view on a lot of things. I will certainly not look at an animal the same, even my dog.
There is a whole crap ton of information on here, so do not expect this to be a quick read. However, Young does a really great job of giving you the abundance of information in a way that doesn't make you feel like you're in a college class.
I did listen to the audiobook which Young reads himself. He did a really great job with his cadence and pacing so would definitely recommend the audiobook if you would be interested in it.
I cannot say enough about this book, read it!
We tend to think the way we experience the world is the way it is. But animals, using or emphasizing different and other senses than our five, may experience ‘reality’ in entirely different ways. Young leads us on a deep dive into the sensory experiences of animals.
We tend to think the way we experience the world is the way it is. But animals, using or emphasizing different and other senses than our five, may experience ‘reality’ in entirely different ways. Young leads us on a deep dive into the sensory experiences of animals.
Will change the way you see the world, and can't help but make you appreciate just how magnificent all the species who share the world with us are.
What a fabulous book. Everyone should read it.
Will change the way you see the world, and can't help but make you appreciate just how magnificent all the species who share the world with us are.
What a fabulous book. Everyone should read it.
Will change the way you see the world, and can't help but make you appreciate just how magnificent all the species who share the world with us are.
Will change the way you see the world, and can't help but make you appreciate just how magnificent all the species who share the world with us are.
A really stunning exploration of sensing. And a really nice incorporation of von Uexküll's "umwelt." Particularly compelling is the emphasis upon the entanglement of communication and sensory capacity.
A really stunning exploration of sensing. And a really nice incorporation of von Uexküll's "umwelt." Particularly compelling is the emphasis upon the entanglement of communication and sensory capacity.
An impressive book, full of wonderful facts and some grounded speculations looking at how various creatures sense, and make sense, of the world around them. Ed Yong (the author) reminds us that trying to understand the behaviour of creatures based on what we can sense can be futile. And by forcing creatures into a human centric world (near constant lighting at night, urban noise, artificial chemicals in the environment), we may be altering their behaviour and damaging the natural biodiversity.
Ed Yong starts by introducing the reader to the term, Umwelt (as used by biologist Jakob von Uexkül) to represent each creature's unique perception of the world. He then shows us the Umwelts of various creatures as experienced through the various senses: smell, taste, light, colour, the sensation of pain and heat, contact, vibrations and sound. He then covers three of the more mysterious senses; echolocation and the ability …
An impressive book, full of wonderful facts and some grounded speculations looking at how various creatures sense, and make sense, of the world around them. Ed Yong (the author) reminds us that trying to understand the behaviour of creatures based on what we can sense can be futile. And by forcing creatures into a human centric world (near constant lighting at night, urban noise, artificial chemicals in the environment), we may be altering their behaviour and damaging the natural biodiversity.
Ed Yong starts by introducing the reader to the term, Umwelt (as used by biologist Jakob von Uexkül) to represent each creature's unique perception of the world. He then shows us the Umwelts of various creatures as experienced through the various senses: smell, taste, light, colour, the sensation of pain and heat, contact, vibrations and sound. He then covers three of the more mysterious senses; echolocation and the ability to sense electric and magnetic fields. Each sense is shown by giving examples of various creatures whose ability to use the sense differs and/or exceeds our abilities to use them.
He then closes the book by showing how animals draw upon the various senses to form each creature's Umwelt, and how we are altering what creatures are sensing from their surroundings by 'polluting' the environment with our lights, noise and artificial chemicals.
Throughout the book, Ed Yong features the research and work being done by numerous researchers to understand how creatures sense the world and, possibly, how they make sense of the world using the information provided by the senses.
It may be impossible to fully imagine how even familiar creatures like dogs sense the world compared to us, much less creatures like spiders, birds, fishes, electric eels, moles or elephants (all examples from the book). But Ed Yong gives it a good try, and by the end, you'll probably appreciate the fact that we may never share the Umwelt of other creatures, but you'll be aware that they see the world differently from us and that needs to be accounted for when trying to understand why they behave in certain ways that may seem puzzling to us, limited as we are by our own Umwelts.
