Paperback, 464 pages
English language
Published June 29, 2022 by The Bodley Head Ltd.
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 only a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into previously unfathomable dimensions - 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 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 …
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 only a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into previously unfathomable dimensions - 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 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.
Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the threads 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.
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 activity can …
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.
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.
