What do you think?
Rate this book
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Nonfiction (2022)
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.
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.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published June 21, 2022
About the author
Ed Yong
9 books1,553 followersEd Yong is a science journalist who reports for The Atlantic, and is based in Washington DC.
His work appears several times a week on The Atlantic's website, and has also featured in National Geographic, the New Yorker, Wired, Nature, New Scientist, Scientific American, and many more. He has won a variety of awards, including the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award for biomedical reporting in 2016, the Byron H. Waksman Award for Excellence in the Public Communication of Life Sciences in 2016, and the National Academies Keck Science Communication Award in 2010 for his old blog Not Exactly Rocket Science. He regularly does talks and radio interviews; his TED talk on mind-controlling parasites has been watched by over 1.5 million people.
I Contain Multitudes, his first book, looks at the amazing partnerships between animals and microbes. Published in 2016, it became a New York Times bestseller, and was listed in best-of-2016 lists by the NYT, NPR, the Economist, the Guardian, and several others. Bill Gates called it "science journalism at its finest", and Jeopardy! turned it into a clue.
Ed cares deeply about accurate and nuanced reporting, clear and vivid storytelling, and social equality. He writes about everything that is or was once alive, from the quirky world of animal behaviour to the equally quirky lives of scientists, from the microbes that secretly rule the world to the species that are blinking out of it, from the people who are working to make science more reliable to those who are using it to craft policies. His stories span 3.7 billion years, from the origin of life itself to this month's developments in Congress. He makes terrible puns and regrets none of them. He has a Chatham Island black robin named after him.
His work appears several times a week on The Atlantic's website, and has also featured in National Geographic, the New Yorker, Wired, Nature, New Scientist, Scientific American, and many more. He has won a variety of awards, including the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award for biomedical reporting in 2016, the Byron H. Waksman Award for Excellence in the Public Communication of Life Sciences in 2016, and the National Academies Keck Science Communication Award in 2010 for his old blog Not Exactly Rocket Science. He regularly does talks and radio interviews; his TED talk on mind-controlling parasites has been watched by over 1.5 million people.
I Contain Multitudes, his first book, looks at the amazing partnerships between animals and microbes. Published in 2016, it became a New York Times bestseller, and was listed in best-of-2016 lists by the NYT, NPR, the Economist, the Guardian, and several others. Bill Gates called it "science journalism at its finest", and Jeopardy! turned it into a clue.
Ed cares deeply about accurate and nuanced reporting, clear and vivid storytelling, and social equality. He writes about everything that is or was once alive, from the quirky world of animal behaviour to the equally quirky lives of scientists, from the microbes that secretly rule the world to the species that are blinking out of it, from the people who are working to make science more reliable to those who are using it to craft policies. His stories span 3.7 billion years, from the origin of life itself to this month's developments in Congress. He makes terrible puns and regrets none of them. He has a Chatham Island black robin named after him.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,534 reviews
Currently reading
November 16, 2022Update This is a 10-star book. It is up for Goodreads Awards, I should really get round to a proper review s it's paradigm-changing. Makes you think in a different way. Maybe tomorrow....
__________
I've been in bed all day, reading with my one good eye . This book is definitely going to be a 10 star. It's main thrust is that all of us creatures see the world in quite a different way but that all of us think it is the only way. It is hard to imagine a world where a seal can follow a water trail much as a dog with a scent trail, where crocodiles have skin ten times more sensitive than to tiny pressure fluctuations than our fingertips. It is an entrancing book.
From the introduction,
__________
I've been in bed all day, reading with my one good eye . This book is definitely going to be a 10 star. It's main thrust is that all of us creatures see the world in quite a different way but that all of us think it is the only way. It is hard to imagine a world where a seal can follow a water trail much as a dog with a scent trail, where crocodiles have skin ten times more sensitive than to tiny pressure fluctuations than our fingertips. It is an entrancing book.
From the introduction,
Imagine an elephant in a room. This elephant is not the proverbial weighty issue but an actual weighty mammal. Imagine the room is spacious enough to accommodate it; make it a school gym. Now imagine a mouse has scurried in, too. A robin hops alongside it. An owl perches on an overhead beam. A bat hangs upside down from the ceiling. A rattlesnake slithers along the floor. A spider has spun a web in a corner. A mosquito buzzes through the air. A bumblebee sits upon a potted sunflower. Finally, in the midst of this increasingly crowded hypothetical space, add a human. Let’s call her Rebecca. She’s sighted, curious, and (thankfully) fond of animals. Don’t worry about how she got herself into this mess. Never mind what all these animals are doing in a gym. Consider, instead, how Rebecca and the rest of this imaginary menagerie might perceive one another.and then goes on to explain how, with all their different senses the animals, see, hear, smell and trap or evade each other.
Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal can only tap into a small fraction of reality's fullness. Each is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world.The book is an elucidation of this introduction, the author sharing his enthusiasm, his writing full of warmth for all the animals who share the earth with us. I love books like this, where there is knowledge, enthusiasm and beautiful writing. A 10 star book for me, obviously!
March 25, 2023
We know that many animals can sense and perceive the world in different ways than humans do, but it’s hard to imagine it, really, when we are used to rely on our own perception of the world.
Yong presents his discussion of animal perception through the concept of Umwelt: “Instead, an Umwelt is specifically the part of those surroundings that an animal can sense and experience—its perceptual world.” And it’s fascinating trying to think of the Umwelt of those who sense the world — trapped in my own Umwelt, I almost wrote see the world — though echolocation and electric and magnetic fields.
Did you know that zebra stripes have zero to do with camouflage, lions would be considered legally blind in the human world (and they can’t see these zebra stripes from hunting distance at hunting times) and scallops have many beautiful eyes which function as a version of security camera system? Did you know dolphins are basically living CT scanners? Did you realize how much we describe the world through visual metaphors? Or how many of our ideas of animals are based on our inability to perceive when they are communicating or engaging with their world because they are using senses or sensory ranges that are not within our own Umwelt?
Ed Yong is a great narrator, able to present dense information in accessible, interesting and fun way. He makes the concepts understandable without oversimplifying. He hits my funny buttons all the time, and I love it — I mean, staying dead serious for several hundreds of nonfiction pages is *not* in my Umwelt.
But then in the end of the book Yong brings in sobering seriousness. With humans not being able to perceive things other Earth inhabitants do it’s scarily easy for us to completely mess up other creatures’ day to day existence and survival even when we actually don’t mean to. All the extra light and sound that comes as a byproduct of our overpopulated overcrowded existence is extremely disruptive, but unless you think of it from the perspective of others’ Umwelten it may be hard to realize or remedy.
Wonderfully informative, well-presented and fascinating book. Easy 5 stars.
—————
Buddy read with Allie, Anna and Carol
——————
Also posted on my blog.
“Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal can only tap into a small fraction of reality’s fullness. Each is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world.”
Yong presents his discussion of animal perception through the concept of Umwelt: “Instead, an Umwelt is specifically the part of those surroundings that an animal can sense and experience—its perceptual world.” And it’s fascinating trying to think of the Umwelt of those who sense the world — trapped in my own Umwelt, I almost wrote see the world — though echolocation and electric and magnetic fields.
“The Umwelt concept can feel constrictive because it implies that every creature is trapped within the house of its senses. But to me, the idea is wonderfully expansive. It tells us that all is not as it seems and that everything we experience is but a filtered version of everything that we could experience.”
Did you know that zebra stripes have zero to do with camouflage, lions would be considered legally blind in the human world (and they can’t see these zebra stripes from hunting distance at hunting times) and scallops have many beautiful eyes which function as a version of security camera system? Did you know dolphins are basically living CT scanners? Did you realize how much we describe the world through visual metaphors? Or how many of our ideas of animals are based on our inability to perceive when they are communicating or engaging with their world because they are using senses or sensory ranges that are not within our own Umwelt?
“The first step to understanding another animal’s Umwelt is to understand what it uses its senses for.”
Ed Yong is a great narrator, able to present dense information in accessible, interesting and fun way. He makes the concepts understandable without oversimplifying. He hits my funny buttons all the time, and I love it — I mean, staying dead serious for several hundreds of nonfiction pages is *not* in my Umwelt.
“They punch their prey into submission. They punch anything that intrudes upon their burrows. They punch each other at first contact. Mantis shrimps throw punches like humans throw opinions—frequently, aggressively, and without provocation.
[…]
Imagine that you’re a mantis shrimp. It is a truth universally acknowledged that you are in want of something to punch.”
But then in the end of the book Yong brings in sobering seriousness. With humans not being able to perceive things other Earth inhabitants do it’s scarily easy for us to completely mess up other creatures’ day to day existence and survival even when we actually don’t mean to. All the extra light and sound that comes as a byproduct of our overpopulated overcrowded existence is extremely disruptive, but unless you think of it from the perspective of others’ Umwelten it may be hard to realize or remedy.
Wonderfully informative, well-presented and fascinating book. Easy 5 stars.
—————
Buddy read with Allie, Anna and Carol
——————
Also posted on my blog.
October 31, 2023
After reading his book, I was inspired to see the world anew.
I only discovered the astounding sensory capabilities of animals and each animal's unique sensory capabilities.
Dogs are masters of smell, but note that their large ears.
Owls are masters of hearing, but note their large eyes.
I learned a lot from this book:
1. Bats use echolocation to navigate in the dark and find food.
2. Dogs can smell cancer cells and other diseases.
3. Elephants use infrasound to communicate with each other over long distances.
4. Birds can see ultraviolet light, which helps them to find food and navigate.
5. And many more.
I gained a deeper understanding of the world and the amazing creatures sharing it with us.
I only discovered the astounding sensory capabilities of animals and each animal's unique sensory capabilities.
Dogs are masters of smell, but note that their large ears.
Owls are masters of hearing, but note their large eyes.
I learned a lot from this book:
1. Bats use echolocation to navigate in the dark and find food.
2. Dogs can smell cancer cells and other diseases.
3. Elephants use infrasound to communicate with each other over long distances.
4. Birds can see ultraviolet light, which helps them to find food and navigate.
5. And many more.
I gained a deeper understanding of the world and the amazing creatures sharing it with us.
August 29, 2022
"Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal can only tap into a small fraction of reality’s fullness. Each is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world."
There's been a fair amount of rain the last few weeks where I live. Everywhere is lush green with myriad mushrooms bursting from the damp earth.
During our hikes, my partner keeps her eyes peeled for different fungal fruits (mushrooms) and I can't stop myself from taking gazillions of photos. She probably grows bored after a while but, sweet as she is, she never complains.
I ooh and aah and get down on the ground, seeking the perfect angle to snap photos and preserve these fragile fungi for as long as the chip in my phone exists.
At one point yesterday S. began laughing. She pointed out that while I might lack the ability to gush over human babies, as soon as I see cute mushrooms, insects, and lizards, I ooh and aah and baby-talk to them like most (normal) people do to tiny versions of our own species.
What can I say? She's got a point. But human babies are just so.... boring. They're all basically alike, red and squishy faced and belting forth an abominable sound over every little thing (except your baby, dear Reader, yours is different and beautiful, etc). Give me a spider any day.
I've long loved mushrooms but especially so after reading Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. The more I learn about the natural world, the more amazed I become, and the more I appreciate all the diverse forms of life around us.
An Immense World is full of interesting facts about the animals (other mammals, insects, fish, and birds) we share our planet with. Actually, maybe "share" isn't the correct word when we've stolen or destroyed so many habitats.
It's hard for us to imagine what the inner lives of other species are like, and we often think they see the world just as we do. This is a grossly mistaken assumption.
Each species has its own Umwelt, a German word meaning "environment" that is used to describe the specific part of an animal's perceptual world. The parts it senses and uses to eat, communicate, move around, find a mate, and protect itself.
Each animal's Umwelt is unique. Most humans' dominant sense is sight and, compared to most species, we have excellent vision (though many of us wear corrective lenses). We forget that some species don't see at all and the ones that do see in many distinct ways, experiencing different colours for instance, and levels of acuity.
I was frequently amazed by what I read in this book. It is packed full of interesting facts, things that make me appreciate the natural world even more.
Here's a tiny sampling:
• Catfish have taste buds spread over their entire bodies, "from the tips of their whisker-like barbels to their tails".
•"The eyes of the giant squid are as big as soccer balls."
•Scallops have eyes lining the inner edge of their shells, "dozens in some species, and up to 200 in others". That's a lot of eyeballs!
(Image: Close up of the blue eyes lining the shell of a scallop)
•Sea otters "have the densest fur in the animal kingdom, with more hairs per square centimeter than humans have on our heads".
•"Around 350 species of fish can produce their own electricity," which they use to create an image of their surroundings and to communicate with others.
I could go on. And on. My brain is whirling trying to remember all the cool things I learned in this book. Though we will never be able to experience the world exactly as other species do, we can learn as much as we can about how their senses work and try to imagine their specific Umwelts.
The author writes in an engaging manner which, along with how interesting it was, made this book a page-turner. He's witty at times and his awe for the natural world is prevalent throughout. There are copious notes that are not to be skipped.
Each chapter is dedicated to a different sense, some of which we humans do not have at all. They are: Smell and taste, sight with a separate chapter on colour, nociception (pain), temperature, touch, vibrations, sound, echolocation, electrolocation, and magnetoreception.
I recommend this book to all lovers of other species and to those who are concerned about preserving the habitats of all the diverse forms of life surrounding us. There are so many ways to experience the world and evolution has taken advantage of this, filling the world with a vast array of life.
There's been a fair amount of rain the last few weeks where I live. Everywhere is lush green with myriad mushrooms bursting from the damp earth.
During our hikes, my partner keeps her eyes peeled for different fungal fruits (mushrooms) and I can't stop myself from taking gazillions of photos. She probably grows bored after a while but, sweet as she is, she never complains.
I ooh and aah and get down on the ground, seeking the perfect angle to snap photos and preserve these fragile fungi for as long as the chip in my phone exists.
At one point yesterday S. began laughing. She pointed out that while I might lack the ability to gush over human babies, as soon as I see cute mushrooms, insects, and lizards, I ooh and aah and baby-talk to them like most (normal) people do to tiny versions of our own species.
What can I say? She's got a point. But human babies are just so.... boring. They're all basically alike, red and squishy faced and belting forth an abominable sound over every little thing (except your baby, dear Reader, yours is different and beautiful, etc). Give me a spider any day.
I've long loved mushrooms but especially so after reading Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. The more I learn about the natural world, the more amazed I become, and the more I appreciate all the diverse forms of life around us.
An Immense World is full of interesting facts about the animals (other mammals, insects, fish, and birds) we share our planet with. Actually, maybe "share" isn't the correct word when we've stolen or destroyed so many habitats.
It's hard for us to imagine what the inner lives of other species are like, and we often think they see the world just as we do. This is a grossly mistaken assumption.
Each species has its own Umwelt, a German word meaning "environment" that is used to describe the specific part of an animal's perceptual world. The parts it senses and uses to eat, communicate, move around, find a mate, and protect itself.
Each animal's Umwelt is unique. Most humans' dominant sense is sight and, compared to most species, we have excellent vision (though many of us wear corrective lenses). We forget that some species don't see at all and the ones that do see in many distinct ways, experiencing different colours for instance, and levels of acuity.
I was frequently amazed by what I read in this book. It is packed full of interesting facts, things that make me appreciate the natural world even more.
Here's a tiny sampling:
• Catfish have taste buds spread over their entire bodies, "from the tips of their whisker-like barbels to their tails".
•"The eyes of the giant squid are as big as soccer balls."
•Scallops have eyes lining the inner edge of their shells, "dozens in some species, and up to 200 in others". That's a lot of eyeballs!
(Image: Close up of the blue eyes lining the shell of a scallop)
•Sea otters "have the densest fur in the animal kingdom, with more hairs per square centimeter than humans have on our heads".
•"Around 350 species of fish can produce their own electricity," which they use to create an image of their surroundings and to communicate with others.
I could go on. And on. My brain is whirling trying to remember all the cool things I learned in this book. Though we will never be able to experience the world exactly as other species do, we can learn as much as we can about how their senses work and try to imagine their specific Umwelts.
The author writes in an engaging manner which, along with how interesting it was, made this book a page-turner. He's witty at times and his awe for the natural world is prevalent throughout. There are copious notes that are not to be skipped.
Each chapter is dedicated to a different sense, some of which we humans do not have at all. They are: Smell and taste, sight with a separate chapter on colour, nociception (pain), temperature, touch, vibrations, sound, echolocation, electrolocation, and magnetoreception.
I recommend this book to all lovers of other species and to those who are concerned about preserving the habitats of all the diverse forms of life surrounding us. There are so many ways to experience the world and evolution has taken advantage of this, filling the world with a vast array of life.
July 26, 2022
Audiobook….read by Ed Young
…..14 hours and 17 minutes
Elephants, insects, dogs, butterflies, rodents, squirrels, chipmunks, sea otters, frogs, bees, mosquitos, snakes, crocodiles, owls, whales, birds, bats, an electric catfish, kangaroos, spiders, the octopus, clams and other fishy species,
Surface vibrations, scents, sounds, poetic inspirations, tranquility, silence, magnetic fields, pigment sensitivity, ultra violet hues, echoes, fossils, trees, plants, oceans, waste, ……
Just how weird can our natural world be? We’ve earthy and colorful creatures sharing the planet with us humans….
It’s pretty extraordinary that scientist are able to study animal communications and behaviors in the way that they do…..
Ed Young gave us a fascinating—highly researched look at the way animals inhabit our world.
This lovely book opens our hearts �� our empathy — and respect for animal life.
It’s quite beautiful to spend some time contemplating and learning about our wild wonderful creatures…seeing the world through an animals eye.
…..14 hours and 17 minutes
Elephants, insects, dogs, butterflies, rodents, squirrels, chipmunks, sea otters, frogs, bees, mosquitos, snakes, crocodiles, owls, whales, birds, bats, an electric catfish, kangaroos, spiders, the octopus, clams and other fishy species,
Surface vibrations, scents, sounds, poetic inspirations, tranquility, silence, magnetic fields, pigment sensitivity, ultra violet hues, echoes, fossils, trees, plants, oceans, waste, ……
Just how weird can our natural world be? We’ve earthy and colorful creatures sharing the planet with us humans….
It’s pretty extraordinary that scientist are able to study animal communications and behaviors in the way that they do…..
Ed Young gave us a fascinating—highly researched look at the way animals inhabit our world.
This lovely book opens our hearts �� our empathy — and respect for animal life.
It’s quite beautiful to spend some time contemplating and learning about our wild wonderful creatures…seeing the world through an animals eye.
May 11, 2023
In a Nutshell: A great option for animal nonfiction lovers. Goes a bit too technical with scientific parlance at times, but most of the content is comprehensible to lay readers.
Humans have always tried to understand animals. However, one key thing that we either forget or don’t realise is that we try to use *our* understanding of the world to perceive *their* understanding of the world. Scientists have realised the flaw of this method, and have already begun the change in methodology for animal behaviour analysis, using the concept of Umwelt to understand animal behaviour rather than anthropomorphising them.
Umwelt is the German word for ‘environment’, and it denotes an organism’s sensory world. Our sensory world is dictated by our senses—the five that are commonly termed senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) and the various other senses that we aren’t even aware of possessing (heat, pain, vibrations, balance,…) However, we all know that the senses aren’t standard across species. For instance, a dog perceives a fewer number of colours than humans, while birds perceive colours much beyond what we can. Does this mean that dogs know that they can see less and birds are aware that they can see more? Not at all – their Umwelten has always been the same. So seeing ultraviolet shades is perfectly routine for birds while we go ‘Wow!’ at the thought.
The book takes all of the common and most of the uncommon senses, and elaborates on each of them through multiple anecdotes and examples. The anecdotes come from various sensory biologists and their research experiences, which range from awe-inspiring to frustrating. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific Umwelt, and is supported by elaborate footnotes. (and I mean ‘elaborate’ in every sense – about a quarter of the book contains just the footnotes.) There is a strong underlying thread of humour throughout the content, courtesy not just the anecdotes but the author’s funny remarks about some of the facts/animals.
What I loved most about the author’s approach is that he never places any sense or animal above or below another, and is certainly not biased towards humans or human senses. The book’s primary focus is not on establishing superiority but on understanding the diversity of the natural world. More importantly, the agenda is very clear: the intention is not to seek a better understanding of our world by understanding other species first. Rather, it is to understand other species, period.
A plus point to the beautiful colour photo inserts, but a minus for having them in one clump at the end of the book (before the footnotes) rather than inserting them at the relevant spots within the related chapter. (This feedback is based on the Kindle version.)
Further on the flip side, the content gets a tad overwhelming at times, especially when it comes to providing data-based support. Some stats became too tedious, and some explanations too jargonistic. The writing style is also a bit jumpy at times as the author seeks to include as many instances as he can to support his point.
A bigger red flag personally was learning about some of the experiments & research methodology in use. A few experiments raised in my head the same old doubt: how far should humans go during animal research? I admire what the scientists seek to do, but advocating such research also feels like supporting cruelty. These experiments left me quite torn about my feelings. I couldn’t buy their argument that we humans are doing all this for the animals. No, humans are doing all this mainly for themselves. We want to learn more and more about everything around us, even if the learning comes at some cost to other species. This is not exactly a flaw in the writing, but a negative emotional impact of the content.
On the whole though, this is a treasure trove of information for every nature lover and to those curious about how senses (across species) function. Reading it will open your eyes (to the extent of their paltry four photoreceptor cones & rods) towards the vibrant diversity found in nature.
Definitely recommended if the subject matter interests you. Would suggest you read it a chapter at a time as it gets quite saturating otherwise.
4 stars.
———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
Humans have always tried to understand animals. However, one key thing that we either forget or don’t realise is that we try to use *our* understanding of the world to perceive *their* understanding of the world. Scientists have realised the flaw of this method, and have already begun the change in methodology for animal behaviour analysis, using the concept of Umwelt to understand animal behaviour rather than anthropomorphising them.
Umwelt is the German word for ‘environment’, and it denotes an organism’s sensory world. Our sensory world is dictated by our senses—the five that are commonly termed senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) and the various other senses that we aren’t even aware of possessing (heat, pain, vibrations, balance,…) However, we all know that the senses aren’t standard across species. For instance, a dog perceives a fewer number of colours than humans, while birds perceive colours much beyond what we can. Does this mean that dogs know that they can see less and birds are aware that they can see more? Not at all – their Umwelten has always been the same. So seeing ultraviolet shades is perfectly routine for birds while we go ‘Wow!’ at the thought.
The book takes all of the common and most of the uncommon senses, and elaborates on each of them through multiple anecdotes and examples. The anecdotes come from various sensory biologists and their research experiences, which range from awe-inspiring to frustrating. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific Umwelt, and is supported by elaborate footnotes. (and I mean ‘elaborate’ in every sense – about a quarter of the book contains just the footnotes.) There is a strong underlying thread of humour throughout the content, courtesy not just the anecdotes but the author’s funny remarks about some of the facts/animals.
What I loved most about the author’s approach is that he never places any sense or animal above or below another, and is certainly not biased towards humans or human senses. The book’s primary focus is not on establishing superiority but on understanding the diversity of the natural world. More importantly, the agenda is very clear: the intention is not to seek a better understanding of our world by understanding other species first. Rather, it is to understand other species, period.
A plus point to the beautiful colour photo inserts, but a minus for having them in one clump at the end of the book (before the footnotes) rather than inserting them at the relevant spots within the related chapter. (This feedback is based on the Kindle version.)
Further on the flip side, the content gets a tad overwhelming at times, especially when it comes to providing data-based support. Some stats became too tedious, and some explanations too jargonistic. The writing style is also a bit jumpy at times as the author seeks to include as many instances as he can to support his point.
A bigger red flag personally was learning about some of the experiments & research methodology in use. A few experiments raised in my head the same old doubt: how far should humans go during animal research? I admire what the scientists seek to do, but advocating such research also feels like supporting cruelty. These experiments left me quite torn about my feelings. I couldn’t buy their argument that we humans are doing all this for the animals. No, humans are doing all this mainly for themselves. We want to learn more and more about everything around us, even if the learning comes at some cost to other species. This is not exactly a flaw in the writing, but a negative emotional impact of the content.
On the whole though, this is a treasure trove of information for every nature lover and to those curious about how senses (across species) function. Reading it will open your eyes (to the extent of their paltry four photoreceptor cones & rods) towards the vibrant diversity found in nature.
Definitely recommended if the subject matter interests you. Would suggest you read it a chapter at a time as it gets quite saturating otherwise.
4 stars.
———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
August 13, 2023
Can I be the founding member of the Ed Yong fan club? I'm ready to hang a poster of him on my wall and light a prayer candle. He is a god-tier nonfiction writer.
First, he had me losing my mind over microbes in I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, and while reading this new book, he had my jaw on the floor for hours over how animals use their senses to perceive the world around us. It's mind-blowing.
If you like animals (Who doesn't? I want names.), you need to read this.
Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
First, he had me losing my mind over microbes in I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, and while reading this new book, he had my jaw on the floor for hours over how animals use their senses to perceive the world around us. It's mind-blowing.
If you like animals (Who doesn't? I want names.), you need to read this.
Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
January 1, 2023
4.5 ☆
In An Immense World, Ed Yong takes the reader on a kaleidoscopic journey via the senses of the other species with whom we share this planet. Before completing this book, I would have rattled off the "fact" that humans have five senses and assumed that other animals possess the same number and type of sensory organs.
Yong immediately dispelled this presumption and then pointed out that animals across the species barrier experience different realities. The author shared a cool new word for this sensory bubble, the very particular portion of the world's complexity that each species can perceive --Umwelt.
Most of us already have a vague understanding of this as dogs, one of the most popular pet species, can smell and hear more acutely than humans while their color perception is less rich than our vision. But that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
In An Immense World, the reader will learn that some species can see ultraviolet colors, literally feel vibrations, navigate by the earth's magnetic field, or emit active electric pulses. It's a fascinating and freaky world out there, especially among the insect species.
Much of this book retained my interest but the chapter which created the greatest impression was about pain. Almost all animals can experience pain via a class of neurons called nociceptors. Nociception has long been present in the animal kingdom because the purpose of these sensors is to detect harmful and potentially life threatening stimuli. But not all animal species will feel pain in the same way nor necessarily react to the same stimuli. And even in humans, pain requires conscious awareness which leads to a subjective evaluation of pain.
An Immense World is an impressive book. Yong covered a great deal of territory as he hopscotched around the globe to a variety of scientists' labs and their test subjects. In fact, it kind of gave me whiplash as there was a lot of information. But if you're interested in comparing and contrasting animal species, this book will provide a terrific introduction to the extent of variety that exists on earth. If you're a general fan of pop science books, this book would also be a solid recommendation.
"The only true voyage ... would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes ... to see the hundred universes that each of them sees."
---Marcel Proust
In An Immense World, Ed Yong takes the reader on a kaleidoscopic journey via the senses of the other species with whom we share this planet. Before completing this book, I would have rattled off the "fact" that humans have five senses and assumed that other animals possess the same number and type of sensory organs.
Yong immediately dispelled this presumption and then pointed out that animals across the species barrier experience different realities. The author shared a cool new word for this sensory bubble, the very particular portion of the world's complexity that each species can perceive --Umwelt.
[An] Umwelt is specifically the part of those surroundings that an animal can sense and experience -- its perceptual world.
... a multitude of creatures could be standing in the same physical space and have completely different Umwelten.
Most of us already have a vague understanding of this as dogs, one of the most popular pet species, can smell and hear more acutely than humans while their color perception is less rich than our vision. But that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
The senses constrain an animal's life, restricting what it can detect and do. But they also define a species' future, and the evolutionary possibilities ahead of it.
The first step to understanding another animal's Umwelt is to understand what it uses its senses for.
In An Immense World, the reader will learn that some species can see ultraviolet colors, literally feel vibrations, navigate by the earth's magnetic field, or emit active electric pulses. It's a fascinating and freaky world out there, especially among the insect species.
Much of this book retained my interest but the chapter which created the greatest impression was about pain. Almost all animals can experience pain via a class of neurons called nociceptors. Nociception has long been present in the animal kingdom because the purpose of these sensors is to detect harmful and potentially life threatening stimuli. But not all animal species will feel pain in the same way nor necessarily react to the same stimuli. And even in humans, pain requires conscious awareness which leads to a subjective evaluation of pain.
An Immense World is an impressive book. Yong covered a great deal of territory as he hopscotched around the globe to a variety of scientists' labs and their test subjects. In fact, it kind of gave me whiplash as there was a lot of information. But if you're interested in comparing and contrasting animal species, this book will provide a terrific introduction to the extent of variety that exists on earth. If you're a general fan of pop science books, this book would also be a solid recommendation.
February 27, 2024
I listened to An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us and it is narrated fabulously by the author, Ed Yong. I love it when an author narrates their work.
Yong takes readers and listeners on an incredible journey to explore and learn from the smallest insects (ants, ticks, mosquitoes) to the largest animal (elephants). It was fascinating to learn that ants emit different types of trail pheromones that lead ants to food sources. I had just finished reading Recipes for Love and Murder: A Tannie Maria Mystery which is based in South Africa. Police detectives paid attention to a trail of ants that led them to a pool of blood in the murder mystery.
The book describes how technology and medical advances have come from closely observing different insects and animals and using what is learned from them to enhance human lives.
Yong takes readers and listeners on an incredible journey to explore and learn from the smallest insects (ants, ticks, mosquitoes) to the largest animal (elephants). It was fascinating to learn that ants emit different types of trail pheromones that lead ants to food sources. I had just finished reading Recipes for Love and Murder: A Tannie Maria Mystery which is based in South Africa. Police detectives paid attention to a trail of ants that led them to a pool of blood in the murder mystery.
The book describes how technology and medical advances have come from closely observing different insects and animals and using what is learned from them to enhance human lives.
July 6, 2022
This is one of the best science books I have read. Read this if you are at all curious about how other animals experience the world. You probably weren’t aware that humans can echo-locate. But other animals are capable of so much more than we are. Their abilities are amazingly fine-tuned to meet their needs. All of the concepts and experiments were very clearly explained and the audiobook was expertly narrated by the author.
January 23, 2023
An Immense World by Ed Yong
It took an immense amount of time, more than usual, for me to read this. It is so packed with interesting information that I could only read a little at a time. Overwhelming, not always in a good way. Well written, but just too much.
It took an immense amount of time, more than usual, for me to read this. It is so packed with interesting information that I could only read a little at a time. Overwhelming, not always in a good way. Well written, but just too much.
February 10, 2023
Umwelt. A word I'd never heard until I picked up this book, but now it's a concept I've been regularly thinking about for the last several weeks. Umwelt is an animal's sensory bubble, the parts of its surroundings that it can sense and experience. The world is full of sights, textures, sounds, smells, electric fields…the list goes on. But every animal can only tap into a small fraction of the immense world. As a result, many creatures could stand in the same physical space but have completely different experiences, completely different Umwelten.
Fascinating, right? Ed Yong does not hold back on the examples, and each chapter dives into different senses while introducing the reader to numerous captivating animals and the worlds they experience. Yong continuously makes the point that a human's Unwelt is limited, even though it doesn't feel that way, and we easily make the mistake in assuming every creature experiences the world in the same way, our way. They don't. But humans still tend to frame animals' lives in terms of our senses rather than theirs and unintentionally misinterpret the needs of the animals closest to us (if I had a dog, I would absolutely be going on more dedicated smell walks!). I came away from this book with so much food for thought, and it got me thinking differently about my perceptual world.
This book was no doubt enlightening. There are so many riveting examples of animals and how they use their senses that the reading experience actually got to be a little overwhelming. It was too much for me to absorb during the first read through, so I'm going to come back to the book in a couple years for a re-read in an attempt to soak up more fascinating tidbits about the animal world. I highly recommend this one to people who like being challenged to think about the world in different ways, and I can see it being particularly appealing to animal lovers too.
Fascinating, right? Ed Yong does not hold back on the examples, and each chapter dives into different senses while introducing the reader to numerous captivating animals and the worlds they experience. Yong continuously makes the point that a human's Unwelt is limited, even though it doesn't feel that way, and we easily make the mistake in assuming every creature experiences the world in the same way, our way. They don't. But humans still tend to frame animals' lives in terms of our senses rather than theirs and unintentionally misinterpret the needs of the animals closest to us (if I had a dog, I would absolutely be going on more dedicated smell walks!). I came away from this book with so much food for thought, and it got me thinking differently about my perceptual world.
This book was no doubt enlightening. There are so many riveting examples of animals and how they use their senses that the reading experience actually got to be a little overwhelming. It was too much for me to absorb during the first read through, so I'm going to come back to the book in a couple years for a re-read in an attempt to soak up more fascinating tidbits about the animal world. I highly recommend this one to people who like being challenged to think about the world in different ways, and I can see it being particularly appealing to animal lovers too.
February 16, 2023
Beautiful! Rtc!
September 6, 2023
How does one describe a book like this one? Especially when the author has a corgi named Typo that he also features within these pages – with pictures, too?
And…
For anyone who has looked at my page, you will know that I have 4 corgi fur children who own me. They are not your typical dog, and the author is learning that with Typo.
But…
This isn’t a book about corgis. The sub-title is…
How animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us.
I was captivated by the title. I was captivated by the cover.
And…
The book was recommended in our local library’s monthly newsletter as a “staff pick.”
Ed Yong, the author is also the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “I Contain Multitudes.” Apparently in that book he discusses how bacteria benefit humans and give us a grander view of life.
I have gotten a sense that Mr. Yong is a very curious and responsible person by nature, and continues to explore life in this book via the animal world.
“An Immense World” is a multisensory exploration of the many ways in which animals perceive their environment.
And…
What we as humans can learn from this.
He introduces us early to a word called Umwelt. (Or Unwelten) Umwelt simply refers to an animal’s surroundings – what they can sense and experience – its perceptual world. The Umwelt reminds us that…
“There is light in darkness, noise in silence, richness in nothingness. It hints at flickers of the unfamiliar in the familiar, of the extraordinary in the everyday. When we pay attention to other animals, our own world expands and deepens.”
So, this book is a journey through the sensory lives of animals, grounded in the biological overview of a wide range of species’ sensory systems and how these systems turn stimuli into information that each animal can then act on. Unwelten becomes a travelogue.
The author tells his story through 13 chapters of exploration for readers – smells and tastes; light; color; pain; heat; contact and flow; surface vibrations; sound; echoes; electric fields; magnetic fields; uniting the senses; and threatened sense scapes.
Each chapter is supported by extensive research and notes. There are also color photographs, acknowledgements, a bibliography, credits and an index.
As readers, we feel like we are on an expedition field trip, walking along learning about the many animals/insects/sea life, observing, smelling, listening, exploring.
What can we gain from this adventure?
On page 346, the author declares…
“The previous 12 chapters of this book represent centuries of hard-won knowledge about the sensory worlds of other species. But in the time, it took to accumulate that knowledge, we have radically remolded those worlds. We are closer than ever to understanding what it is like to be another animal but we have made it harder than ever for other animals to be.”
He considers humans a liability. We know this to be true. Look at us. Do we truly align ourselves with nature? Or do we destroy it too readily?
And…
How well do we care about the animal world?
What responsibilities will humans take to address the pollution we have created that affects nature, and the animal kingdom?
The author feels that our influence is not inherently destructive but often homogenizing. Sometimes, he feels, we push our sensitive species out, and leave behind smaller and less diverse communities.
Yong’s research is thorough. He has shone a light on the importance of all the senses of animals and how they work and how important they are.
But…
At the same time, he put the light back on us humans.
“We have filled the night with light, the silence with noise, and the soil and water with unfamiliar chemicals.”
He showed us ways in which other organisms see, taste, smell, touch, hear and otherwise sense the world.
Learning this…
We now know we have a responsibility, as self-anointed intelligent beings… to keep the world safe.
Since we share this planet, we need to remember, we also need each other (animals/plants) in order for this planet to survive.
November 6, 2022
Briefly - Simply fascinating - our senses are rather impoverished!
In full
WOW - Ed Yong, author and science journalist, takes us on a tour of senses and how the animal kingdom widely has developed and used senses. The introductory chapter got my attention very well. The idea of a room with many occupants of different species each with different primary senses. The range of what would be perceived by very varied species is remarkable and thought provoking. The author opens with some thoughts on the approach of this book. The idea is to avoid comparisons and "ranking". This does make sense for many reasons really. There are very widely differing habitats and difficulties in designing experiments when we don't have much of an understanding of the senses we are trying to test.
Throw in the difficulties of trying to decide just what senses there actually are and how to define and you get some feeling for the complexities being tackled in this book. I did like the quote from Proust - ""not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes". It felt appropriate.
I found the journey I was taken on was fascinating - almost to an overwhelming degree. When I'm reading a book to review I generally read just that book continuously. This one I took breaks from. In part there was just so much to process here (it wasn't a subject I knew much about). This is not a criticism of the book however. It is written in a very accessible way for something quite so complex.
While I mentioned that the book started with the idea that it was not going to make comparisons and ranking of senses I do think it "failed" on the comparisons aspect. However it would be virtually impossible to write this book about senses within a species without referring to the senses that are predominant in another species. I didn't find that this bothered me.
It's hard to come up with one or two favourite topics in this book - there were just so many for me. The sheer sensitivity of some animal senses just blew me away. That owls have asymmetric ears that are accurate to 2 degrees. That otters and seals can track the "wake" left by fishes from 200 yards away. That birds hear bird song very differently from us and that the song varies in ways we simply cannot hear. That turtles have inbuilt location senses that are remarkable. There is simply so much in here to be fascinated by.
I found the last chapter is quite brief but very interesting. It did feel slightly out of sync with the rest of the book. It concerns the way we disrupt animal senses in some quite dramatic fashions. For me it was a subject that could have had more space devoted to it - maybe another book!
This really is not a book to rush. It deserves time to be taken over it and will reward the interested reader amply. For me the fact that in most cases our senses are relatively poor was an overarching aspect of this. Related to that is the fact that, certainly in the past, we have attempted to judge animals senses by what we think they might be like. This is simply so far from the mark in so many cases as to emphasize how little we know and understand about this world we inhabit and abuse. This is a fascinating insight into the diversity of animal senses - I'd happily recommend it to anyone with any interest in the subject.
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
In full
WOW - Ed Yong, author and science journalist, takes us on a tour of senses and how the animal kingdom widely has developed and used senses. The introductory chapter got my attention very well. The idea of a room with many occupants of different species each with different primary senses. The range of what would be perceived by very varied species is remarkable and thought provoking. The author opens with some thoughts on the approach of this book. The idea is to avoid comparisons and "ranking". This does make sense for many reasons really. There are very widely differing habitats and difficulties in designing experiments when we don't have much of an understanding of the senses we are trying to test.
Throw in the difficulties of trying to decide just what senses there actually are and how to define and you get some feeling for the complexities being tackled in this book. I did like the quote from Proust - ""not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes". It felt appropriate.
I found the journey I was taken on was fascinating - almost to an overwhelming degree. When I'm reading a book to review I generally read just that book continuously. This one I took breaks from. In part there was just so much to process here (it wasn't a subject I knew much about). This is not a criticism of the book however. It is written in a very accessible way for something quite so complex.
While I mentioned that the book started with the idea that it was not going to make comparisons and ranking of senses I do think it "failed" on the comparisons aspect. However it would be virtually impossible to write this book about senses within a species without referring to the senses that are predominant in another species. I didn't find that this bothered me.
It's hard to come up with one or two favourite topics in this book - there were just so many for me. The sheer sensitivity of some animal senses just blew me away. That owls have asymmetric ears that are accurate to 2 degrees. That otters and seals can track the "wake" left by fishes from 200 yards away. That birds hear bird song very differently from us and that the song varies in ways we simply cannot hear. That turtles have inbuilt location senses that are remarkable. There is simply so much in here to be fascinated by.
I found the last chapter is quite brief but very interesting. It did feel slightly out of sync with the rest of the book. It concerns the way we disrupt animal senses in some quite dramatic fashions. For me it was a subject that could have had more space devoted to it - maybe another book!
This really is not a book to rush. It deserves time to be taken over it and will reward the interested reader amply. For me the fact that in most cases our senses are relatively poor was an overarching aspect of this. Related to that is the fact that, certainly in the past, we have attempted to judge animals senses by what we think they might be like. This is simply so far from the mark in so many cases as to emphasize how little we know and understand about this world we inhabit and abuse. This is a fascinating insight into the diversity of animal senses - I'd happily recommend it to anyone with any interest in the subject.
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
Want to read
October 9, 2023Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Yong's writing a great deal. In fact, I probably should re-read his microbiome book, because it's just that good. But his longer pieces, and this book in particular, start to feel like a collection of factoids over a story.
The premise is that there are different experiences of senses that us humans, with our historically categorized five senses not be aware of. A fascinating concept most of us have bumped into at some time or another: bats and dolphins with echolocation; dogs and the 'supersonic' dog-whistle; birds and bees and seeing into ultraviolet range to know if a flower or fruit is ripe and full of goodness; sea turtles, butterflies, and birds and their ability to steer across the planet using the electromagnetic field. Yong takes this idea of how other creatures interface with their environment and calls the gestalt an umwalt, or world-view. This is then divided into chapters roughly based on each sense.
The trouble is that at that point, it often devolves into a collection of anecdotes or facts. I found it fascinating, to be sure, but I'm a nature and biology geek. I also found it somewhat overwhelming, as it started to feel like reading a collection of Nature (a prominent science publication) abstracts. Yet, because I'm me, I really wanted to absorb and internalize much of his information. So it took a lot of time to get through.
It is also really sciencey in a way that at times needs a little more translation. He was able to do a better job of translation with his microbe book than this, and interestingly, I think Yong knows it too. (There's a section where he says the equivalent of "stay with me here; I have to give you background physics.") Microbes are easily conceptualized as little animals, whereas understanding different senses has to get into the physics, neurobiology and--and this is a big one--the culture of how we process our world. That's heady stuff and I'm not sure this quite manages. There's a fascinating chapter on echolocation that starts off this chain of thought--the physics and the brain biology of processing--and then takes it a step further with talking about blind humans using echolocation. (I'm pretty sure there's a difference here that a biologist would call Yong out on, but I'm not the one to do so).
The premise is that there are different experiences of senses that us humans, with our historically categorized five senses not be aware of. A fascinating concept most of us have bumped into at some time or another: bats and dolphins with echolocation; dogs and the 'supersonic' dog-whistle; birds and bees and seeing into ultraviolet range to know if a flower or fruit is ripe and full of goodness; sea turtles, butterflies, and birds and their ability to steer across the planet using the electromagnetic field. Yong takes this idea of how other creatures interface with their environment and calls the gestalt an umwalt, or world-view. This is then divided into chapters roughly based on each sense.
The trouble is that at that point, it often devolves into a collection of anecdotes or facts. I found it fascinating, to be sure, but I'm a nature and biology geek. I also found it somewhat overwhelming, as it started to feel like reading a collection of Nature (a prominent science publication) abstracts. Yet, because I'm me, I really wanted to absorb and internalize much of his information. So it took a lot of time to get through.
It is also really sciencey in a way that at times needs a little more translation. He was able to do a better job of translation with his microbe book than this, and interestingly, I think Yong knows it too. (There's a section where he says the equivalent of "stay with me here; I have to give you background physics.") Microbes are easily conceptualized as little animals, whereas understanding different senses has to get into the physics, neurobiology and--and this is a big one--the culture of how we process our world. That's heady stuff and I'm not sure this quite manages. There's a fascinating chapter on echolocation that starts off this chain of thought--the physics and the brain biology of processing--and then takes it a step further with talking about blind humans using echolocation. (I'm pretty sure there's a difference here that a biologist would call Yong out on, but I'm not the one to do so).
January 30, 2023
Fascinating look at what are the senses and how they are as a means for life on this earth both animals and plants. In general there are 5 human senses. Some animals have more. In order to begin to comprehend the world, we have to be cognizant of the fact that most living things view the world differently. When I say view, I mean that literally not subjectively. This was a great book, my only reduction came from the fact that Yong warns us not to anthropomorphize animals when we try to understand how they view the world then he proceeds anthropomorphize animals to try to explain how they view the world to a group of humans who are not scientists in this field. No I have no idea how he could have done it differently, I just reflexively reject the "do as I say not as I do" mentality.
4+ Stars
Listened on to Audible. Ed Yong narrated he was very good. He knows the material well. I would not say his performance elevated the material, but it did not detract from it.
4+ Stars
Listened on to Audible. Ed Yong narrated he was very good. He knows the material well. I would not say his performance elevated the material, but it did not detract from it.
May 12, 2023
Beautiful work, but why did they choose a monkey for the cover? They really should have gone with the Elephant Fish because that shit is crazy. Whip smart, social, and communicates/navigates/feeds by a constant self-generated symphony of electrical fields.
My only real complaint - It's Domain and even Kingdom-centric. Dare we dream of the umwelt of the largest life form on the planet? Or the oldest? Or the most numerous? I'm guessing there's a paucity of data, and maybe even interest. Too early, too alien.
My only real complaint - It's Domain and even Kingdom-centric. Dare we dream of the umwelt of the largest life form on the planet? Or the oldest? Or the most numerous? I'm guessing there's a paucity of data, and maybe even interest. Too early, too alien.
July 19, 2023
This was fantastic and full of great information on animals and how they perceive things around them.
I ended up doing the audiobook for An Immense World but I should have read this. I would have gotten more from the book if I'd gone down that route.
It’s how my brain works since I tend absorb information better when I read.
I guess that’s my own umwelt.
If you’ve read this book, you’ll know that umwelt is a word that means, "How an organism has adopted the world through their own experiences and perceptions."
You’ll hear or see it a lot in this book, depending on what umwelt works best for you!
An Immense World talks about all types of animals including elephants, spiders, dogs, dolphins, birds, and many more. It goes into how that animal perceives the world around them through sight, feeling, hearing, smells, etc.
If you are a huge animal lover, this is the book for you.
It’s fascinating information and will open up your mind to new stuff such as:
If you take your dog for a walk, let them get some scent action in.
Your dog relates with the world through smell and it’s super powerful for them. They can sniff out bombs, detect low blood sugar, to smelling decomposed bodies in the ground. Try to take an extra 5 to 10 minutes more on your walk so that your buddy can smell the wonderful world around them. Disclaimer: Give the bloodhound, beagle or basset hound an extra 10 on top of that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you’re camping at night in the middle of the woods and hear an owl, it’s just getting some noises out that involves territory action. Just let that guy or gal get some hoot action in!
When you pick up that starfish on the beach, be gentle with their arms. They’re looking at the world with those things. Here's looking at you starfish!
I'm glad that I picked this up from the library. It was a fun and enlightening read.
I ended up doing the audiobook for An Immense World but I should have read this. I would have gotten more from the book if I'd gone down that route.
It’s how my brain works since I tend absorb information better when I read.
I guess that’s my own umwelt.
If you’ve read this book, you’ll know that umwelt is a word that means, "How an organism has adopted the world through their own experiences and perceptions."
You’ll hear or see it a lot in this book, depending on what umwelt works best for you!
An Immense World talks about all types of animals including elephants, spiders, dogs, dolphins, birds, and many more. It goes into how that animal perceives the world around them through sight, feeling, hearing, smells, etc.
If you are a huge animal lover, this is the book for you.
It’s fascinating information and will open up your mind to new stuff such as:
If you take your dog for a walk, let them get some scent action in.
Your dog relates with the world through smell and it’s super powerful for them. They can sniff out bombs, detect low blood sugar, to smelling decomposed bodies in the ground. Try to take an extra 5 to 10 minutes more on your walk so that your buddy can smell the wonderful world around them. Disclaimer: Give the bloodhound, beagle or basset hound an extra 10 on top of that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you’re camping at night in the middle of the woods and hear an owl, it’s just getting some noises out that involves territory action. Just let that guy or gal get some hoot action in!
When you pick up that starfish on the beach, be gentle with their arms. They’re looking at the world with those things. Here's looking at you starfish!
I'm glad that I picked this up from the library. It was a fun and enlightening read.
May 29, 2022
An Immense World is a well-written book by Ed Yong, whom I’ve enjoyed hearing discuss covid on NPR over the past couple years, and is scheduled for publication June 21st.
It’s an immense book, also, filled with examples of various animals and their senses from sight and sonar to electric and magnetic fields, and the ways humans try to learn about them. I’m not very interested in the scientific details (cells, neurons, rods, cones, whatever) of how something works, but rather in the variety of results in how the animal relates to the world. The author does a good job of mixing these aspects so that my eyes would only glaze over briefly.
I often found myself looking up photos of the animals being written about, such as when I wanted to see a scallop’s dozens of (often bright blue) eyes. Apparently, many species can see the ultraviolet light which we can not--we like to think we see the world accurately, but we’re really just another species like all of them, who use their senses to live in a species subjective world. The author makes the point that this is not a book about ranking or superiority, but about diversity, and that all creatures have worth in themselves, quoting a passage about animals from Henry Beston which I’ve always loved. And yet . . .
When encountering new facts about an animal, I’d often think how fascinating it was. If you like the subject and accept it at face value, you’ll enjoy the book. But thinking of the experiments needed to learn those facts, I’d be reminded of how humans regard the planet and all life on it merely as objects to be manipulated. If a person uses other people that way, they’re considered narcissistic, sociopathic, self-centered, egotistical, etc. I don’t believe there’s a meaningful difference when the attitude is directed toward other forms of life. Sure, cool facts, and occasionally we even use those facts to try to solve a problem we created, but I would have been a lot happier living in a society which had fewer cool facts about other forms of life and more respect for that life. That society probably wouldn’t have created the problems in the first place.
In the final chapter, the author moves away from particular senses and examples to a bigger picture. He justly bemoans the damage our species has done to the planet and the interference done to animals’ lives inadvertently, but all of the previous chapters are about interference done deliberately. Conveniently, it turns out that he considers our ability to try to figure out other animals our greatest sensory skill and that we must choose to do so (to give credit, he does acknowledge it’s not something we’ve earned). So much for other animals having worth in themselves—their lives are ours to control.
He also mentions that he agrees with Cronon’s famous essay about the word wilderness and how it affects the human/nature relationship. There have been many rebuttals and clarifications about that essay over the years, all of it is just human-centered wordplay, but I have to comment. Sure, if you have a backyard, it’s a form of nature you can find wonder in, and it should be respected and treated with care. It may be wilderness for an insect, but a grizzly bear or a wolverine can’t live there. I lived in Yellowstone for four years, and to claim that everywhere is wilderness and there is no qualitative difference in the value of different locations is simply foolish. People are dependent on and should live as a part of nature, but most in this country don’t. When people try to spend as much of their lives as possible removed from nature, it’s disingenuous to claim that people are a part of it when it’s convenient to the argument.
To sum up, a lot of information about animal senses and how those senses affect how the animals live (or evolutionarily vice versa), and a lot of concern expressed about them and the planet. The concerns are valid but they don’t question the status quo deeply enough. It’s like being meticulous about recycling while living a high consumption lifestyle, or only eating free range chickens—it might make you feel better, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problem. People who have an interest in animals but believe people are more important than anything else will enjoy the book. People who don’t share that opinion will learn a lot of details but be left unsatisfied.
Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy to review.
It’s an immense book, also, filled with examples of various animals and their senses from sight and sonar to electric and magnetic fields, and the ways humans try to learn about them. I’m not very interested in the scientific details (cells, neurons, rods, cones, whatever) of how something works, but rather in the variety of results in how the animal relates to the world. The author does a good job of mixing these aspects so that my eyes would only glaze over briefly.
I often found myself looking up photos of the animals being written about, such as when I wanted to see a scallop’s dozens of (often bright blue) eyes. Apparently, many species can see the ultraviolet light which we can not--we like to think we see the world accurately, but we’re really just another species like all of them, who use their senses to live in a species subjective world. The author makes the point that this is not a book about ranking or superiority, but about diversity, and that all creatures have worth in themselves, quoting a passage about animals from Henry Beston which I’ve always loved. And yet . . .
When encountering new facts about an animal, I’d often think how fascinating it was. If you like the subject and accept it at face value, you’ll enjoy the book. But thinking of the experiments needed to learn those facts, I’d be reminded of how humans regard the planet and all life on it merely as objects to be manipulated. If a person uses other people that way, they’re considered narcissistic, sociopathic, self-centered, egotistical, etc. I don’t believe there’s a meaningful difference when the attitude is directed toward other forms of life. Sure, cool facts, and occasionally we even use those facts to try to solve a problem we created, but I would have been a lot happier living in a society which had fewer cool facts about other forms of life and more respect for that life. That society probably wouldn’t have created the problems in the first place.
In the final chapter, the author moves away from particular senses and examples to a bigger picture. He justly bemoans the damage our species has done to the planet and the interference done to animals’ lives inadvertently, but all of the previous chapters are about interference done deliberately. Conveniently, it turns out that he considers our ability to try to figure out other animals our greatest sensory skill and that we must choose to do so (to give credit, he does acknowledge it’s not something we’ve earned). So much for other animals having worth in themselves—their lives are ours to control.
He also mentions that he agrees with Cronon’s famous essay about the word wilderness and how it affects the human/nature relationship. There have been many rebuttals and clarifications about that essay over the years, all of it is just human-centered wordplay, but I have to comment. Sure, if you have a backyard, it’s a form of nature you can find wonder in, and it should be respected and treated with care. It may be wilderness for an insect, but a grizzly bear or a wolverine can’t live there. I lived in Yellowstone for four years, and to claim that everywhere is wilderness and there is no qualitative difference in the value of different locations is simply foolish. People are dependent on and should live as a part of nature, but most in this country don’t. When people try to spend as much of their lives as possible removed from nature, it’s disingenuous to claim that people are a part of it when it’s convenient to the argument.
To sum up, a lot of information about animal senses and how those senses affect how the animals live (or evolutionarily vice versa), and a lot of concern expressed about them and the planet. The concerns are valid but they don’t question the status quo deeply enough. It’s like being meticulous about recycling while living a high consumption lifestyle, or only eating free range chickens—it might make you feel better, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problem. People who have an interest in animals but believe people are more important than anything else will enjoy the book. People who don’t share that opinion will learn a lot of details but be left unsatisfied.
Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy to review.
April 9, 2024
Not this book making me jealous of birds and dinosaurs for their four cones.
Read
December 2, 2022I think perhaps my expectations were too high--Mr KJC was raving about this for days--because this wasn't as mind-blowing as I had anticipated. Definitely interesting, with a huge amount of information on how different animals sense things in different ways (which honestly I had expected to be the case so the bare fact of it is surely kind of a given? Although there's plenty in here to suggest people have been assuming animals operate by humanlike senses for years, so maybe not.)
Quite a lot of disturbing animal cruelty in the history of experiments, very depressing last chapter about how we're wrecking the planet and ruining it for everything we share it with.
Quite a lot of disturbing animal cruelty in the history of experiments, very depressing last chapter about how we're wrecking the planet and ruining it for everything we share it with.
April 5, 2023
Your world is one of many.
This book is a staggering achievement of cataloguing the various and clever ways the animal world has evolved its senses to perceive the surrounding world. And Umwelt is the sensory perception of any given organism and Yong makes it pretty clear that every creature has a particular and unique umwelt. You'll not just explore the traditional five human senses but you'll be opened up to the myriad ways that animals sense: echo location, proprioception, nociception and electromagnetic. This book will remind you that evolutionary life is a rare and precious thing full of science fiction wonder far greater than any writer can make up. Toward the end of this book we also get a reminder about the infringement on sensory perception of animals that human's inflict on nature particularly through noise and light pollution.
This book is a staggering achievement of cataloguing the various and clever ways the animal world has evolved its senses to perceive the surrounding world. And Umwelt is the sensory perception of any given organism and Yong makes it pretty clear that every creature has a particular and unique umwelt. You'll not just explore the traditional five human senses but you'll be opened up to the myriad ways that animals sense: echo location, proprioception, nociception and electromagnetic. This book will remind you that evolutionary life is a rare and precious thing full of science fiction wonder far greater than any writer can make up. Toward the end of this book we also get a reminder about the infringement on sensory perception of animals that human's inflict on nature particularly through noise and light pollution.
February 14, 2023
Umwelt. It's a German word for our perceptual world. We all have one. It encompasses all our senses, and not just the physical ones. So, mine might not be yours, and mine might not be mine from a while ago.
This book is about other, non-human critters and their Umwelten. A sighted human walks in a room and generally sees first, vision being our predominant sense. If we smell something, feel something, our eyes are drawn toward it. A dog, on the other paw, smells first, and not just identifying another dog's pee around the mailbox post, but a history, memory, and more. Electric eels send out voltage, though not necessarily to kill. It's their way of sensing what's around them. And don't even get me started about Octopuses.
So, this was fascinating, and got me annoying people for the the last few weeks with stuff I learned, in bullet-point fashion:
- Dogs have a facial muscle that can raise their inner eyebrows, giving them a soulful, plaintive expression. This muscle doesn't exist in wolves. It's the result of centuries of domestication, in which dog faces were inadvertently reshaped to look a bit more like ours.
- When the biologist E.O. Wilson daubed oleic acid onto the bodies of living ants, their sisters treated them as corpses and carried them to the colony's garbage piles. It didn't matter that the ant was alive and visibly kicking. What mattered was that it smelled dead.
- Imagine if your entire body became delicate to the touch whenever you stubbed your toe: That's a squid's reality.
- A blindfolded rattlesnake that's sitting on your head could sense the warmth of a mouse on the tip of your outstretched finger.
- Elephants make communicative sounds below a frequency that humans can hear; rats and other rodents communicate at a frequency above what we can hear.
- Despite the common idiom, bats aren't blind.
- You can't tickle yourself.
- That Tribute in Light, the annual art installation that commemorates the terrorist attack of 2001, with ascending beams standing in for the fallen Twin Towers, coincides with the autumnal migration season, and waylays around 1.1 million birds.
And my favorite:
- There are colors we cannot see. It depends how many cones we have in our brains (to make a long story short). Most humans have three cones (trichromatic) which brings out the warmth of reds and yellows. Dogs and color-blind people are dichromatic and don't see that. But there are species (birds, butterflies, insects) that are tetrachromatic and see ultraviolet hues that we can only imagine. A few humans are tetrachromatic and the author found one . . . but she didn't want to talk about it.
Now, if you'll excuse me, my Zugunruhe is kicking in. That's my migration anxiety. It's my Umwelt, what can I say.
This book is about other, non-human critters and their Umwelten. A sighted human walks in a room and generally sees first, vision being our predominant sense. If we smell something, feel something, our eyes are drawn toward it. A dog, on the other paw, smells first, and not just identifying another dog's pee around the mailbox post, but a history, memory, and more. Electric eels send out voltage, though not necessarily to kill. It's their way of sensing what's around them. And don't even get me started about Octopuses.
So, this was fascinating, and got me annoying people for the the last few weeks with stuff I learned, in bullet-point fashion:
- Dogs have a facial muscle that can raise their inner eyebrows, giving them a soulful, plaintive expression. This muscle doesn't exist in wolves. It's the result of centuries of domestication, in which dog faces were inadvertently reshaped to look a bit more like ours.
- When the biologist E.O. Wilson daubed oleic acid onto the bodies of living ants, their sisters treated them as corpses and carried them to the colony's garbage piles. It didn't matter that the ant was alive and visibly kicking. What mattered was that it smelled dead.
- Imagine if your entire body became delicate to the touch whenever you stubbed your toe: That's a squid's reality.
- A blindfolded rattlesnake that's sitting on your head could sense the warmth of a mouse on the tip of your outstretched finger.
- Elephants make communicative sounds below a frequency that humans can hear; rats and other rodents communicate at a frequency above what we can hear.
- Despite the common idiom, bats aren't blind.
- You can't tickle yourself.
- That Tribute in Light, the annual art installation that commemorates the terrorist attack of 2001, with ascending beams standing in for the fallen Twin Towers, coincides with the autumnal migration season, and waylays around 1.1 million birds.
And my favorite:
- There are colors we cannot see. It depends how many cones we have in our brains (to make a long story short). Most humans have three cones (trichromatic) which brings out the warmth of reds and yellows. Dogs and color-blind people are dichromatic and don't see that. But there are species (birds, butterflies, insects) that are tetrachromatic and see ultraviolet hues that we can only imagine. A few humans are tetrachromatic and the author found one . . . but she didn't want to talk about it.
Now, if you'll excuse me, my Zugunruhe is kicking in. That's my migration anxiety. It's my Umwelt, what can I say.
August 15, 2022
Having read Ed Yongs previous book (I 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.
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.
February 8, 2023
So I had just finished Song of the cell and was equally gobsmacked on how nature micro manages animal senses down to the molecular level.
Yong does a good job of weighing suppositions against humans desire to anthropomorphize animals.
There are fascinating details on how animals taste, hear, and see. How bats and dolphins both use echolocation but how the medium that these mammals exist in creates radically different uses.
But here’s my lament with this book and what it epitomizes.
These so called scientist are rather stupid because they invariably lament man. Well, man of a certain time - today’s version.
As Yong writes, ‘amid this already dispiriting ledger of ecological sins”. The whole last chapter is a litany of leftist Cant, even Rush Limbaugh gets it in a footnote, “Rush Limbaugh spewing bile”
Really, Mr Yong?
Well try this. The only reason ANY of this exists is because of greedy, evil capitalism.
“ Speiser ran an experiment that he called Scallop TV. He strapped their shells to small seats, placed them in front of a monitor, and showed them computer-generated movies of small, drifting particles.” Or this, “a ridge in Idaho that acts as a stopover for migrating birds, the team set up a half-mile corridor of speakers and played looped recordings of passing cars. At the sound of these disembodied noises, a third of the usual birds stayed away.”
This book alone lists of dozens of crazy experiments that have no value past the fact that one semi-furry primate happened to be curious, and oh yeah, started creating so much wealth that folks could be “ a guy who studied the mites that hang out in the nostrils of hummingbirds”
So 99% of the experiments these guys do will never help one person, only capitalism, and it’s benefactors allows for folks to spend their lives studying insect minutiae.
To make matters worse, here’s a perpetual refrain, “Hundreds of studies have come to similar conclusions.”
Oh, so great we’re spending more money to prove something already proved to death.
Also, here’s another fun fact for mr Yong, “With microscopes, cameras, speakers, satellites, recorders, and even paper-lined cages with inkpads at their bases, people have explored other sensory worlds. We have used technology to make the invisible visible and the inaudible audible.”
Right, all the devices that these scientists rely on were made by capitalism. No one created satellites so we could understand how birds react to the magnetosphere.
Finally, the year is nearly over. So I can confidently predict this statement will win the most self involved comment.
When talking about how cities light up the area,
“The thought of light traveling billions of years from distant galaxies only to be washed out in the last billionth of a second by the glow from the nearest strip mall depresses me no end”
You know why someone has the luxury to be sad because a photon of light wasn’t noticed, a scientist funded by capitalism.
Yong does a good job of weighing suppositions against humans desire to anthropomorphize animals.
There are fascinating details on how animals taste, hear, and see. How bats and dolphins both use echolocation but how the medium that these mammals exist in creates radically different uses.
But here’s my lament with this book and what it epitomizes.
These so called scientist are rather stupid because they invariably lament man. Well, man of a certain time - today’s version.
As Yong writes, ‘amid this already dispiriting ledger of ecological sins”. The whole last chapter is a litany of leftist Cant, even Rush Limbaugh gets it in a footnote, “Rush Limbaugh spewing bile”
Really, Mr Yong?
Well try this. The only reason ANY of this exists is because of greedy, evil capitalism.
“ Speiser ran an experiment that he called Scallop TV. He strapped their shells to small seats, placed them in front of a monitor, and showed them computer-generated movies of small, drifting particles.” Or this, “a ridge in Idaho that acts as a stopover for migrating birds, the team set up a half-mile corridor of speakers and played looped recordings of passing cars. At the sound of these disembodied noises, a third of the usual birds stayed away.”
This book alone lists of dozens of crazy experiments that have no value past the fact that one semi-furry primate happened to be curious, and oh yeah, started creating so much wealth that folks could be “ a guy who studied the mites that hang out in the nostrils of hummingbirds”
So 99% of the experiments these guys do will never help one person, only capitalism, and it’s benefactors allows for folks to spend their lives studying insect minutiae.
To make matters worse, here’s a perpetual refrain, “Hundreds of studies have come to similar conclusions.”
Oh, so great we’re spending more money to prove something already proved to death.
Also, here’s another fun fact for mr Yong, “With microscopes, cameras, speakers, satellites, recorders, and even paper-lined cages with inkpads at their bases, people have explored other sensory worlds. We have used technology to make the invisible visible and the inaudible audible.”
Right, all the devices that these scientists rely on were made by capitalism. No one created satellites so we could understand how birds react to the magnetosphere.
Finally, the year is nearly over. So I can confidently predict this statement will win the most self involved comment.
When talking about how cities light up the area,
“The thought of light traveling billions of years from distant galaxies only to be washed out in the last billionth of a second by the glow from the nearest strip mall depresses me no end”
You know why someone has the luxury to be sad because a photon of light wasn’t noticed, a scientist funded by capitalism.
July 16, 2023
Zhuangzi, a 4th century BC Chinese philosopher, and his friend Huizi, a court officer, went for a walk. While strolling on a bridge over River Hao, they had following conversation:
Zhuangzi: “Look, the fish are swimming. That’s the joy of fish!”
Huizi: “You are not a fish. So, from what do you know the joy of fish?”
Zhuangzi: “You are not me. So, from what do you know whether I know the joy of fish?”
Huizi: “I am not you, so I can not know what you know. You are not a fish, so you can not know the joy of fish.”
Zhuangzi: “The thing is, when you asked me how I knew about the joy of fish, you already knew that I knew this in order to ask me the question. I knew it from being on the bridge over River Hao!”
Whether we can know the Joy of Fish is a metaphor, but it is also a reality. After reading An Immense World, I understand that humans will never truly, fully know the inner, sensory world of animals. Armed with scientific tools and methods, under the correct mindset, and after careful, patient observations and studies, we can have glimpses into the Umwelt of animals. This is a book about those glimpses.
I like the idea of Umwelt very much. The word was invented by the Baltic-Germen zoologist Jakob von Uexkull in 1909. It comes from the German word for “environment” but it doesn’t just mean the surroundings of the animal. Instead, it refers to the perceptual world of the animals, those surroundings that an animal can sense and experience by itself. Umwelt is the opposite of the observer(i.e. human) centric world.
The book is organized by senses. There are many mind-blowing discoveries. I am not going to repeat here. This book is such a pleasure to read that I feel sorry when it ends. In the chapter about sensing the earth’s magnetic field, Ed Yong explained what quantum physics and a group of molecules called cryptochromes from which radical pairs are formed do in songbirds. The explanation is much clearer than what I've seen elsewhere, but it gives me more questions: what exactly is this radical pair molecule? Why do they even exist? I thought particles in quantum physics need to be miniscule and quantum computing requires very cold temperatures? Imagine a migrating songbird actually “seeing” the earth’s magnetic field, how cool is that!
The writing is excellent. Ed Yong is one of my favorite science writers. I got my copy signed at the National Book Festival.
Table of Content:
Leaking Sacks of Chemicals - Smells and Tastes
Endless Ways of Seeing - Light
Rurple, Gruple, Yurple - Color
The Unwanted Sense - Pain
So Cool - Heat
A Rough Sense - Contact and Flow
The Rippling Ground - Surface Vibrations
All Ears - Sound
A Silent World Shouts Back - Echos
Living Batteries - Electric Fields
They Know the Way - Magnetic Fields
Every Window at Once - Uniting the Senses
Save the Quiet, Preserve the Dark - Threatened Senscape
Zhuangzi: “Look, the fish are swimming. That’s the joy of fish!”
Huizi: “You are not a fish. So, from what do you know the joy of fish?”
Zhuangzi: “You are not me. So, from what do you know whether I know the joy of fish?”
Huizi: “I am not you, so I can not know what you know. You are not a fish, so you can not know the joy of fish.”
Zhuangzi: “The thing is, when you asked me how I knew about the joy of fish, you already knew that I knew this in order to ask me the question. I knew it from being on the bridge over River Hao!”
Whether we can know the Joy of Fish is a metaphor, but it is also a reality. After reading An Immense World, I understand that humans will never truly, fully know the inner, sensory world of animals. Armed with scientific tools and methods, under the correct mindset, and after careful, patient observations and studies, we can have glimpses into the Umwelt of animals. This is a book about those glimpses.
I like the idea of Umwelt very much. The word was invented by the Baltic-Germen zoologist Jakob von Uexkull in 1909. It comes from the German word for “environment” but it doesn’t just mean the surroundings of the animal. Instead, it refers to the perceptual world of the animals, those surroundings that an animal can sense and experience by itself. Umwelt is the opposite of the observer(i.e. human) centric world.
The book is organized by senses. There are many mind-blowing discoveries. I am not going to repeat here. This book is such a pleasure to read that I feel sorry when it ends. In the chapter about sensing the earth’s magnetic field, Ed Yong explained what quantum physics and a group of molecules called cryptochromes from which radical pairs are formed do in songbirds. The explanation is much clearer than what I've seen elsewhere, but it gives me more questions: what exactly is this radical pair molecule? Why do they even exist? I thought particles in quantum physics need to be miniscule and quantum computing requires very cold temperatures? Imagine a migrating songbird actually “seeing” the earth’s magnetic field, how cool is that!
The writing is excellent. Ed Yong is one of my favorite science writers. I got my copy signed at the National Book Festival.
Table of Content:
Leaking Sacks of Chemicals - Smells and Tastes
Endless Ways of Seeing - Light
Rurple, Gruple, Yurple - Color
The Unwanted Sense - Pain
So Cool - Heat
A Rough Sense - Contact and Flow
The Rippling Ground - Surface Vibrations
All Ears - Sound
A Silent World Shouts Back - Echos
Living Batteries - Electric Fields
They Know the Way - Magnetic Fields
Every Window at Once - Uniting the Senses
Save the Quiet, Preserve the Dark - Threatened Senscape
September 28, 2022
An immense and varied world indeed! To me this book highlights just how little of our world we can actually and realistically perceive, trapped in our limited senses and mental faculties (our Umwelt) like all other creatures. Add to that our biases which distort the reality of what we perceive and you might get an inkling of why we create the dilemmas we do.
"Nature is not about superiority but about diversity."
Recommended reading.
"Nature is not about superiority but about diversity."
Recommended reading.
July 24, 2023
Densely packed with information, this examination of the sensory world experienced by animals is always interesting, and often astounding. Yong's mastery of and enthusiasm for the material is evident throughout.
February 21, 2023
This was an interesting foray into the life of animals, teaching a lot about their senses and habits, and how we humans can misapply our own experiences in trying to understand theirs. Many fascinating tidbits of information, and an increased awareness of what I'm seeing as I watch the animals around me.
For example, who knew the sounds whales make can travel so incredibly far through the water; who knew that bats are one of the main predators of hummingbirds (don't you dare!); who knew that some birds see one thing with one eye (food source) and something else with the other (predators)--(the lazy eye in me thinks I might have been one of those birds in a former life). Fascinating research on unexpected things made me really glad that's not my line of work, but equally glad those who do it are willing to share. What must be tedious at times reveals incredible information.
A fun listen on audible and far too much to remember (I'm glad I don't have to pass a test), but it did raise my awareness in ways that will stay with me. For those interested in our animal neighbors, there's much to appreciate in this book.
For example, who knew the sounds whales make can travel so incredibly far through the water; who knew that bats are one of the main predators of hummingbirds (don't you dare!); who knew that some birds see one thing with one eye (food source) and something else with the other (predators)--(the lazy eye in me thinks I might have been one of those birds in a former life). Fascinating research on unexpected things made me really glad that's not my line of work, but equally glad those who do it are willing to share. What must be tedious at times reveals incredible information.
A fun listen on audible and far too much to remember (I'm glad I don't have to pass a test), but it did raise my awareness in ways that will stay with me. For those interested in our animal neighbors, there's much to appreciate in this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,534 reviews