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An Immense World

How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

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An Immense World

By: Ed Yong
Narrated by: Ed Yong
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Humans have three or four colour-detecting cones in their retinas. Mantis shrimp have 16. In fact, their eyes seem to have more in common with satellite technology than with biological vision as we currently understand it. They have evolved to track movement with an acuity no other species can match by processing raw information; they may not 'see', in the human sense, at all.

Marine molluscs called chitons have eyes that are made of stone. Scorpions appear to see with their entire bodies. It isn't only vision that differs from species to species—some animals also have senses we lack entirely. Knifefish navigate by electrical charge.

An Immense World will take us on an insider's tour of the natural world by describing the biology, physics and chemistry animals use to perceive it. We may lack some of their senses, but our own super-sense lies in our ability to understand theirs. And in the face of the largest extinction event since the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, our only hope of saving other species is bound up with our ability to see what they see, and feel what they feel.

©2022 Ed Yong (P)2022 Penguin Audio Animals Biological Sciences Biology Ecology Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Inspiring Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant
Wonderful book all about the science of animal senses which makes you ask deep philosophical questions about our planet.

This book will change your perception of the world

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Ed Yong has been one of my favourite science writers for a long time, such a gifted communicator and stylish, thoughtful writer. Turns out he’s a great reader as well! Thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating book and would call it ‘eye-opening’ but that seems a feeble metaphor in the context of the astonishing variety of sensory umwelts Yong introduces us to. After hearing him speak about the book on a podcast in 2022 the book had been on my reading list and must say hearing it read, and by Yong, added something extra and am glad I opted for audio rather than print (or should I say, the sense of sound over sight).

Beautiful, strange and poignant

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A fascinating book which has so much intriguing information in it. I had very little detailed knowledge of the wide range of ways different animals and insects observe the world around them, and what I learned has left me wanting to know more.

Loved this book!

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Absolutely fascinating book on how animals perceive the world. Extremely informative, well written and well read. I will definitely be listening to this again multiple times in the future.

Fantastic

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The author does an excellent job of describing the sensory worlds of other animals. It’s the closest answer yet to ‘what is it like to be a bat’

A glimpse into other worlds

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