Reviews

Pure delight. I listened to this at just the right time after feeling burnt out after two very long fiction books. It was refreshing to return to my favorite genre to listen to: non-fiction nature writing.

I love great nature writing because it can remind me of how expansive the world is beyond our small realm. As the only animals that are able to have an idea of how other animals perceive the world, Yong urges us to go outside our own sensory bubble. He asks us to journey through the sensory worlds of dogs, mantis shrimp, birds, whales, and many others as we discover and question how predator, prey, and colony have evolved their senses to successfully and (sometimes unsuccessfully) adapt to the current world.

Yong’s narration and written voice team with curiosity, and enthusiasm. His writing is remarkably fresh and incredibly approachable, never too bogged down by dense, scientific terms. I also appreciated that Yong makes known that the information laid out is not merely trivial, but by using the well-loved example of animals, we can all exercise a lesson in empathy.

I’ve thought about this book many times since listening to it and I would recommend this to anyone that is remotely curious and/or love animals.

lingfish7's review against another edition

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adventurous informative lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

📖🎧This was such a beautiful book that renewed my awe of the animal kingdom. The author writes with wonder as he details how various animals sense the world in unique ways. He says that they each have their own “Umwelt,” a German word for environment used to indicate a species’ sensory world. From differences in how colors are perceived to echolocation to sensing direction through the earth’s magnets - this book opened my eyes to just how different each animal perceives the same world.

Some cool things I learned:
- Some animals can see colors not accessible to the human eye. Entire patterns on birds are invisible to us but perceptible to other species.
- Dogs can smell the history in any given place, so they can sense a timeline of what happened when they go to a park - and through their noses!
- Moths in Australia can migrate long distances at night because they have a compass in their bodies that senses the magnets in the earth.
- Bumblebees can detect which flowers have pollen because their fuzzy hairs detect electric signals, with the bees having a positive charge and the flowers a negative charge.
- Deaf humans can teach themselves to use echolocation by making sounds to perceive the world in similar ways to bats.
- Snakes move their tongues back and forth because that’s partially how they can sense their world - seeing through processing the scents their flicking tongues pick up.
- An octopus’ tentacles can move on their own without consulting the central brain and nervous system.

I’m amazed both at how much we know about animals and how little. The author repeatedly outlines the mysteries involving things we still don’t understand about animals.

The book ended with a warning of the dangers of noise and light pollution which is dangerous for certain animals because it disrupts their senses. It’s so important to consider this when designing parking lots and cities.

coralined's review against another edition

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informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

rolenl's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

katewags's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

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