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A review by littoral
Where We Meet the World: The Story of the Senses by Ashley Ward
3.0
WHERE WE MEET THE WORLD is an exploration of the senses - not just the "five senses", author Ashley Ward writes, but all of the means by which our bodies are able to detect the world around us, including subtle senses such as our ability to detect our position in space to coordinate our movements. In this manner, this book is really about the ways in which we have human (or animal) experience in the world.
The chapters in the book are organized around the five conventional senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and sensation - as well as a sixth chapter for all of the other senses that we don't conventionally recognize - like proprioception. Ward draws on insights from a diverse range of fields including evolutionary biology, human psychology, linguistics, and sociology to paint a rich portrait of the numerous ways in which sensation and perception - the interpretation of the physical stimuli that are detected by sensation - work and interact to generate the richness of experience. This range is a real treat for the reader, though sometimes it veers close to feeling scattered. More than once I wondered whether the studies being cited in the book were truly replicable or just hype (and more than once she acknowledges that some of the studies included were not replicated, for which I appreciated the honesty and disclaimer). Nonetheless, the pace of the book was well done and I frequently found myself sharing anecdotes as I read the book. An engaging and entertaining introduction to the topic and one that will provoke questions about what it means to be human.
The chapters in the book are organized around the five conventional senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and sensation - as well as a sixth chapter for all of the other senses that we don't conventionally recognize - like proprioception. Ward draws on insights from a diverse range of fields including evolutionary biology, human psychology, linguistics, and sociology to paint a rich portrait of the numerous ways in which sensation and perception - the interpretation of the physical stimuli that are detected by sensation - work and interact to generate the richness of experience. This range is a real treat for the reader, though sometimes it veers close to feeling scattered. More than once I wondered whether the studies being cited in the book were truly replicable or just hype (and more than once she acknowledges that some of the studies included were not replicated, for which I appreciated the honesty and disclaimer). Nonetheless, the pace of the book was well done and I frequently found myself sharing anecdotes as I read the book. An engaging and entertaining introduction to the topic and one that will provoke questions about what it means to be human.