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An Immense World

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

'Wonderful, mind-broadening... a journey to alternative realities as extraordinary as any you'll find in science fiction' - The Times, Book of the Week

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 which 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.

© Ed Yong 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critics Review

Standing out even during a recent golden age of nature writing, Ed Yong dazzles with a deeply considered exploration of the many modes of sensory perception that life has evolved to navigate the world, written with exhilarating freshness
Winner of 2023 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
[A] wondrous, lustrous, captivating book: Ed Yong's An Immense World... left me awed and stunned - and revolted by humanity's destructive pride and planetary abuse
Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*
Full of extraordinary discoveries... an encyclopaedic, rigorously researched journey... recasts the world in breath-taking, bewildering immensity
Daily Telegraph
A hymn to the wonders of evolution... fascinating
Mail on Sunday
Yong succeeds in bringing a sense of grandeur to life on every scale
Financial Times
Not just a study of the myriad wonders of the natural world - though wondrous they are - but also a panoramic, complex portrait of the sensory capacities that underpin a multitude of life. ... In uncovering all this, Yong also shows why we should give more thought to our place in the world.
New Statesman, *Best Books of 2022*
An Immense World is an exploration of the ways in which our fellow creatures navigate, understand and interact with one another and their environment through senses. ... The result is so mind-boggling, it's tempting to say 'forget looking in deep space for astonishment'. But let's not do that. Let's continue searching there while also paying better attention to the miracles right under our noses. Yong's marvellous book shows us how.
Spectator, *Best Books of 2022*
This book lifts the shroud on previously invisible dimensions of the world itself
Economist, *Books of the Year*
A magic well of surprising, enlightening discoveries about the sensory worlds of other species... A brilliant book, marvellous and mesmerizing
Jennifer Ackerman, author of The Genius of Birds
A stunning achievement - steeped in science but suffused with magic
Siddhartha Mukherjee, author The Emperor of All Maladies

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 4.0
Author Ed Yong
Narrator Ed Yong
Duration 14 hours and 18 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529191585
Format Audiobook
Publisher Random House
Genre Animals and society, Applied ecology, Biodiversity, Climate change, Endangered species and extinction of species, Ethology and animal behaviour, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Zoology and animal sciences
Collections Exploring Nature
Availability AU, GB, IE
Rating
5.0 (1 review)
Narration
4.0 (1 review)

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