An Immense World

How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

By: Ed Yong

Narrated by: Ed Yong

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

Critic reviews

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

[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

Full of extraordinary discoveries... an encyclopaedic, rigorously researched journey... recasts the world in breath-taking, bewildering immensity

A hymn to the wonders of evolution... fascinating

Yong succeeds in bringing a sense of grandeur to life on every scale

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.

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.

This book lifts the shroud on previously invisible dimensions of the world itself

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)

Gorgeous but difficult

Maybe not the best for the audiobook listener who does other stuff simultaneously. It’s very information dense and you have to focus. Other than that, I’ve learned a ton and feel I’m a better person for having read it.

Wonderful

An absolute masterpiece that opens up the world! Through the knowledge this book offers the reader can fall in love with the different creatures and our planet. I sincerely believe the future would be better for everyone if everybody familiarised themselves with this deeply enriching work!

fascinating first class book. Anecdotes & insights

What a wonderful book. it is packed with fascinating anecdotes and facts that I keep sharing with my wife, son and friends and great insights that change the way we look at ourselves. Highly recommended.

Amazing new details of what we know we think we know

I really like the journalistic approach to explain each sense. It was magical. I will re-listen at some point. For now I will listen to the birds and look at moths with different eyes

Outstanding, in true Ed Yong's style

After a chapter or so of listening as a 'background' I returned to the beginning and restarted, giving the book my full attention.
All of it is worth absorbing; all fascinating, quenching curiosity of the natural world.
Narration by author is usually what I go for - works best in non-fiction - and Yong's narration has not disappointed - if is extraordinary.
I have followed Yong in the Atlantic for a few years, and love his immaculate writing style and his depth pf research, but An Immense World is something else - it is A Masterpiece!