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The cover of An Immense World

An Immense World

Ed Yong, 2022

A science journalist opens the hidden sensory worlds of animals, from a dog's smell and a bat's sonar to senses humans have never evolved at all.

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14 parts, about 32 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Introduces Umwelt, the idea that every animal lives in its own sensory bubble, so one room holds many different worlds
  • Tours senses far beyond ours, from electric fields and infrared to vibration, magnetic compasses and echolocation
  • Shows how light and noise pollution disrupt animal senses, and how recorded reef sound drew young fish to dead coral

Who it is for

  • Animal lovers curious how dogs, bats and birds perceive the world
  • Readers who enjoy science writing built on fieldwork and experiments
  • People worried about light and noise pollution and wildlife

What the summary covers

  1. The Only True Voyage2 min
  2. Leaking Sacks of Chemicals3 min
  3. Endless Ways of Seeing2 min
  4. Rurple, Grurple, Yurple2 min
  5. The Unwanted Sense2 min
  6. So Cool2 min
  7. A Rough Sense2 min
  8. The Rippling Ground2 min
  9. All Ears3 min
  10. A Silent World Shouts Back3 min
  11. Living Batteries2 min
  12. They Know the Way2 min
  13. Every Window at Once2 min
  14. Save the Quiet, Preserve the Dark3 min

Recommended by

  • Mary RoachAmerican author specializing in popular science and humor
    Every page finds the reader mouthing quiet whoas, as the world she thought she knew opens out into a hundred others, improbable, strange, and fabulous.
  • Susan OrleanNew Yorker staff writer and author of The Orchid Thief
    There is almost no writer I admire as much as I do Ed Yong.
  • Rebecca SklootScience writer, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
    What would we do without Ed Yong?
  • William GibsonSpeculative fiction writer credited with pioneering cyberpunk
    Ed Yong is my favorite contemporary science writer.
  • Frans de WaalDutch American primatologist and ethologist, Emory University
    A whirlwind tour of animal perceptual abilities, this magnificent book challenges your imagination and fills you with wonder about the living world.

About the author

  • Ed YongScience journalist who won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
    • Born on 17 December 1981 in Malaysia
    • Immigrated to the UK at 13, in 1994
    • MPhil in biochemistry from University College London, 2005
    • Joined The Atlantic as a science reporter in September 2015

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