Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

An interesting book about how aninimals (might) experience the world. The audiobook, read by the author, was pleasant to listen to. Animal cruelty is a prominent feature in this book, and in my opinion it isn't discussed with as much awareness as it needed.

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himpersonal's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.75

I fear birds and cats but find frogs and lizards cute (I know how weird that sounds) and whales wholly awesome. I enjoy nature from a distance, especially when it’s a photograph or on screen. I’m an urbanite through and through. And I contribute to what the author calls sensory pollution. So I was surprised that I even picked this book up. But I generally will give a test any book written by Asian people since I never had any when I was growing up.

While I still fear birds and cats, this book has given me a view of the world from their point of view, and that is highly valuable to me. I think it’s something important to do with anyone and anything (possibly the lay Buddhist in me). And I’m deeply impressed by the amount of studying, researching, and experimenting the author must’ve done (hopefully all humanely) to be able to speak and write this book with the authority and respect that was done. Bravo!

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malonesilence's review against another edition

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J'ai adoré parce que l'auteur est passionné entouré de passionnæs par le monde animal et ça fait grave du bien. Et en même temps, toujours ce malaise quand on parle d'expériences sur les animaux en en présentant certes certaines comme cruelles... et d'autres, normales voire nécessaires. J'ai été émerveillé et très en colère en même temps, c'est à la fois merveilleux et atroce, c'est... je sais pas.

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luv2readlots's review

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adventurous informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

I really loved this book! The emphasis on describing how animals' senses differ from our own was fascinating. Yong has a great mixture of straight facts about animal sensation, discussion of how research into animal senses is conducted, and exploration about how it may feel to have the senses of other animals.

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riverofhorton's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

This book was an incredibly interesting read, and even though I already knew some of the basic facts of animal sense, this book allowed a much richer kind of understanding that I wouldn't have otherwise. I largely decided to read this as research for a novel idea I have, but I will be recommending it to anyone that is even remotely curious about animals and how much of the world we miss due to it being outside our own perception. The main take away from this book seems to be one of conservation. When species go extinct, so does their way of perceiving the world since each animal has its own unique way of doing so. Thus, the message seems to be to act now to save all the endangered species while we still can. A message that I can wholeheartedly get behind. I particularly enjoyed the sections about the echolocation of bats, and the movement sensors in spiders' legs. Other section brought up some ethical questions that I wouldn't have even considered prior to reading this book.

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laurareads87's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

5.0

I could not more enthusiastically give a book five stars. Ed Yong's An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us is meticulously well researched, well written, thoughtful, utterly fascinating, and includes both moments of humour - being punched by a mantis shrimp! - and, of course, tragedy. It is a text that is world-opening: while we cannot truly know what it is like to be any other species, Yong's exploration of how my other-than-human neighbours navigate, communicate, and express their curiosity has deepened and enriched my own experience of my surroundings. Even better? After concluding reading, I've begun thinking about how I can be a better neighbour by mitigating the light pollution emitted by my home. I am immensely grateful for this book and anticipate gifting it to others.

Content warnings: animal cruelty (including animal experimentation), animal death

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rmperezpadilla's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

This was an absolute joy to read, and I’m especially glad to have listened to the audiobook. Yong’s explanations are clear throughout and his amazement at how animals experience the world is contagious. Would give 6 stars if I could!!

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