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

It was really long and absolutely PACKED with information, but it was rarely if ever boring! I felt like a kid again watching The Most Extreme On Animal Planet or watching Amazing Animals with Henry the lizard. ☺️ I'm going to be randomly spouting off animal facts for ages now lol

That being said, this book is not only fascinating but super important. I've often wondered if other people experience things like color the same way that I do, but I haven't wondered that kind of thing nearly as much about the experiences of animals. We're always so busy comparing what we think their experiences must be to ours that we lose a chance to see, really see, the full breadth of how animals sense the world, including in ways that we can't possibly fathom like echolocation and active elctrolocation. I appreciate that the book ended with how important it is that we attempt to appreciate other species' worlds and how they experience them and how detrimental things like light and noise pollution are to those experiences.

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sarahweyand's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

I have told a lot of people that this book is like the Planet Earth TV series in literature form, and I really think that's the best way to describe it. I learned so much while reading, more than almost any nonfiction book I've read this year. Yong is a wonderful author and is so thorough, yet readable. It takes a great amount of work to convey the senses through text, and I think he did a fantastic job. I could easily see this book being turned into a miniseries.

An Immense World is certainly not light reading. While Yong succeeds in breaking down complex topics and ideas into digestible chunks of information, this isn't exactly a beach read. At times I felt the pace was a little slow, and I occasionally felt like I was drowning in new concepts..

If you're willing to get down an dirty with a dense but beautiful text about some new and familiar animals, this is absolutely the book for you.

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immovabletype's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

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zosiablue's review

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adventurous hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

This was wonderful. Friend Kat said it was revolutionary and I agree with them - a nature book written entirely in the animals' world, instead of seeing their world through human eyes, creates an entirely new kind of empathy. This had the same effect as mindfulness for me - the gorgeous feeling of, OH! The world is so much bigger and varied than my own lens. So much more interesting and magical than I could ever experience in one lifetime. What a peaceful feeling.

There was a LOT of research crammed in. It's better to go in and let it flow through you instead of trying to hold on to any particular bit. You won't remember everything. There's too much. But you WILL remember the feeling of, ah, OK, life is so much more than this. ✨

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kirstym25's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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purplepenning's review

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challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

Fascinating examination of the world as other animals perceive it — and at how we unintentionally limit our understanding of it and of them. There's something here for every animal lover or nature enthusiast, including intriguing info about the largest mammals to the smallest insects. The audiobook is also outstanding — the author narrates it himself and his enthusiasm is evident but not distracting. Plus, his British accent is easy on these American ears and my attention refused to wander as long as there was a chance he'd say "zebra" with a short "e" again, which he does right through to the end. :-)

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