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  • An Immense World

  • How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
  • Written by: Ed Yong
  • Narrated by: Ed Yong
  • Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (77 ratings)

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An Immense World

Written by: Ed Yong
Narrated by: Ed Yong
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Publisher's Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “thrilling” (The New York Times), “dazzling” (The Wall Street Journal) tour of the radically different ways that animals perceive the world that will fill you with wonder and forever alter your perspective, by Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong

“One of this year’s finest works of narrative nonfiction.”—Oprah Daily

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, People, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Chicago Public Library, Outside, Publishers Weekly, BookPage

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist, Smithsonian Magazine, Prospect (UK), Globe & Mail, Esquire, Mental Floss, Marginalian, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world.

In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved.

Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.”

WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON AWARD

©2022 Ed Yong (P)2022 Random House Audio
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What the critics say

2023, Royal Society Prize for Science Books: Short-listed

“A dazzling ride through the sensory world of astoundingly sophisticated creatures . . . It’s Mr. Yong’s task to expand our thinking, to rouse our sense of wonder, to help us feel humbled and exalted at the capabilities of our fellow inhabitants on Earth. . . . [A] deeply affectionate travelogue of animal sensory wonders.”The Wall Street Journal

“One of this year’s finest works of narrative nonfiction . . . Yong’s reporting is layered, seasoned with vivid scenes from laboratories and in the field, interviews with researchers across a spectrum of disciplines.”Oprah Daily

“A thrilling tour of nonhuman perception . . . Nature’s true wonders aren’t limited to a remote wilderness or other sublime landscape. . . . There is as much grandeur in the soil of a backyard garden as there is in the canyons of Zion.”The New York Times

What listeners say about An Immense World

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An art piece on empathy

Is really easy to forget we live in an amazing world, yet this book does a great job of reminding us of that. While it’s based on research, you have to repeat yourself this often, since it’s full of impressive facts...and the world we live in gets stranger and stranger while you read xD

Also, I find it's a lesson on empathy and curiosity, and just for that, I loved it.

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An intense book

amazing take on the senses of animals and how we compare. very interesting perspectives from each animal

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Great stuff!

Highly recommend. Enjoyable and immersive. Loads of information and the author reading is always the best way to listen.

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An Immense World 5 stars

Totally great and very interesting book. This is a book about how animals perceive the world and how the senses evolved. Darwin would be proud

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Fantastic

Best nonfiction I have read this year. Unique. Terrific story telling. Reasonably deep look at much of the science. And great writing.

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Best intro comparitive neuroscience book

I am so happy I bought this audio book. Yong definitely shares his curisotiy and depth in this book. I am going to reread it, anytime I want to appreciate the nervous system.

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A must listen for anyone who cares about life

A must listen for anyone who cares about life. Beautiful book and great narrative.

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Best read ever!

I love this book. I have recommended it to several people. The reader does a fabulous job. I love the author’s sense of humour and brilliant way of explaining such complicated and fascinating things.

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a world discovered

This book offers an amazing glance into worlds beyond ours through amazing and accessible writing.

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Remarkable

What a remarkable book! I read it (listened to it) because my book club picked it, as it’s not my usual genre - and I LOVED it! So many eye openers. What we know about the world we live in really is limited by our own limited senses. The other worlds that exist simultaneously and are experienced by the creatures that surround us is truly remarkable. Highly recommended.

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