★ 01/02/2023
This eye-opening pop-science treatise by University of Sydney biologist Ward (The Social Lives of Animals) rhapsodizes about the power of the senses. He draws on evolutionary theory, neurology, and psychology to explain the development and functioning of senses in humans, animals, and plants (peas, for instance, can “hear” water flowing underground). In humans, according to Ward, each sense serves as an “information highway” that transmits “terabytes of information every second,” which the brain assembles into a “narrative” as it prunes, anticipates, fills in gaps with educated guesses, and sometimes overthinks. (Carsickness, he notes, happens because the brain interprets the disorienting sensations of motion as the product of intoxicating poison that it tries to make the body vomit up.) He packs in innumerable fascinating details: stars look white because we see them in dim light that only allows the eye’s black-and-white rod cells to function, a Scottish nurse was able to detect undiagnosed Parkinson’s disease by smell, and goats can sense impending volcanic eruptions hours ahead of time. The science illuminates the complex processes through which creatures make sense of their surroundings, and the delivery benefits greatly from the author’s stylish, evocative prose: “There’s a note of elderly fish, swimming valiantly against the lavatorial flow,” he writes of tasting Icelandic fermented shark. This will change how readers see the world. (Mar.)
"This eye-opening pop-science treatise… rhapsodizes about the power of the senses…[Ward] packs in innumerable fascinating details… The science illuminates the complex processes through which creatures make sense of their surroundings, and the delivery benefits greatly from the author’s stylish, evocative prose…This will change how readers see the world." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Enjoyable popular science.”—Kirkus
“a dazzling account of how we use sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell to navigate the world… The chapters on smell and taste showcase an eye for the extraordinary and a flair for explanation.”—Anjana Ahuja, Financial Times
“[a] jaunty, reader-friendly tour of the senses.”—Natalie Angier, The American Scholar
“illuminating and amusing” —The Mail on Sunday (UK)
“a wide-ranging and highly engaging read.”—The Observer (UK)
“a rollercoaster combination of science, cultural history, romance, philosophy and schoolboy humour.”—Katy Guest, The Guardian (UK)
“infectiously enthusiastic”—James McConnachie, Sunday Times (UK)
“It is nearly impossible to grasp what other animals smell, see, or feel. Ashley Ward’s dive into the way we and other species interpret the surrounding world offers astonishing insights.”—Frans de Waal, author of Mama’s Last Hug
“Absorbing, surprising and at times profound. After reading this, reality will never be quite the same.”—Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth
2022-12-23
An overview of the five traditional senses, plus a few others.
“A sense can be defined as a faculty that detects a specific stimulus by means of a receptor dedicated to that stimulus,” writes Ward, director of the Animal Behaviour Lab at the University of Sydney and author of The Social Lives of Animals. Light activates receptors in the retina, and taste receptors “coat our tongues,” but nothing happens without the brain, which converts electrical impulses into our sensual experiences. Colors do not exist; we see “red” because that’s how the brain interprets certain electrical wavelengths. As the author shows, the brain evolved for survival, not accuracy. It can’t handle every sensory input, so it seeks patterns, takes shortcuts, cuts corners, and sees, hears, tastes, or smells what it expects on the basis of past experience. Ward devotes the most space to vision. “Sight involves a vast number of sensory receptors…and consumes more of the brain’s resources than all the rest of our senses combined,” writes the author. Despite writing and sign language, sound remains preeminent in human communication. A molecule becomes a smell or taste when it hits a receptor inside our nose or mouth, and smell is responsible for up to 80% of our taste. As the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated, losing the ability to smell limits the pleasure of eating. Long before language evolved, touch was the primary means by which humans communicated, and it remains essential for taking in information on our surroundings and registering pain. It’s also the indispensable catalyst for relationships. We constantly touch those around us, and infants require touch to develop normally. Ward also notes how scientists have no doubt that other senses exist. Balance, for one, is no mean feat and requires its own specialized organ in the ear. Many animals sense Earth’s magnetic field in order to navigate, and Ward describes some studies that demonstrate its presence in humans.
Enjoyable popular science.
Both the narrator and author of this audiobook come from the north of England, so listeners need to be ready for a distinctive accent. But no one should let the idiosyncratic delivery deter them from this rich and meaningful audiobook packed with scientific observations and references to the five senses--and beyond. Cultures matter: Listeners hear that colors have different meanings, sounds are not heard exactly alike, and the intrepid author tries the Icelandic specialty called buried shark and regrets it. He finds root beer repulsive and gamely tests his sight and touch, as well. He also uses the uncanny ability of animals to intuit an oncoming storm to illustrate how lives can be saved by heeding other species. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Both the narrator and author of this audiobook come from the north of England, so listeners need to be ready for a distinctive accent. But no one should let the idiosyncratic delivery deter them from this rich and meaningful audiobook packed with scientific observations and references to the five senses--and beyond. Cultures matter: Listeners hear that colors have different meanings, sounds are not heard exactly alike, and the intrepid author tries the Icelandic specialty called buried shark and regrets it. He finds root beer repulsive and gamely tests his sight and touch, as well. He also uses the uncanny ability of animals to intuit an oncoming storm to illustrate how lives can be saved by heeding other species. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine