An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the World Around Us
By Ed Yong; Random House, 464 pages, $30
pulses whose energy is concentrated within a narrow frequency band. … The entire hunting sequence, from initial search to terminal buzz, might occur over a matter of seconds.”
From bat sonar to dog noses to piscine electric fields, Yong’s reporting is layered, seasoned with vivid scenes from laboratories and in the field, interviews with researchers across a spectrum of disciplines. Animal geeks will dine out on the rich anecdotes, the historical detours and pithy footnotes, all propelling his momentum. His prose is witty, capacious and erudite; he notes wryly that male mice “produce a pheromone in their urine that makes females especially attracted … this substance is called darcin,” after the male hero of “Pride and Prejudice.”
Nature, then, is a costume drama, a multiverse, a profusion of wormholes: What goes into an ear may come out transformed. Yong moves beyond the known unknowns – just how does a mantis shrimp, with its complex eyes, see? Can mosquitoes taste body heat? – and toward unknown unknowns. Have we brushed against all the sense scapes or do more exist?
In its final act, “An Immense World” swells into philosophy and politics, underscoring the urgency of climate change. Yong’s book melds epic journeys with intimate reckonings, one of this year’s finest journalistic achievements.