An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

The Earth teems with a magical array of sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. And yet, every kind of animal, including humans, lives within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of this fascinating world. In Pulitzer Prize winning author Ed Yong’s sweeping survey An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (Random House, 2022), the author coaxes us beyond our own experiential senses as he journeys around the world and illuminates the multitude of ways of sensing these realms. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, and fish that fill rivers with electrical messages. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. Join us for lively discussions of Yong’s vibrant and engaging text, with supplementary materials along the way. Together we will discover new ways to imagine and appreciate the complexity of this immense world.