An Immense World: 8 key ideas
The core ideas of An Immense World, each in under a minute, written in our own words. Want the full depth? Get the book.
- IDEA 1 OF 8
Each species senses its own world
Yong uses the German idea of the umwelt, the part of reality an animal can sense.
Every species, he argues, perceives a different slice of the world, shaped by the senses it has evolved.
- IDEA 2 OF 8
Smell reveals hidden information
Yong describes how dogs, snakes and moths use smell to read their surroundings.
A dog's nose, for example, can follow trails and detect information that humans completely miss. To the dog, the world is a map of smells.
- IDEA 3 OF 8
Animals see differently
Yong explains that many animals see colours we cannot, such as ultraviolet light seen by birds and bees.
Others see the world in less colour but with sharper motion detection.
- IDEA 4 OF 8
Pain is hard to measure
Yong explores whether animals such as fish and insects feel pain.
He explains that the answer is difficult to know, but argues the question matters for how we treat them.
- IDEA 5 OF 8
Some animals sense heat
Yong describes snakes that can detect the body heat of prey in darkness.
This sense lets them hunt warm-blooded animals at night. A special organ on the face picks up faint warmth from a nearby animal, even without light.
- IDEA 6 OF 8
Vibrations carry messages
Yong describes how many animals communicate through vibrations in plants, the ground or water.
Insects, spiders and elephants all use this hidden channel. These signals can travel where sight and sound may not reach.
- IDEA 7 OF 8
Echoes help animals see
Yong describes how bats and dolphins use echolocation, sending out sounds and listening to echoes to find their way and their food.
This gives them a detailed picture of their surroundings.
- IDEA 8 OF 8
Some senses are beyond us
Yong describes animals that sense electric fields, like sharks, or magnetic fields, like some birds and turtles.
These abilities let them find prey or navigate great distances. Humans have no direct feeling for such signals.
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