Where We Meet the World
Ratings2
Average rating4
15
Ratings2
Average rating4
The thrilling story of how our senses evolved and how they shape our encounters with the world Our senses are what make life worth living. They allow us to appreciate a sip of an ice-cold drink, the sound of laughter, the touch of a lover. But only recently have incredible advances in sensory biology given us the ability to understand how and why our senses evolved as they have. In Where We Meet the World, biologist Ashley Ward takes readers on a breathtaking tour of how our senses function. Ward looks at not only the five major senses--vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch--but also a host of other senses, such as balance and interoception, the sense of the body's internal state. Drawing on new research, he explores how our senses interact with and regulate each other, and he uncovers what we can learn from how other animals--and even bacteria--encounter the world. Full of warmth and humor, Where We Meet the World shows how new insights in biology transform our understanding of the relationship between ourselves and our environment, revealing the vibrancy--and strangeness--of both.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book is exactly what it says it is on the cover, it tells you some basic facts about your senses and offers theories about how and why they evolved the way they did blending a variety of scientific disciplines. That being said, it was a fun read with just the right blend of stats, anecdotes, and ideas to keep it engaging all the way through.
A lot of the information presented I was already familiar with, and the language used was pretty accessible (no unnecessary lingo here) so I would say this is a book that would be great for anyone who is discovering an interest in the topic or someone who is just drawn in by the pretty cover.
I particularly enjoyed the section about smell and how we tend to undervalue that particular sense even though is one that our bodies put a lot of resources in, while I'm not entirely surprised that we do when comparing it to our other senses we spend so much time and money on not smelling bad one would think we'd actually be pretty invested in that sense
Disclosure: I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Basic Books in exchange for an honest review.
Interesting, Well Written, Readable- But Needs Well-Sourced Bibliography. This book was an utterly fascinating mid-range dive into each of the human senses (even including at least one chapter on senses *other* than the "Big 5"), their biology, evolution, and overall impact on the human body and mind. It was truly well written for most anyone who can read at all to be able to understand, without too many technical or highly precise and specific terms that would require specialized knowledge. It was humorous enough to increase its readability, while still being serious about its subjects and discussions. Really the only flaw, at least in this Advance Reader Copy form, was the lack of a bibliography at all (where 20-30% is more common in my experience), and I also want to call out the inclusion of a page listing a "selected further readings to come" or some such, indicating that the final version of the book would only have a limited bibliography. To my mind, this would be a mistake, and I hope the publisher sees this with enough lead time to hopefully correct that direction before publication. This dearth of a bibliography was the sole reason for the star deduction here. Still, if nothing else changes about this book at all from the time I read it nearly three months before publication and for decades following publication, this is truly a strong book giving the reader a complete overview of the human senses as we currently understand them. Very much recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.
