Thread by @edyong209

My new book—AN IMMENSE WORLD—comes out this summer. It’s about how other animals sense the world, and the very different version of reality that they perceive.

Here’s a thread about the book, why I wrote it, and why I hope you'll enjoy it. 1/

bookshop.org/books/an-immen…

All animals share the same world, but every species perceives a mere sliver of it. Each is trapped in a unique sensory bubble. This book is my attempt to step inside those bubbles, and imagine what it's truly like to be a bat—or a whale, spider, scallop, or star-nosed mole. 2/

I traveled around 3 continents (pre-pandemic!) for this book. I got punched by a mantis shrimp, shocked by an electric fish, and snuzzled by a manatee. I hung out with spiders, turtles, octopuses, rattlesnakes, butterflies, seals... and a lot of delightful scientists. 3/

Other creatures see colors, hear sounds, follow skeins of scent, and detect electric or magnetic fields that we can’t perceive. They have different conceptions of heat, pain, darkness, and silence. Their senses help us to reimagine our own surroundings. 4/

I find it breathtaking to know what birds hear in their own songs, what dogs smell on the streets, what insects feel as they stand on plants. To perceive the world through other senses is to find splendor in familiarity, wilderness in one’s backyard, the sacred in the mundane. 5/

And being able to even contemplate another creature’s sensory world at all is an utterly profound act. There’s so much info out there that no animal could perceive it all and no animal needs to. Our senses filter in what we need. We must *choose* to learn about the rest. 6/

My first book—I CONTAIN MULTITUDES—showed how intimately the unseen microbes in our bodies affect our lives. This next one continues that theme of showing how our world is deeper and richer than we know. 7/

AN IMMENSE WORLD is not a book about “super senses”. There are no lists of animals with the best hearing or vision or whatever. This isn’t a book about superiority. It’s a book about diversity. 8/

Every page of this should have something to blow your mind, something to linger and mull over, something you’ll want to tell your friends about. I *loved* writing this book, and I think you’ll be able to see that joy on the page. 9/

Some of you only know my work from the last two years. If you’ve enjoyed my writing in the context of a global disaster, imagine what it’d be like when I’m writing about something I truly love—nature’s limitless wonder. 10/

I wrote half of this book before the pandemic & half during it. It’s not about the pandemic, and yet... it *is* about radical acts of empathy & perspective-taking, and I can’t help but feel that it's relevant in a world where the lack of those qualities has cost us so dearly. 11/

The title comes from William Blake:

How do you know but ev’ry Bird
that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight,
clos’d by your senses five?

12/

And the idea for the book comes from Liz Neeley, my wife, who supported me throughout the writing process; who exemplifies the empathy, joy, and compassion at the book’s core; and who, more than anyone else, sees me. This book was her gift to me, and also mine to her. 13/

AN IMMENSE WORLD is available to pre-order now. I hope you’ll read it, and I especially hope that you’ll enjoy it. It’s a joyful book, and we could all use more joy in our lives. 14/

bookshop.org/books/an-immen…