An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us: The Sunday Times bestseller

A really interesting book that was a pleasure to rude. Widened my understanding of one of the fundamental things that living beings do - perceive their environment. The author brilliantly envisions how differently the world that we humans live in would seem to animals that either have the same senses as us, but very much enhanced, or have senses that we simply do not have at all. I now know why it is that bumble bees are 'hairy'...

It is an excellent book. The writing is precise and well-organised. The footnotes tell you where to read more, if interested. It has the faux-personal trait of a lot of popular science ("Jack and Jenny were in the lab"), but this is tolerable and gives a way in to how experiments were conducted. It is remarkable how much we have learnt in just the past 20-30 years. Did you know that....? You will, if you read this.

Real life (nature!) always manages to beat fiction. The most amazing tales of the incredible senses of animals and everything which is just around us but we can't perceive. Great prose. Fascinating, mind-blowing, exciting and funny stories, making science easy for all. You'll gain a brand new appreciation (and envy) for all the creatures that share the earth with us. A fantastic book. Couldn't recommend it more. A must read!

A fascinating and ambitious book. I loved "I contain multitudes" and while this book is not as good as that one in my opinion, it's still a really interesting read. I learned a huge amount from it. My main criticisms are that it was overlong on account of all of a lot of unnecessary detail. I found the proliferation of footnotes (often 3 or more per paragraph) very distracting and really affected the flow of the book, particularly since these are a mix of further high and often interesting but not necessary detail and irrelevant inanities (e.g. "one of the worst things that happened to our field was when radio shack went out of business, [Mr] Fortune tells me") which means you are reluctant to skip any but are frequently interrupted by something of no value.

This is a very interesting, thought-provoking and humbling book. It looks at the senses of every creature from a different perspective, rather than just how they relate to ours. It’s written in a style that is easy to read, yet hugely informative and well researched. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in, or appreciation of, the natural world, or to any person with an enquiring mind.

I as overwhelmed by the detailed knowledge of the sensory systems of animal. You have to read a little at a time. Otherwise there is too much to take in. It has really opened my eyes to the wonders of the animal world.

Amazing book

I have rather mixed feelings about this book. I found the first chapter which imagines a range of different animals in the same room, and how each would perceive the world, fascinating. I never felt so engaged again in the subsequent chapters which look at each of the senses in turn from the ones we would expect; f touch, taste, smell and sight ,to those more particular to certain creatures including ultra sight and sound, and the use of echolocation and the earth's magnetic field in enabling movements - sometimes over thousands of miles.There was a lot of interest to me in those pages - but I found my interest waning with detailed descriptions of what scientists know of numerous marine creatures, and insects, and how they know it. There are footnotes on many pages and I found that irritating - surely interesting anecdotes and supplementary information should be in the body of the text - it is so much easier and more enjoyable to read that way.In short I am not sure who this book is for - it seems to me to be too detailed for the general reader, too general for the specialist. Still, sighing with relief to have reached the last page, I do realise I that have learned a lot and sometimes been entertained along the way.