Kasettetape's Homepage

The second of 3 books given to me by one of my professors. I've only just started reading this title, and it is my first from Ed Young. I wanted to include it here because I immediately got sucked in by the style in which it's written and the relatability the author is able to work into the subject material. It covers the 5 main senses, those we share with animals, and some special senses like sensitivity to Earth's magnetic field and echo location.

For each sense, the author does an excellent job of briefly explaining the physiology behind it, both in humans and animals, and compares them. Additionally, he makes clear what we know currently and what we don't know, rather than relying on catchy one-liners of data to wow the reader.

He also doesn't saturate you with too many facts at once, though - the denser more scientific explanations are well interspersed throughout in bite-size chunks. It is humble but sophisticated writing that makes this book friendly to readers operating on many levels of understanding of the natural world and biology. This is what I appreciate so much about it.

The book opens talking about smell, with dogs being the main point of interest here, and is cleverly introduced with descriptive imagery of the experience a dog might have when entering a new space for the first time. From here the author slowly meandered into the how and why behind a dog's sense of smell, and points out that many cited quantifications for just how much better they are than us at smelling are little more than educated guesses. Just a great example of narrative storytelling that is meant also to teach and entertain. I really look forward to reading more and highly reccomend An Immense World. If any of this sounds interesting to you!

The first of 3 books I recieved from my professor. I'd meant to read the popular title Braiding Sweet Grass by Kimmerer, but ended up getting a hold of this one first and it didn't disappoint. Not only did I learn so much from this read but I definitely came away with a new appreciation for mosses. Technically, I haven't finished, I still have like 20 pages left, so It's been left in current reading. Anyway, if I had to sum up the vibe of this book, I'd say it's like looking into someones field notebook and finding everything form drawings and poetry to data tables and sample codes. What is especially unique about it too is she is also writing from her perspective as an indiginous woman, and how she integrates knowledge passed from her culture with bryology and ecology.

Something else I really loved in particular that is more personal to me is she writes about some amazing - lesser known areas where she has traveled for research, one being an area I used to live in and know really well: The Adirondacks. A National Park that gets little fanfare or attention but contains an astonishing variety of life and interesting geological history. It's definitely a must-see for any naturalist.

The way she sets scenes is just beautiful, I really felt present when reading, though it's almost too relaxing of a read that I know if I try fitting in a few pages before bed I'm just going to pass out - I promise I mean this in a good way.