You can join our Science Discussion group at Good Friends Restaurant to read and discuss Ed Yong’s latest book. Copies are available at our circulation desk or by placing a hold for yourself. All adults are welcome at our book discussions. We meet at the restaurant and have coffee or lunch as preferred. Please use the registration link if you are not a regular member so we know to expect you. Any questions, please call or email Beth Van Ness. 860-693-5800 or bvanness@libraryconnection.info.
| Booklist Reviews |
| *Starred Review* In I Contain Multitudes (2016), science writer Yong exquisitely explored the teeniest domains of life, microbiomes. Now he sets his sights on sensory biology and animal behavior. Umwelt is the term used to describe the distinctive sensory experience of any particular creature. The “sensecapes” of different animals can be dominated not just by vision, smell, taste, touch, or sound but also heat, flow, and even magnetoreception. The menagerie of critters and their unique perceptual abilities Yong examines here include the platypus with a bill that detects electric fields, sand scorpions that rely on surface vibrations to hunt prey, the echolocation prowess of bats and dolphins, the ultrafast vision of killer flies, and the outstanding olfaction of elephants. The facts are frequently astonishing. For example, the majority of insects appear to be deaf. Pain is referred to as the “unwanted sense,” and naked mole-rats are relatively impervious to some types of it. Yong’s writing is empathetic, impeccably researched, imaginative, and entertaining. The tongue of a slithering rattlesnake “turns the world into both map and menu” whereas catfish are depicted as Daliesque “swimming tongues.” Yong worries about humanity’s “ecological sins,” as sensory pollution—noise, night lighting, chemicals—is ubiquitous. Yong’s scientific curiosity and concern for the natural world are contagious. This is “sense”-ational reading. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews. |
Inclement weather policy: If Canton schools or afterschool activities are cancelled for weather-related reasons, so too are events for teens and children at the Canton Public Library. The library is often still open, please contact us with questions or concerns at 860.693.5800.