Sentient

Starred review from November 29, 2021
Wildlife filmmaker Higgins (David Bailey: Look) uses discoveries about animal perception to explore human senses in this eminently entertaining look at the natural world. Adopting the simplest definition of sentience as “our ability to sense the world around us,” Higgins “reflects on how each of the sentient beings with whom we share the planet offers a different perspective on how we sense” things. She covers a mind-boggling array of creatures with confounding abilities: there’s the peacock mantis shrimp, which has an unusually large number of photoreceptors and can detect colors that humans cannot, but is less able to distinguish subtle changes in shading; the goliath catfish, whose entire skin functions as a tongue and shows “that our sense of taste is more diverse than we could have imagined, and its reach extends beyond that of our tongue”; and the star-nosed mole, who teaches “much about our sense of touch through an organ we normally associate with our sense of smell.” Higgins does a great job at describing scientific studies and their results, and at connecting them to humans, making for a moving and perspective-shifting examination of “the everyday miracle of being sentient.” Fans of David Attenborough’s documentaries or the works of Helen Scales will savor this delightful study. Agent: Elizabeth Sheinkman, Peters Fraser and Dunlop.

December 1, 2021

Higgins (a filmmaker for Oxford Scientific Films) explores the senses in this fascinating, well-documented work. Going beyond the five widely accepted senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, she also investigates the senses of dark vision, pleasure/pain, desire, balance, time, direction, and body. Each chapter highlights an animal that epitomizes the sense (e.g., the owl for hearing; the star-nosed mole for touch; the bloodhound for smell) and discusses in great detail the anatomy involved and how animals use the sense. Higgins then discusses the range of human abilities for each sense. For example, some people can distinguish a far greater range of colors than most, while others lack the ability to see color at all. Throughout the work, she interviews scientists and shares the results of the experiments they conducted to learn more about how sensory perception works in animals and humans, covering anatomy, physiology, behavior, and neuroscience. Occasional black-and-white illustrations enhance the narrative. VERDICT An engaging, thoroughly researched work for thoughtful readers that will appeal to those who wish to explore the senses, neuroscience, and the extraordinary abilities of animals. Higgins is a patient guide, and her writing is accessible throughout.--Sue O'Brien, Downers Grove, IL

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2021
An exploration of the ways the animal kingdom is providing insight into human senses. What can we learn about ourselves by studying a vampire bat, a cheetah, or a moth? According to Higgins, who works for Oxford Scientific Films, quite a bit. In a series of essays, each focusing on an extraordinary sense of a specific animal, the author invites us to open up "to the everyday miracle of being sentient." While we are taught that humans only have five senses, Higgins argues that we are capable of perceiving the world to a much greater degree than we may think. The limitations we put on ourselves become apparent as we study the ways in which animals use their senses. For example, the peacock mantis shrimp has spectacular eyesight largely due to additional photoreceptors that allow it to see colors that are invisible to the human eye. But as Higgins explains, many humans unknowingly possess a condition known as tetrachromacy, in which they have four cones (instead of three) and perceive the world in a wider range of colors, including a "rich and beautiful mosaic of lilacs, lavenders, violets, emeralds." In a chapter on the great gray owl, the author suggests that anyone can learn a version of echolocation. When placed in a room similar to Beranek's Box, the echo-free chamber created by acoustics scientist Leo Beranek during World War II, humans are able to hear blood rushing through their own veins. The reason is that our ears "become more sensitive as a place gets quieter." In an authoritative and captivating tone, Higgins provides numerous entertaining lessons regarding how information gained from animals can be applied to humans. In fact, scientists are already utilizing this information to develop devices and enhancements to "cure" conditions such as blindness and deafness. Though full of arcane scientific information, the book is narrated in an easily readable tone, and Church's well-rendered illustrations are a bonus. An appealingly written, enlightening, and sometimes eerie journey into the extraordinary possibilities for the human senses.

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Starred review from December 1, 2021
To be sentient is to perceive or feel things, to sense the world around us, abilities that manifest differently in different species. Higgins highlights intriguing animals with remarkable sensory receptors that offer new perspectives on human senses, which, she explains, number far more than the traditional five. The peacock mantis shrimp has 20 different photoreceptors that allow it to see a broad spectrum of colors. The Great Gray owl can hear tiny creatures beneath deep snow. As she compares the senses of animals with those of humans, Higgins recounts groundbreaking, sometimes controversial experiments, drawing on her fresh and lively interviews with scientists and the work of her guiding light, Oliver Sacks. She marvels over the sensory neuron in our skin "uniquely primed to the caring touch of another human being""; describes a catfish as one big tongue, and explores the exceptional sensory powers of the cheetah, octopus, and migrating birds to illuminate our "secret" senses, the ones we really take for granted, from balance and motion to our senses of time and direction. Each of these fascinating reveals, elucidated with scientific fluency and narrative verve, revolve around the central mystery of "how neural matter gives rise to sensation and sentience." Higgins' in-depth tour of the senses recalibrates our sense of ourselves, other species, and the singular miracle of life.

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