Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
The Astonishing New Science of the Senses
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The Next Big Idea Club, August 2023 Must-Read Book
In 2016, scientists proved that humans could see light at the level of a single photon. We are living in historic times when humans may look at the very fabric of the universe in a laboratory setting. Around the world, other recent discoveries about the senses are just as astounding. It turns out we can hear amplitudes smaller than an atom, smell a trillion scents, have a set of taste buds that can discern molecules of fresh water, and can feel through the sense of touch the difference of a single molecule.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made takes readers through their own bodies, delving into the molecular and even the quantum, and tells the story of our magnificent sensorium and what it means for the next wave of human potential. From the laboratories to the ordinary homes where these breakthroughs are taking place, the book explores our current sensory Renaissance and shows readers how they, themselves, can heighten their own senses and experience the miraculous.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Human senses are "far more powerful than we know," according to this uneven study. Psychology Today columnist Seaberg (Tasting the Universe) highlights research on hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch that is changing the scientific understanding of perception. Humans, she argues, have a stronger sense of sight and smell than scientists once thought, citing studies that found humans outperform dogs in detecting certain scents and can see even a single photon of light. Seaberg also profiles individuals with keen sensory abilities, including retired nurse Joy Milne, whose ability to detect Parkinson's disease by smell led to the development of an early diagnostic test, and sommelier Marzi Pecen, a "supertaster" who likely has twice as many taste buds as the average person. The science of how the senses function fascinates (taste is the result of chemicals in food changing proteins in the walls of taste buds' sensory cells, which send messages that nerve cells pass on to the brain), but Seaberg undermines her credibility by taking seriously people who claim to be able to sense "a location on the other side of the world" or "an event that happened long ago." Readers would be better off with Ashley Ward's Where We Meet the World.
