Chapter 1: Leaking Sacks of Chemicals
The opening chapter focuses specifically on two sensory capabilities: smell and taste. The primary focus is on the distinctive differences between the capacity of certain animals to smell a variety of odors in comparison not to just other animals, but human beings. Opening with the well-known olfactory capacity of dogs, the chapter also touches upon the abilities of humans to actually sniff out differences in certain odors even better than some animals to illustrate that certain beliefs about advanced sensory capacity of animals have reached the level of myth accepted as scientific fact. Likewise, the chapter also examines the differentiation in the abilities of animals to taste. The sense of taste within certain species is not limited to mere flavor, however, as many animals use their sense of taste for things like navigation and, in fact, the sensory mechanics are not even located in the mouth, but on other parts of the body.
Chapter 2: Endless Ways of Seeing
Creatures from the smallest to the largest are revealed to see in breathtakingly different ways than humans. Many animals have more than two eyes with some actually have significantly more. Others are capable of clearly seeing things which remain invisible to humans. A few animals have eyesight which does not even distinguish between up and down while others actually possess the ability to see within a complete 360-degree range while in movement.
Chapter 3: Rurple, Grurple, Yurple
The whimsical title of this chapter hints that the topic is about the fascinating divergence in how animals see color. A primary theme of the book is situated strongly within this chapter: there is no such thing as pure reality since every sensory detail taken in is subject to perceptual differences. The focus on sight highlights how not all species see in color the way that humans do as well as underlining the extremely limited spectrum of human eyesight in comparison to creatures much lower on the scale of intellectual development.
Chapter 4: The Unwanted Sense
The sense which is described as "unwanted" is the sense of pain. The idea that many living creatures do not experience pain still exists today but on a much lesser level. For millennia, it was assumed that even other mammals did not experience pain, much less insects or other lowly creatures. This assumption has been disproven and this chapter explores the many ways in which creatures experience pain and exhibit manifestations of behavior which prove this to be true.
Chapter 5: So Cool
In light of the irrefutable evidence of climate change, this chapter is especially significant as it explores the ways in which animals are equipped to deal with extremities of not low, but high temperature. The ability to determine heat is located within a protein structure known as TRP within most animals. This organic ability to determine fluctuations in temperature allows for such evolutionary abilities as lowering heartbeat, entering extended periods of hibernation, and even detecting the presence of fires from many miles away.
Chapter 6: A Rough Sense
This chapter focuses on tactile sensitivity. Readers are likely to be most familiar with the subject of this chapter relative to the ways that cats use their whiskers. This sensitivity of touch is further elaborated upon through extensive examples of less familiar animals. For instance, moles have noses which allow them to map out their burrows, insects can detect minutes changes in air currents, and fish are acutely sensitive to the immediate space all around them.
Chapter 7: The Rippling Ground
This chapter is somewhat related to the previous in that it details vibrations which provide animals with necessary information, but the vibrations are not felt through the air or water, but actually within the ground itself. The creatures which are the focus of this chapter are expectedly those with entire bodies that are in close contact with the ground. In other words, the vibratory sensations moving through the ground are more useful to spiders and snakes. Unexpectedly, perhaps, is that elephants and even human are also practiced in the art of using these minute vibrations within the earth for the purposes of survival.
Chapter 8: All Ears
As the chapter title hints, the focus here is on sound. What is most significant and perhaps surprising, however, is the assertion that the bulk of the animal world is essentially deaf because they cannot actually hear sound. Even many animals that can actually hear do not have what is termed as "good" hearing. The chapter illustrates how the sense of hearing is actually far more complex than the way that humans define this sense. The broad spectrum of what constitutes "hearing" sound is remarkably complex across the entire breadth of living creatures populating earth. Sound and hearing stretches from the actual sound wave spectrum to the velocity of sound to the purpose of making sounds for communication.
Chapter 9: A Silent World Shouts Back
This chapter might be termed a companion to the preceding chapter. It is primarily concerned with the echolocation abilities of bats and dolphins. This unique capacity is illustrated to great effect through a comparison to the only established analogue for human beings: the development of sonar.
Chapter 10: Living Batteries
This chapter examines one of the least understood but now most-researched aspects of animal life on earth. Many sea creatures create electric fields besides the most well-known: the electric eel. Sharks, in particular, are highly dependent upon detecting electric fields around them.
Chapter 11: They Know the Way
This chapter is a companion piece to the previous one except that it focuses not on production or detection of electric fields, but magnetic fields. Less significant to the discussion of the plethora of creatures which have this capacity is the lack of understanding in scientific research to explain how such a capability exists. The primary use of detecting magnetic fields among animals that is known to date is its navigational use, but even this ability is still mostly unexplained since none of the brains of animals possessing this capacity are themselves equipped with magnetic properties.
Chapter 12: Every Window at Once
The conclusions of the book begin with this chapter which underlines and highlights how no single animal is dependent upon a single advanced sensory ability. Every single creature on earth survives due to unique abilities and limitations allowing for or against the integration of all sensory capabilities. The ability of any living creature to survive is completely dependent upon manipulating this integrated circuitry of sensory capacity to determine the state of conditions existing outside its own body and the space in which it inhabits.
Chapter 13: Save the Quiet, Preserve the Dark
The book concludes by, for the first time, situating human beings at the center of its discussion of the surrounding animal world. All the previous discussions of sensory abilities and limitations of the creatures which live around us have been increasingly impacted by the encroachment of human beings into their environment. Technological advancements which have improved and expanded sensory abilities of humans have negatively impacted the natural abilities of other living organisms. This is demonstrated through examples of artificial lighting, manufactured sounds, and industrial pollutants.
