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An Immense World
An Immense World by Ed Yong is $2.99! I believe Aarya mentioned this on a previous Hide Your Wallet and I’ve heard it’s wonderful on audio. Did any of you pick this one up?
Enter a new dimension—the world as it is truly perceived by other animals—from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes.
“A stunning achievement, steeped in science but suffused with magic.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Gene
The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world.
In An Immense World, author and Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved.
Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.”
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The Poppy War
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is $1.99! I will warn that this fantasy novel is very graphic; please check triggers. This was Kuang’s debut and it sold really well.
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren’t always good.
Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.
For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .
Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.
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Not In My Book
Not in My Book by Katie Holt is $1.99! This came out in December and was mentioned in Hide Your Wallet. This is an enemies to lovers romance with aspiring writers.
**Rosie writes romance novels and listens to Taylor Swift on loop. Aiden is a literary fiction writer who doesn’t believe in happy endings. They’re about to write a book together—what could go wrong?
The Hating Game meets Beach Read in this sexy and hilarious enemies-to-lovers romance from a debut Peruvian-Tennessean voice.**
Rosie, an idealistic and passionate Peruvian American, leaves her Tennessee hometown to pursue her dream of making it in New York as a writer. But her plan is derailed when she ends up in class with her archnemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington—an obnoxious, surly, and gorgeous literary fiction writer who doesn’t have much patience for the romance genre or for Rosie.
Rosie and Aiden regularly go to verbal battle in workshop until their professor reaches her breaking point. She allows them to stay in her class on one condition: they must cowrite a novel that blends their genres.
The reluctant writing duo can’t help but put pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy novel, and their manuscript-in-progress provides an outlet for them to confess their feelings—and explore their attraction toward each other.
When Rosie and Aiden find themselves competing against each other for a potentially career-changing opportunity, the flames of old rivalry reignite, and their once-in-a-lifetime love story is once again at risk of being shelved—unless they can find a way to end the book on their own terms.
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The Starlight Heir
The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard is $2.99! I believe this is Howard’s first fantasy romance. It released earlier this year. Have any of you read this one?
A bladesmith blessed by the stars. A prince with a dangerous secret. A god bound in shadows. From USA Today bestselling author Amalie Howard comes a scorching new romantasy that will leave you spellbound.
“His Imperial Majesty King Zarek requests your presence as his esteemed guest.”
When the gold-dusted court invitation arrives at Suraya Saab’s forge, she believes it’s a joke. Nobles might seek her skills as a bladesmith—one of few who can imbue her work with precious jadu, the last source of magic in the realm—but she has no qualifications as a potential bride for the crown prince. Still, the invitation is the chance at adventure, and the means to finally visit the capital city her late mother loved.
But what awaits her in Kaldari is nothing she could have imagined—and fraught with danger. It’s not the crown prince, but his impossibly handsome, illegitimate half-brother, Roshan, who captures her interest…and her ire. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the Starkeeper—a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. And across the city, unrest is brewing between the noble houses and the rebel militia.
When the rebels attack, Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, trying to deny their simmering attraction and the knowledge that Suraya herself might be the Starkeeper. But Roshan is guarding secrets of his own. And with no control over the power stirring within her, Suraya has drawn the attention of a dark god, an immortal whose interest might be the biggest threat of all.
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I think I made this comment previously, but I DNF’s the Starlight Heir so fast. The writing was annoyingly modern slangy (ie characters talk about their “book boyfriends”). The plot was very obvious and it was a real paint by numbers romantasy (I skipped to the end and it was exactly what I was expecting).
As a side note, the description also bugs me. I hate when grown adult women are referred to as girls.
I loved AN IMMENSE WORLD so much that forced my husband to read it and I immediately bought a copy for my father. This is such a nerdy science book and it’s full of just fascinating little details about how animals sense the world around them, while still being very accessible. By the end of the book, you really begin to get a sense for just how categorically differently we all perceive the world. As humans, we tend to be extremely vision-oriented because that’s where we are biologically designed to focus, but other animals have a very different relationship to their senses and therefore focus on other senses far more. Can’t recommend this book highly enough.
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HIGHLY recommend AN IMMENSE WORLD. It’s amazing. Ed Yong is one of those writers I hope I can be a fraction as good as.
I read An Immense World by Ed Yong with one of my book groups. It was a meaty, fascinating book.
I bought the paperback of An Immense World months ago and added it to a bookshelf… I have to read it ASAP!
I loved An Immense World and Yong’s science writing in general. Yong has just published a young readers’ edition of An Immense World. I’m planning on ordering a copy and sending it to a young animal-loving friend for her tenth birthday. I also may order a copy for myself — the young readers’ edition has gorgeous illustrations and is just stunning to look at.
Yong also publishes a substack newsletter, “The Ed’s Up”, which is also great. You can subscribe for free.
I’m also a big fan of Yong’s science writing and of An Immense World. This spring a young readers’ edition of An Immense World was published. I’m planning on ordering a copy and sending it to a young animal-loving friend for her tenth birthday. I may also order a copy for myself to sit next to the original in my book case — the young readers’ edition has lovely illustrations. Yong also has a substack newsletter, “The Ed’s Up”, that is also interesting. He’s recently become a serious birder and his newsletter has been full of gorgeous photos of birds.
I listened to the audio version of An Immense World in the early days of recovery from hip replacement surgery. I slept through half of it and loved every minute I heard. This one a HellYes buy!
Another vote for “An Immense World”! I loved it so much I couldn’t stop talking about it to anyone who reads (and maybe some who don’t). There’s so much in there to just blow your mind, not just about how other animals sense the world but how we have our own sensory experiences aka umwelten that are probably different than another human’s! I read aloud some chapters to my teen bc it really complimented what they were learning in biology at the time, so even though I’m a scientist I think it’s very accessible for all. Ed Yong is a wonderful writer and I’ve been reading his work since his COVID writing but “An Immense World” is such a banger it deserves a special call out! The audio book is great too.
Another fan of An Immense World. And the young readers
Edition is gorgeous and captivating to read. My 8 yr old is loving going through it.