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In Sentient, Jackie Higgins assembles a menagerie of zoological creatures - from land, air, sea and all four corners of the globe - to understand what it means to be human.
'Spellbinding . . . More than any other book, [Sentient] has made me think differently about the world this year.' - Financial Times Best Books of the Year
The peacock mantis shrimp can throw a punch that can fracture aquarium walls.
The great grey owl can hear many decibels lower than the human ear.
The star-nosed mole's miraculous nose allows it to catch worms in as little as 120 milliseconds.
In Sentient we also meet the four-eyed spookfish and its dark vision, the vampire bat and its remarkable powers of touch, as well as the common octopus, the Goliath catfish and the duck-billed platypus. Each zoological marvel illustrates the surprising sensory powers that lie within us and enables us to engage with the world in ways we never knew possible.
'Lyrical and lucid . . . Higgins makes popular science accessible.' - Observer
About the author
Jackie Higgins grew up by the sea in Cornwall and has always been fascinated by the natural world. She is a television documentary director and writer. She read zoology at Oxford University, as a student of Richard Dawkins. In her first job at Oxford Scientific Films, she made wildlife films for a decade, for BBC stands such as The Natural World and Wildlife on One, as well as for Channel 4, National Geographic and The Discovery Channel. She then moved in-house at the BBC for a further decade, where she worked in their Science Department: researching and writing, directing and producing films across the board, from Horizon to Tomorrow’s World.
She is also the author of three books on photography, a personal passion: The World Atlas of Street Photography, Why It Does Not Have To Be In Focus: Modern Photography Explained and David Bailey: Look. In Sentient, she returns to her fascination with the natural world. She lives in London with her family.
Summary
An enthralling examination of some of the most remarkable creatures in the animal kingdom, and what they tell us about what it means to be human.
Foreword
An enthralling examination of some of the most remarkable creatures in the animal kingdom, and what they tell us about what it means to be human.
Additional text
Brimming with fascinating, frequently delightful and occasionally freaky trivia this is an entertaining, gentle and easily digestible read with some important and intriguing ideas at its core.
Report
The first rule of popular science is to reveal the wonder and mystery of the world. For that reason, Sentient, written by photographer and wildlife film-maker Jackie Higgins, is my personal pick of the year Simon Ings New Scientist Best Books of the Year
