An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Yong begins and ends his book with Uexkull’s representation of the umwelt as a house with windows looking out onto a garden. What other metaphors would be helpful in visualizing this theory? Is this metaphor purely visual, or are other senses invoked? Are there other senses that would be helpful in understanding Uexkull’s theory?

The book is focused on humans’ approaches to other animals’ umwelten. How does thinking about yourself as a human existing within one specific umwelt among millions of other animals’ umwelten affect your conception of what it means to be human?

Is Yong’s use of the pronoun “it” in reference to animals appropriate? If different pronouns should be used, what would they be? Are these available within language? How can the theory of the umwelt help you to explore this question?