An Immense World on On the Origin of Species: “"...could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree," he wrote in The Origin of Species.”
An Immense World on Sensory Exotica: “In Sensory Exotica, Howard Hughes wrote that if you set a clock by a black ghost knifefish's electric field, the device would only lose an hour every year.”
An Immense World on Other Minds: “Other Minds (Godfrey-Smith), 332 — referenced in Yong's discussion of octopus and cephalopod cognition.”
An Immense World on Winnie-the-Pooh: “On a perch in the corner, he placed a hand-raised barn owl, who was named Wol after the character from Winnie-the-Pooh.”
An Immense World on Hurts So Good: “I highly recommend Leigh Cowart's Hurts So Good—an exploration of masochists, ultramarathoners, icy ocean bathers, and other people who engage with pain on purpose.”
An Immense World on Doing Harm: “The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey (2020) and Doing Harm by Maya Dusenbery (2018) are excellent books on this topic.”
An Immense World on War of the Whales: “War of the Whales by Joshua Horwitz offers a masterly account of the events that connected naval sonar to whale strandings, and the legal battles that ensued.”