人类视觉在暗处比深海鱼类更敏锐，甚至能感知到单个光子？

　　人类嗅觉比出色的猎犬更强大，能区分至少1万亿种气味？

　　失明者可以用耳朵“看见”周围空间，也能凭借手的触摸成为画家；

　　我们身体的每个细胞几乎都掌握着生物时钟，我们无意识散发的信息素决定了独一无二的偏爱……

　　从“视听触味嗅”到疼痛感、愉悦感、方向感、平衡感、时间感、欲望和本体感觉，“感知”是我们体验外界的必由之路，然而我们其实一直都低估了感官的能力。

　　本书将探究12种拥有非凡感知的动物，并以它们作为对照物，发现人类感知并理解世界的方式和潜能。在此过程中，我们还将在人类神经科学案例中认识一些“异类”，他们所引起的科学变革将为我们展示人体运转和人类生存的怪异与迷人之处。

　　在当今这个变化越来越难预测和知觉越来越麻木的世界中，本书将科学事实与近乎玄妙的感官体验相结合，让读者在思索现实与意识之间种种联系的同时，也领会到自然世界的奇迹。

　　作者简介

　　杰姬·希金斯Jackie Higgins

　　英国纪录片导演、动物学研究者、作家。杰姬在康沃尔海边长大，并一直为自然世界着迷。她早年就读于牛津大学，师从著名演化生物学家、动物行为学家、科普作家理查德·道金斯，并取得动物学硕士学位。她先加入牛津科学电影公司，拍摄了十年野生动物纪录片，包括BBC的《自然世界》和《野生动物》系列，以及英国电视四台、国家地理频道和探索频道的节目。之后，她又在BBC的科学部工作了十年，参与了《地平线》和《明日世界》等系列节目的制作，全身心投入在研究和创作纪录片中。

Human vision is better in the dark than that of deep-sea fish, and can even perceive single photons.

The human sense of smell is stronger than the excellent hunting dog and can distinguish between at least 1 trillion odors.

The blind can "see" the space around them with their ears. They can also become painters with the touch of their hands.

Almost every cell in our body controls the biological clock, and the pheromones we unconsciously emit determine unique preferences...

From "seeing and hearing" to pain, pleasure, direction, balance, time, desire and proprioception, "perception" is the only way we experience the outside world, yet we have always underestimated the capacity of our senses.

This book will explore 12 animals with extraordinary senses and use them as a comparison to discover the ways and potential of humans to perceive and understand the world. Along the way, we will also meet some "outliers" in the case of human neuroscience, and the scientific changes they have caused will show us the strange and fascinating aspects of how the human body works and human survival.

In a world of increasingly unpredictable change and desensitization, this book combines scientific facts with almost mystical sensory experiences, allowing readers to contemplate the connections between reality and consciousness while also grasping the wonders of the natural world.

About the author

Jackie Higgins. Jackie Higgins

British documentary filmmaker, zoologist and writer. Jackie grew up by the Cornish sea and has always been fascinated by the natural world. She attended Oxford University, where she studied under the renowned evolutionary biologist, animal behaviorist, and science writer Richard Dawkins, where she earned a master's degree in Zoology. She first joined Oxford Science Films, where she filmed wildlife documentaries for a decade, including the BBC's Natural World and Wildlife series, as well as programmes on Channel 4, National Geographic and Discovery. She then spent a decade in the BBC's science department, working on series such as Horizon and Tomorrowland, devoting herself to researching and creating documentaries.