Audio only
Reality Isn't True Either
The fascinating physics of the senses - and how it shapes our perceptionBy Florian AignerNarrated by Izzy ValkyrieLength6h 16m
About this audiobook
Why does a metal plate feel much hotter than a wooden one in summer – even though both are at the same temperature? Why can bats hear sounds where everything is silent to us? And is the red I see the same red as the one you see? In our minds, the world is colourful, warm, noisy or well-ordered – but is it really? In his new book, bestselling author Florian Aigner takes us on an astonishing and entertaining journey of discovery through the physics of sensory perception. He shows that our perception is based on very specific physical processes – and why that still doesn't mean we see, hear, smell, taste or feel things as they really are. In fact, it is we ourselves who create the world in our minds! Whether colour, sound, temperature or taste: all these sensory impressions are based on physics, but how we organise, understand and experience them takes place in our brains. And what's more: humans are the only species that have learnt to deliberately expand their senses – through technology, through science, through curiosity. This has given rise to a new kind of evolution: a cultural, self-directed expansion of our consciousness. This book combines accessible physics with surprising anecdotes from biology, technology and culture, whilst posing the big question: What is reality – and how does it arise in our minds?
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.3 (14)
Includes Goodreads
GenreEducation and Learning
Length6 hrs 16 mins
Narrated byIzzy Valkyrie
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateNov 2, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
2Chapter 1 - The universe in our heads
3Evolutionary theory of knowledge
4Riftia, the blind, deaf tubeworm
5Maybe I'm the only one who exists
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6Shadow science in the cave of the senses
7Sound as the vibration of air particles
8A model of the world in the mind
9Human beings, the scientific animal
10You and I
11Chapter 2 - Listen
12Small bones, big impact
13No one can hear you scream
14Volume - Two cats and a jet plane
15When double the dose is suddenly very quiet
16The highest sound possible
17Is that still a sound, or is it just the weather?
18When do sounds sound like music?
19The strange shape of human ears
20Right and left - Experiments with swapped ears
21Echolocation - How to hear images
22People with bat-like abilities
23Chapter 3 - Vision
24The blindingly bright black of space
25From a single-celled organism to the human eye
26Waves Particles Both
27Colours that ants don't like
28Blue stars, Blue ferns, Blue sky
29Pure and-mixed colours
30Red, Green, Blue
31The invisible tiger
32Claude Monet's invisible colour
33OLO - The colour that doesn't even exist
34Colour blindness and super colour vision
35What color is the sky really?
36Buru is not blue
37My red, your red
38Vision is learned
39The Myth of the inverse infant's vision
40Chapter 4 - Smell and taste
41Humans have a good sense of smell
42The woman who could smell Parkinson's
43The Cow within me
44Taste is simple - Smell is difficult
45The Jacobson's organ and pheromones
46Genes and smell
47Nature or nurture
48The language of smells
49There is no such thing as a metallic smell
50Nothing in the world tastes spicy
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