Nearly 50 years ago, the philosopher Thomas Nagel wrote an influential paper titled “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” Although the article’s implications have been much debated, the answer is: We’ll probably never know. Kenneth Catania, professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, probably doesn’t know either, but his book “Great Adaptations” gives us the next best thing: a view into the lives of many strange and wonderful critters, whose windows to the world are no less remarkable than the sonar used by many species of bats to catch flying insects and avoid obstacles.
You may not have heard of star-nosed moles, tentacled snakes, water shrews and emerald jewel wasps. You might not have given much thought to the hunting techniques of electric eels, or of worm grunters (those are people, by the way), but fortunately for the rest of us, Mr. Catania has, and although his scientific investigations don’t exactly tell us what it’s like to be any of these creatures, his book does a stunning job of unveiling their hidden lives, at the same time giving an inspiring account of what it’s like to be a scientist in love with science and eager to share the excitement.
