The Senses: Signals and Stimuli, the latest and greatest addition to the Science Comics series, is now available! I’ve already shared my thoughts behind this book’s art studio theme, so how about we talk about how my last decade(!) with Science Comics prepared me to tackle such a wide subject.
It all starts with Dogs, of course. Rudy, the star of that book, is based on my own dog, who my wife and I adopted shortly before I started that project way back in 2016. He’s really the reason I pursued it in the first place. I got to know more about dogs in general while getting to know him in particular. The sense of smell ended up being a cornerstone of his solo title, and The Senses affords me the space to explore the mechanics of scent in far more depth and other contexts. While this good boy of mine now has more white around the muzzle, there’s no way he couldn’t return.
The success of Dogs allowed me the opportunity to follow up with Trees. Sight is the most relevant sense to that one. That’s surprising at first blush, what with trees not having eyes, but think about it for a second and you’ll realize that light could hardly be more important to plants. Photosynthesis and vision are all about the same environmental signals.
Cats came next and offered a lesson in balance and the vestibular system, something I didn’t talk about in Dogs. While both animals have the same sensory organs, balance is associated more with cats because of how their exceptional abilities in that field serve their predatory lifestyle. The protagonist, Bean, is another returning character, though not based on a pet of my own. Like Rudy, she has all sorts of new science to talk about, of course.
Later on, I covered Electricity and Human Spaceflight, and you know what? Stuff I learned for those came in handy too! Electroreception and thermoreception are just two examples of how The Senses ranges beyond the classic five. In hindsight, almost every book in my catalog is somehow represented in this latest. Pretty amazing!
I have to say that of all of them, though, The Senses is the most emblematic of the Science Comics motto: get to know your universe. The series is all about curiosity, and the years I’ve spent in this space have impressed on me that curiosity is a prerequisite for empathy. Getting to know your universe, your fellow Earthlings, your neighbors, means imagining the world from another perspective, after all. If you’re curious, maybe you can’t help but be kind. I’d be pretty happy if that’s what folks got out of this one.
You can find The Senses: Signals and Stimuli here and wherever good books are available. Please consider leaving a positive review on Goodreads or at your place of purchase. It’s always helpful!