100 books like Interoception

By Kelly Mahler,

Here are 100 books that Interoception fans have personally recommended if you like Interoception. Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Sensory Processing Challenges: Effective Clinical Work with Kids & Teens

Carol Stock Kranowitz Author Of The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Differences

From my list on sensory processing differences.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a preschool teacher for 25 years, I observed many children with sensory processing differences (SPD), autism and ADHD. I wondered why they were uncomfortable touching finger paints, why they avoided swings and never let their feet leave the ground, why they broke crayons and tripped on-air, and why they felt inadequate playing and making friends. To help"out-of-sync" children become more competent in work and play, I learned to identify their sensory processing challenges and steer them into early intervention. My mission is to explain to families, teachers, and professionals how SPD affects learning and behavior, to offer practical solutions, and to see all children flourish.

Carol's book list on sensory processing differences

Carol Stock Kranowitz Why did Carol love this book?

Lindsey Biel's second book (less well known than her remarkable Raising a Sensory Smart Child) furthers her mission to explain sensory processing differences to occupational therapists, parents, and teachers. Her case studies are illuminating, as she describes her clients flourishing with individualized treatment. I love her positive approach, such as her Sensory Challenge Questionnaire that asks the child or young adult what sensory experiences are enjoyable, not just challenging. Her sensory strategies to use in the clinic, home, and school are the best!

By Lindsey Biel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sensory Processing Challenges as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Many children, teens, and even adults experience sensory processing challenges including out-of-proportion reactions to certain sensory experiences that most of us find commonplace. These challenges can range from mild to severe-from difficulty tolerating fluorescent lights and discomfort with certain clothing textures, to fight-or-flight reactions to unexpected or loud noises such as sirens or automatic hand dryers, or such strong oral sensitivities that the individual can tolerate eating just a few foods. They may struggle with one or more "sensory channels," or, more often, be quickly overwhelmed by the demand to process multisensory input (especially in busy environments with competing sights,…


Book cover of Sensory Integration and the Child

Carol Stock Kranowitz Author Of The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Differences

From my list on sensory processing differences.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a preschool teacher for 25 years, I observed many children with sensory processing differences (SPD), autism and ADHD. I wondered why they were uncomfortable touching finger paints, why they avoided swings and never let their feet leave the ground, why they broke crayons and tripped on-air, and why they felt inadequate playing and making friends. To help"out-of-sync" children become more competent in work and play, I learned to identify their sensory processing challenges and steer them into early intervention. My mission is to explain to families, teachers, and professionals how SPD affects learning and behavior, to offer practical solutions, and to see all children flourish.

Carol's book list on sensory processing differences

Carol Stock Kranowitz Why did Carol love this book?

Dr. Ayres formulated the theory of sensory integration and processing in the mid-20th century and published Sensory Integration and the Child in 1972. Preserving her core content, this updated version includes checklists, photographs, illustrations, tips for parents, and cases, to make her brilliant insights and practical solutions more accessible to families today.

By A. Jean Ayres,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sensory Integration and the Child as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This classic handbook, from the originator of sensory integration theory, is now available in an updated, parent-friendly edition. Retaining all the features that made the original edition so popular with both parents and professionals, "Sensory Integration and the Child" remains the best book on the subject. With a new foreward by Dr. Florence Clark and commentaries by recognized experts in sensory integration, this volume explains sensory integrative dysfunction, how to recognize it, and what to do about it. Helpful tips, checklists, question-and-answer sections, and parent resources make the new edition more informative and useful. Indispensible reading for parents, this book…


Book cover of No Longer a Secret: Unique Common Sense Strategies for Children with Sensory or Motor Challenges

Carol Stock Kranowitz Author Of The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Differences

From my list on sensory processing differences.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a preschool teacher for 25 years, I observed many children with sensory processing differences (SPD), autism and ADHD. I wondered why they were uncomfortable touching finger paints, why they avoided swings and never let their feet leave the ground, why they broke crayons and tripped on-air, and why they felt inadequate playing and making friends. To help"out-of-sync" children become more competent in work and play, I learned to identify their sensory processing challenges and steer them into early intervention. My mission is to explain to families, teachers, and professionals how SPD affects learning and behavior, to offer practical solutions, and to see all children flourish.

Carol's book list on sensory processing differences

Carol Stock Kranowitz Why did Carol love this book?

This book explains how to help children with sensory and regulation issues participate in daily life at home, at school, or out-and-about. "A SECRET" approach engages children through its seven components: Attunement, Sensation, Emotional regulation, Culture, Relationship, Environment, and Task. Parents, teachers, and therapists will appreciate these common-sense, on-the-spot, low-cost, problem-solving techniques. Using A SECRET brings hope and help, as you and your kids learn to enjoy being together and having fun!

By Lucy Jane Miller, Lisa M. Porter, Doreit S. Bialer

Why should I read it?

1 author picked No Longer a Secret as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Parents and teachers often struggle with the advice given by occupational therapists regarding support for children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). What makes this book unique is the exploration of secrets that professionals sometimes hold close.

This book helps us see the big picture: A child's strengths, sensory differences, the family's role, and ways to support children in any context. The authors illuminate the complexities of choosing appropriate strategies and offer a framework to make creating a sensory lifestyle manageable.

This invaluable resource, updated and in a new edition, provides cost-effective, functional, and on-the-spot problem-solving tips to use at home,…


Book cover of The Sensory Room Kids Get In Sync

Carol Stock Kranowitz Author Of The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Differences

From my list on sensory processing differences.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a preschool teacher for 25 years, I observed many children with sensory processing differences (SPD), autism and ADHD. I wondered why they were uncomfortable touching finger paints, why they avoided swings and never let their feet leave the ground, why they broke crayons and tripped on-air, and why they felt inadequate playing and making friends. To help"out-of-sync" children become more competent in work and play, I learned to identify their sensory processing challenges and steer them into early intervention. My mission is to explain to families, teachers, and professionals how SPD affects learning and behavior, to offer practical solutions, and to see all children flourish.

Carol's book list on sensory processing differences

Carol Stock Kranowitz Why did Carol love this book?

Kids who are out of sync because of sensory processing differences will enjoy this charming book written and illustrated by a third-grader. Abigail describes her classmates having a FIDDLE response to various sensations. (FIDDLE stands for Frequency, Intensity, Duration, Degree, Loneliness, and Exhaustion, as defined in my children’s book, The Goodenoughs Get In Sync). Abigail explains her friends' sensory challenges and suggests wise and easy solutions to help them get in sync.

By Abigail Grace Kroneberger,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Sensory Room Kids Get In Sync as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Sensory System is a system in your body that tells you how to react with the world around you. But some people react differently to the world around them than other people do. They sometimes react by screaming, crying, hiding, running away or even just yelling. "Stop!" These people usually react in this way because their body's nerves are telling them how to react when they are feeling either excited, frustrated, mad, sad, upset or just thinking they can't do it. This does not mean that they are better or worse than other people. It just means that they…


Book cover of An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Carl F. Nathan Author Of An Arrow's ARC: Journey of a Physician-Scientist

From my list on a life in science or medicine.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up, I experienced “otherness.” My family was hard up amidst affluence. Typecast as Jewish, where that was a rarity, we were met with suspicion and unease. Being a woman held my mother back from her preferred profession. Racism was rampant; my growing appreciation of it and efforts to intervene added to “otherness.”  My childhood was shadowed by illness, including my mother’s cancer. These influences drew me to medicine and science. Both are a way to overcome “otherness” and to protect one’s family, even as my sense of family expanded. Medicine forges extraordinary bonds between doctor and patient. Science brings people together from diverse backgrounds to share goals. These connections make meaningful stories. 

Carl's book list on a life in science or medicine

Carl F. Nathan Why did Carl love this book?

Yong is not a scientist himself, but he is an extraordinary writer who steps into the world view of one scientist after another to capture their passion for discovery and their amazement at what they learn and to share that with us, simply and clearly. He does all this with an ear for prose that delights with its ring as well as its content.

One of the messages running through this hard-to-put-down book is how differently and precisely various species adapt to their niche to sense what matters to them most. A key subtext is how much we lose by changing environments faster than species adapt.

By Ed Yong,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked An Immense World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Wonderful, mind-broadening... a journey to alternative realities as extraordinary as any you'll find in science fiction' The Times, Book of the Week

'Magnificent' Guardian

Enter a new dimension - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving only a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into previously unfathomable dimensions - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.

We encounter beetles that are…


Book cover of Woodsmoke and Sage: The Five Senses 1485-1603: How the Tudors Experienced the World

Sylvia Barbara Soberton Author Of Ladies-in-Waiting: Women Who Served Anne Boleyn

From my list on by Tudor historians.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an author, researcher, and historian writing about Tudor women. As a woman myself, I’m naturally interested in what life was like for those who came before me, and I’m very passionate about writing the lesser-known, forgotten women back into the historical narrative of the period. We all know about Henry VIII’s six wives, his sisters, and daughters, but there were other women at the Tudor court whose stories are no less fascinating.

Sylvia's book list on by Tudor historians

Sylvia Barbara Soberton Why did Sylvia love this book?

What did Tudor England look, sound, or smell like?

This is an innovative work from Amy Licence, historian of women's lives. Using the five senses, she skilfully plunges readers into sixteenth-century England, letting us see, hear, smell, taste, and (almost) touch the Tudor world like we've never experienced it before.

By Amy Licence,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Woodsmoke and Sage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Traditionally history is cerebral: what did they believe, what did they think, what did they know?

Woodsmoke and Sage is not a traditional book.

Using the five senses, historian Amy Licence presents a new perspective on the material culture of the past, exploring the Tudors' relationship with the fabric of their existence, from the clothes on their backs, the roofs over their heads and the food on their tables, to the wider questions of how they interpreted and presented themselves, and what they believed about life, death and beyond. Take a journey back 500 years and experience the sixteenth century…


Book cover of Finding Wild

Erica Silverman Author Of Wake Up, City!

From my list on celebrating cities.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an award-winning author of picture books and early readers. I have set my stories in many kinds of locations, including a haunted house, an Eastern European shtetl, an English Renaissance village, and a working cattle ranch. For Wake Up, City, I turned to the setting I know best, the city. I drew on memories of walking to kindergarten in early morning Brooklyn. This book is my love song to cities everywhere. As a lifelong city dweller, I worry about the impact of urban spread on the planet, but I feel hopeful, too, because many cities are becoming more nature and wildlife-friendly. The books I'm excited to share celebrate city wildlife. 

Erica's book list on celebrating cities

Erica Silverman Why did Erica love this book?

Told in lyrical language, two children wander through their city, looking for “wild” and finding it in motion, size, sounds, touch, and smell.“It leaps and pounces and  shows its teeth.” The words dance around, hinting at flora and fauna, using adjectives and verbs to suggest and evoke. This journey arouses awareness of the natural world that lives all around us in the city. Young readers will enjoy guessing what is being hinted at. This is such an original way to talk about the urban wild!  

By Megan Wagner Lloyd, Abigail Halpin (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Finding Wild as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 3, 4, 5, and 6.

What is this book about?

A lovely, lyrical picture book with gorgeous illustrations that explores the ways the wild makes itself known to us and how much closer it is than we think.
 
There are so many places that wild can exist, if only you know where to look! Can you find it? Two kids set off on an adventure away from their urban home and discover all the beauty of the natural world. From the bark on the trees to the sudden storm that moves across the sky to fire and flowers, and snowflakes and fresh fruit. As the children make their way through…


Book cover of A Natural History of the Senses

Rachel Herz Author Of Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food

From my list on intellectual and creative inspiration.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a neuroscientist, author, educator, TEDx speaker, and leading expert on the psychological science of smell. I am captivated by stories and the “why” and “how” science of the world around us. The books I’ve chosen spoke to me during periods when I was seeking answers and blooming intellectually and creatively. They provided inspiration from the skill with which words were crafted and revelation from the ideas they conveyed. I owe these books a debt of gratitude and hope that my writing may offer to others a smidge of the illumination and motivation that these works gave to me.

Rachel's book list on intellectual and creative inspiration

Rachel Herz Why did Rachel love this book?

A Natural History of the Senses is gorgeously written and poetic while simultaneously presenting accurate basic science about our five senses. Diane Ackerman stunningly shows how a gifted writer can decipher a field, captivate the general public, and elicit the fascination and wonder that a topic deserves. I am also ever delighted by the fact that the book starts with the sense of smell, rather than relegating it to the least and last section as most books on our senses do. A Natural History of the Senses is a beautiful compendium of biology and a tour of human perception.

By Diane Ackerman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Natural History of the Senses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth.

“Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in.” —The New York Times


Book cover of See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses

M. Leona Godin Author Of There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness

From my list on blindness and the brain.

Why am I passionate about this?

Thanks to a degenerative retinal eye disease, I’ve lived on pretty much every notch of the sight-blindness continuum. While going blind super slowly I’ve engaged with the science of seeing and not-seeing as an  academic and artist for about 25 years. I like to say that there are as many ways of being blind as there are of being sighted, there are just fewer of us. Besides teaching literature and humanities courses at NYU, I’ve lectured on art, accessibility, technology, and disability at universities and institutions around the country. I love sharing stories about the brain on blindness, and hope you find my recommendations as fascinating as I do.

M.'s book list on blindness and the brain

M. Leona Godin Why did M. love this book?

Perceptual psychologist Lawrence Rosenblum’s book changed the way I thought about my brain on blindness and gave me hope about its ability to adapt. I was astonished by blind painters and mountain bikers, but more importantly, I learned that what often strike us as superpowers, are actually the result of practice and the cross-modal plasticity of the brain. The sighted brains that change after only five days of blindfold and intensive braille training, the experiments that demonstrate how humans can follow a scent trail, and the ways blind people (and sighted people) use echolocation to learn about their micro and macro environments (even if they are not always conscious of it), are just some of Rosenblum’s many examples that are as fun as they are fascinating.

By Lawrence D. Rosenblum,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked See What I'm Saying as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this revealing romp through the mysteries of human perception, University of California psychologist Lawrence D. Rosenblum explores the astonishing abilities of the five senses-skills of which most of us are unaware. Drawing on groundbreaking insights into the brain's plasticity and integrative powers, Rosenblum examines how our brains use the subtlest information to perceive the world. A blind person, for example, can "see" through bat-like echolocation, wine connoisseurs can actually taste the vintage of an obscure wine, and pheromones can signal a lover's compatibility. Bringing us into the world of a blind detective, a sound engineer, a former supermodel, and…


Book cover of Archaeology and the Senses: Human Experience, Memory, and Affect

Hannah Platts Author Of Multisensory Living in Ancient Rome: Power and Space in Roman Houses

From my list on multisensory history.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for ancient history and archaeology began in secondary school when I started learning Latin and we were taken on a field trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace. By the time I started my MA at Bristol, my obsession with ancient Roman housing was well and truly established, and it quickly became clear to me that this was the area that I wanted to study for my PhD. Now as an Associate Professor in Ancient History and Archaeology at Royal Holloway, University of London, I have been very lucky to study and teach a range of areas in ancient history and archaeology, including my beloved area of the Roman domestic realm. 

Hannah's book list on multisensory history

Hannah Platts Why did Hannah love this book?

Hamilakis’s Archaeology and the Senses was one of the first books I read when starting to explore multisensory history, and it totally altered my view of how we study the past.

Focusing on Bronze-Age Crete, Hamilakis examines how archaeology has engaged with the bodily senses thus far and critiques its emphasis on sight and the traditional hierarchy of the five senses in the west.

Moreover, he proposes an innovative and exciting means by which archaeology can move beyond its focus on visual experiences of artefacts, environments, and materials to bring in lost and neglected, yet just as important, bodily senses such as sound, smell, taste, and touch.

Through this approach to archaeology he seeks to evoke a deeper, richer insight into the breadth of human experience in past societies.

By Yannis Hamilakis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Archaeology and the Senses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book is an exciting new look at how archaeology has dealt with the bodily senses and offers an argument for how the discipline can offer a richer glimpse into the human sensory experience. Yannis Hamilakis shows how, despite its intensely physical engagement with the material traces of the past, archaeology has mostly neglected multi-sensory experience, instead prioritising isolated vision and relying on the Western hierarchy of the five senses. In place of this limited view of experience, Hamilakis proposes a sensorial archaeology that can unearth the lost, suppressed, and forgotten sensory and affective modalities of humans. Using Bronze Age…


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