"Thinking about animals..." book to appear in paperback edition

We have been informed that a paperback edition of our book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene, published by Lexington Books, will be published this Spring. The hardcover edition appears in 2016.

"Thinking about animals..." book on Amazon bestseller list for Nature Literature Criticism

According to Amazon.com, our book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene is currently #37 (Kindle version) and #39 (Hardcover version) in the category Nature Literature Criticism.

This does not indicate a very high sale, since the overall sales ranking in Books is #3,578,294.

Sales data for "Thinking about animals..."

According to a royalty statement from Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group), our book Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene  sold 114 copies last year, 24 of which have been returned (net sale: 90, i.e. 82 Cloth and 8 Electronic).

"Thinking about animals..." book of the month

Our book Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene is "book of the month" (månedens bok) at the university library of Stavanger´s page for social work.

Full reference for Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene

Here is the full reference for our recent book:

Tønnessen, Morten, Kristin Armstrong Oma and Silver Rattasepp (eds) (2016). Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books. Partially available in Google Books.

ISBS general meeting attended; mentions of some of my work

Today I attended the Annual Meeting of the ISBS, the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies, held at the 16th gathering of biosemiotics. The meeting included an announcement, by Don Favareau, of the first Biosemiotic Achievement Award (for 2015). In the President´s address, Kalevi Kull mentioned several works I have been involved in one way or another, including, among ten recent books he mentioned, The semiotics of animal representations (Rodopi 2014) and Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene (Lexington Books 2016), both of which I have co-edited - and this blog.

Some 25 people were present.

"Thinking about animals..." book featured in MAI bulletin

The book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene, edited by me, Kristin Armstrong Oma and Silver Rattasepp, is featured in Minding Animals International´s Bulletin no. 33, p. 14.

Discount book flyer for "Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene"

I have uploaded a discount book flyer for the book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene to my Academia.edu profile. Using the discount code gives 30% discount on the book.

"Thinking about animals" book top 1000 in Ecology, Zoology at Amazon

Our book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene now ranks in the top 1000 in both Ecology and Zoology at Amazon. Specifically, it is currently:

#719 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Biology & Life Sciences > Ecology

#836 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Biology & Life Sciences > Zoology

#1268 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Environmental Studies 

Overall Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,301 in Books.

Book flyers arranged

Lexington Books has arranged book flyers for our book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene. They are valid until the end of the year, with a 30% discount.

Cover of "Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene"

See here for info from the publisher, Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield).

"Thinking about animals..." book received

Today I received my two copies of our book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene (Lexington Books, April 2016). Good to have it here.

Table of contents for "Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene"

Here is the Table of Contents for our forthcoming book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene (Lexington Books):

Acknowledgments 

Introduction: Once upon a Time in the Anthropocene

Morten Tønnessen & Kristin Armstrong Oma 

Part I: Beyond Human Eyes 

Chapter 1: Held Hostage by the Anthropocene
Susan M. Rustick 

Chapter 2: Dangerous Intersubjectivities from Dionysos to Kanzi
Louise Westling 

Chapter 3: Animals in a Noisy World
Almo Farina 

Part II: Phenomenology in the Anthropocene 

Chapter 4: A Phenomenological Approach to the Imaginary of Animals
Annabelle Dufourcq 

Chapter 5: Speaking with Animals: Philosophical Interspecies Investigations
Eva Meijer 

Chapter 6: Desire and/or Need for Life? Towards a Phenomenological Dialectic of the Organism
Sebastjan Vörös & Peter Gaitsch 

Part III: Beast No More 

Chapter 7: Understanding the Meaning of Wolf Resurgence, Ecosemiotics, and Landscape Hermeneutics
Martin Drenthen 

Chapter 8: Behaving like an Animal? Some Implications of the Philosophical Debate on the Animality in Man
Carlo Brentari 

Chapter 9: Seeing with Dolphins: Reflections on the Salience of Cetaceans
Katharine Dow 

Part IV: New Beginnings 

Chapter 10: Out of the Metazoic? Animals as a Transitional Form in Planetary Evolution
Bronislaw Szerszynski 

Chapter 11: Dangerous Animals and Our Search for Meaningful Relationships with Nature in the Anthropocene
Mateusz Tokarski 

Chapter 12: Don Quixote’s Windmills
Gisela Kaplan 

About the Contributors 

Index

Endorsements/reviews for "Thinking about animals..." book

We have gotten three endorsements/reviews for our forthcoming book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene (Lexington Books), all from scholars in the US:

In the throes of ecological crisis, it is heartening to encounter an ensemble of essayists determined to critique and remediate human violence (both literal and semiotic) against other animals. Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene offers intricately detailed pathways toward empathetic interspecies connections that resist the isolated, narcissistic arrogance of anthropocentrism.

— Randy Malamud, Professor of English, Georgia State University 

This important collection probes the dangers of the Anthropocene beyond the human perspective. If other animal species are not our slaves but co-authors of our planetary lives, what becomes of nature and of that species once upon a time known as man? These provocative essays draw on a rich diversity of disciplines to address the looming crisis. 

— Cynthia Willett, Professor of Philosophy, Emory University 

The ramifications of climate change are already creating a strange, precarious world for all life on Earth, where the challenges of the Anthropocene extend far beyond the controversies of its labeling by the human animals that have so influenced this moment in geologic time. Examining the roles humans have played in evolving global ecosystems and toward specific animals, this ambitious and provocative collection explores some of the overlapping and interwoven issues of species to argue for human humility and modesty as we all face an uncertain future. This evocative collection comes just at the right time.

— Sarah McFarland, Northwestern State University

"Thinking about animals..." book cover (page-proofs) proof-read

Yesterday and today I have contributed to proof-reading page-proofs (final sample) of the cover of our forthcoming book Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene.

"Thinking about animals..." book on Rowman webpage: Blurb, contributors

Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, has now published a page online on our forthcoming book Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene. For now, the page presents the book´s blurb, Table of Contents, and three endorsements, and lists the editors and contributors.

Blurb:

The term “Anthropocene”, the era of mankind, is increasingly being used as a scientific designation for the current geological epoch. This is because the human species now dominates ecosystems worldwide, and affects nature in a way that rivals natural forces in magnitude and scale. Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene presents a dozen chapters that address the role and place of animals in this epoch characterized by anthropogenic (human-made) environmental change. While some chapters describe our impact on the living conditions of animals, others question conventional ideas about human exceptionalism, and stress the complex cognitive and other abilities of animals. The Anthropocene idea forces us to rethink our relation to nature and to animals, and to critically reflect on our own role and place in the world, as a species. Nature is not what it was. Nor are the lives of animals as they used to be before mankind´s rise to global ecological prominence. Can we eventually learn to live with animals, rather than causing extinction and ecological mayhem?

"Thinking about animals..." book proof-read; index compiled

Friday night I finished proof-reading (along with co-editors Kristin Armstrong Oma and Silver Rattasepp) and compiling the index of the forthcoming book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene.

Cover image and back cover prepared for "Thinking about animals" book

The last couple of days I have taken part in proof-reading back cover copy and choosing cover template and image for the forthcoming book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene, for which I am one of three editors, along with Kristin Armstrong Oma and Silver Rattasepp. We ended up with a bee theme for the cover image.

"Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene" resubmitted and sent to production

We have just resubmitted manuscript files for the book Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene to Lexington Books, after a round of edits etc. The book has now been sent to production.

Anthropocene book introductory chapter finished

Last Friday I finished the introductory chapter to Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene, "Introduction: Once upon a time in the Anthropocene", co-authored with Kristin Armstrong Oma.