New Books Network
Animal Studies
Animal Studies May 3, 2021

Metazoa

Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind

Peter Godfrey-Smith

Hosted by Mark Molloy
Dip below the ocean’s surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals, and serpulid worms …

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Science, Technology, and Society April 23, 2021

The Hidden Lives of Owls

The Science and Spirit of Nature's Most Elusive Birds

Leigh Calvez

Hosted by Sarah Kearns
Join naturalist and science writer Leigh Calvez on her adventures into science and spirit of animals, as we discuss her two recent books: The Hidden Lives of Owls, and The Breath of the …
Language April 21, 2021

Why Chimpanzees Can't Learn Language and Only Humans Can

Herbert S. Terrace

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
Through discussion of his famous 1970s experiment alongside new research, in Why Chimpanzees Can’t Learn Language and Only Humans Can (Columbia University Press, 2019), Herbert Terrace argues that, despite the …
Australian and New Zealand Studies April 13, 2021

Cruelty Or Humanity

Challenges, Opportunities and Responsibilities

Stuart Rees

Hosted by Bede Haines
Stuart Rees's Cruelty or Humanity: Challenges, Opportunities and Responsibilities (Policy Press, a Bristol University Press imprint, 2020) exposes politicians' fascination with cruelty in their deliberations about policies. Through empirical analysis, human stories and …
Animal Studies April 7, 2021

The Doggie in the Window

How One Dog Led Me from the Pet Store to the Factory Farm to Uncover the Truth of Where Puppies Really Come From

Rory Kress

Hosted by Mark Molloy
When journalist Rory Kress met Izzie, she didn’t think twice before bringing her home. She found the twelve-week-old wheaten terrier in a pet shop and was handed paperwork showing Izzie …
Animal Studies April 6, 2021

Enter the Animal

Cross-Species Perspectives on Grief and Spirituality

Teya Brooks Pribac

Hosted by Lauren Moreau
For centuries, science has largely dismissed the idea that animals experience complex emotions, despite the fact the most humans who’ve spent time in the company of animals would argue …
Architecture April 5, 2021

The Bird-Friendly City

Creating Safe Urban Habitats

Timothy Beatley

Hosted by Tricia Keffer
Timothy Beatley is the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities at the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, where he has taught for over twenty-five years. His primary …
Animal Studies March 22, 2021

The Reign of Wolf 21

In the Valley of the Druid King

Rick McIntyre

Hosted by Mark Molloy
Today I talked to Rick McIntyre about the first two books of his ongoing The Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series. The first book we discuss, The Rise of Wolf 8 …
Animal Studies March 19, 2021

Animals' Best Friends

Putting Compassion to Work for Animals in Captivity and in the Wild

Barbara J. King

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
As people come to understand more about animals' inner lives-the intricacies of their thoughts and the emotions that are expressed every day by whales and cows, octopus and mice, even …
Animal Studies March 19, 2021

The Sexual Politics of Meat

A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory

Carol J. Adams

Hosted by Mark Molloy
Today I talked to Carol J. Adams about two of her classic texts that have recently been republished. The first book we discuss, first published in 1990, is The Sexual …
Southeast Asian Studies March 15, 2021

Decolonizing Extinction

The Work of Care in Orangutan Rehabilitation

Juno Salazar Parreñas

Hosted by Faizah Zakaria
Decolonizing Extinction: The Work of Care in Orangutan Rehabilitation (Duke University Press, 2018) presents a multi-species ethnography of orangutans and humans that probes the shared susceptibilities of both species in …
Animal Studies March 4, 2021

Perilous Bounty

The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It

Tom Philpott

Hosted by Jenny Splitter
Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020) is an unsettling journey into the disaster-bound American food system, and an exploration of possible …
SSEAC Stories February 18, 2021

Decolonising Conservation Practices and Research

Seeing the Orangutan in Borneo with Dr June Rubis

June Rubis

Hosted by Natali Pearson
Around the world, orangutans are widely recognised as an iconic species for environmental and wildlife conservation efforts. The rainforest in the Malaysian state of Sarawak is one of last remaining …
Animal Studies February 17, 2021

Phallacy

Life Lessons from the Animal Penis

Emily Willingham

Hosted by Emily Anthes
The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the …
Animal Studies February 5, 2021

A Plea for the Animals

The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion

Matthieu Ricard

Hosted by Mark Molloy
Today I talked to Matthieu Ricard about two books. The first is A Plea for the Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion (Shambhala, 2016) It is a …
Critical Theory January 28, 2021

Wages Against Artwork

Decommodified Labor and the Claims of Socially Engaged Art

Leigh Claire La Berge

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
The last twenty years have seen a rise in the production, circulation, and criticism of new forms of socially engaged art aimed at achieving social justice and economic equality.  Leigh …
Animal Studies January 28, 2021

Flight of the Diamond Smugglers

A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa

Matthew Gavin Frank

Hosted by Emily Anthes
For nearly eighty years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed “overmined” and abandoned, American journalist Matthew …
SSEAC Stories January 28, 2021

Trading Birds of Paradise

A Brief History by Dr Jude Philp

Jude Philp

Hosted by Natali Pearson
Long praised for their splendid plumage, birds of paradise are a rare sight only to be found in the remote rainforests of New Guinea and associated islands. They are among …
Philosophy January 11, 2021

Wild Animal Ethics

The Moral and Political Problem of Wild Animal Suffering

Kyle Johannsen

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
Many sentient (or possibly sentient) wild animals follow a reproductive strategy whereby they have large numbers of offspring, the vast majority of which suffer and die quickly or suffer and …
Animal Studies January 5, 2021

Animal City

The Domestication of Urban America

Andrew A. Robichaud

Hosted by Akash Ondaatje
Americans once lived alongside animals. They raised them, worked them, ate them, and lived off their products. This was true not just in rural areas but also in cities, which …