LIFE

'An incredibly accessible collection of essays that link “natural, cognitive, and social systems” in an attempt to expand the definition of life beyond the biophysical and explore new intersections of culture and biology. [...] As an environmental communication scholar, documentary filmmaker, musician, and activist, I consistently found myself marveling at the revelations contained in these chapters. The essays in this volume will make excellent additions to both graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental communication, media studies, environmental science, environmental humanities, philosophy and beyond. In a world that is facing a number of “wicked problems,” all connected in some way to the ecological crisis, this volume helps us to recognize the limits of our previous models that have shaped so many of our disciplines and look to emerging research that reveals our interconnections – and interdependence. There are big challenges ahead and we need new modes of inquiry if we have any hope of solving our global problems. The transdisciplinary, systems thinking and system science mode of inquiry found in these essays offers us a model of how to respond to the current crisis, expand the strength of our disciplinary work, help students learn more holistically, and translate our work into accessible forms that engage publics and contribute to a deliberative process of solution seeking. I give this book 5 green thumbs up!' -- Andy Opel, Environmental Communication ‘Tolle Lege — though rarely apropos, this stunning book meets the criteria. Destined to be a classic, it revolutionizes communication studies. The impressibility of life systems is imagined globally through sophisticated research. Instead of marginalia and augmented scholasticism, these profound essays teach us innovation and gravitas’. -- Clifford G. Christians, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ‘Undertaking an ambitious intellectual journey, this volume traverses realms of material cultures and lifeworlds, ecologies and symbolic systems, ethics and being. It delves into our deeply mediated world that is nonetheless embedded in nature and embodied in life forms large and small, while addressing some of the most meaningful and existential questions facing humanity, the planet and beyond’. -- Jack Linchuan Qiu, National University of Singapore ‘The editors ask us to zoom both in and out to see how we consider life itself, with eye-opening implications for understanding communication and its possibilities. As biofabrication and artificial intelligence become entwined with human existence, the questions are urgent, timely and fascinating’. -- Lana F. Rakow, University of North Dakota ‘Extending perspectives from media and communication research into life sciences, this second collection in the transdisciplinary series both widens and deepens the reader’s understanding of information as, at once, a material and a symbolic phenomenon’. -- Klaus Bruhn Jensen, University of Copenhagen ‘In the early 21st century, a philosophy of openness marks, embraces and encourages exploration, collaboration and synthesis across traditional boundaries. This journey encourages us to rethink our relationship with the natural world and challenges us to see life as an intricate dance of interactions, transactions and contexts’. -- Changfeng Chen, Tsinghua University