Jonathan Balcombe(born 28 February 1959) is anethologistand author. He is formerly Director of Animal Sentience with the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, and Department Chair for Animal Studies with Humane Society University,[2]inWashington, DC.[3]He lectures internationally on animal behavior and thehuman-animal relationship.He also served as Associate Editor of the journal Animal Sentience from 2015 to 2019.
Jonathan Balcombe | |
|---|---|
 Jonathan Balcombe speaking at DC Vegfest in 2016 | |
| Born | 28 February 1959 Hornchurch, England[1] |
| Occupation | Ethology,Author |
| Website | |
| jonathanbalcombe | |
Biography
editBalcombe was born inHornchurch, England.[1]He grew up in New Zealand and Canada before settling in the United States in 1987.[4]
Balcombe earned a Bachelor of Science degree inbiologyin 1983 fromYork Universityin Toronto, then a Master of Science in biology fromCarleton Universityin Ottawa in 1987. In 1991, he completed a Ph.D inethology(animal behavior) at theUniversity of Tennessee,[3]where he studied mother-pup vocal communication in theMexican free-tailed bat.[4][5]
Balcombe has worked for several animal protection organizations, includingThe Humane Society of the United States,Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine,andPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.He also worked as a research coordinator and grant writer for Immersion Medical, a for-profit company that makes virtual reality training simulators for minimally-invasive surgery.[6]In addition to writing books, Jonathan currently does professional editing for aspiring and established authors. He also teaches a course in animal sentience for the Viridis Graduate Institute.
Writing
editBalcombe's first book,The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations,was published by Humane Society Press in 2000. His trade book,Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good,was released byMacmillanin 2006. The book details Balcombe's positions on thesentienceof animals, and the existence of pleasure seeking behavior, in contrast with the behavioralist mainstream, which rejectsanthropomorphismof animals.[8]Deutschlandradio called the book a "convincing and a fun read."[9]
In 2010, Balcombe publishedSecond Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals,in which he surveys recent scientific discoveries about animalcognition,emotion,andvirtue,and aims to "protest against what he sees as an unbroken tradition of human cruelty and indifference."[10]
The Exultant Ark:A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasurewas released in 2011 by the University of California Press. Using images of contented animals in their natural environment, Balcombe "proves that animals aren’t always engaged in a battle for survival but will frequently do things for nothing more than the feeling of satisfaction."[11]Balcombe disputes the mainstream scientific community's belief that the animal kingdom is an unforgiving struggle for survival. The book briefly broke into the top 100 on Amazon following favorable reviews inThe New York Timesand theNew York Post.[12][13]
Balcombe's 2016 book,What A Fish Knows,combines science and story-telling to examine the inner lives of the world's most diverse group of vertebrates.[14]What A Fish Knowshas a release date of 7 June 2016, from Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Balcombe has published over 60 scholarly articles and book chapters on various topics, including animal behavior, animal research,animal dissection,medical simulation, andveganism.[4]His essay titled "After Meat" appears in the 2016 book "Impact of Meat Consumption on Health and Environmental Sustainability," edited by Dora Marinova and Talia Raphaely.
Advocacy
editBalcombe uses a variety of platforms to advocate for a sea-change in the human-animal relationship. In addition to his books and journal papers, he is a regular speaker at conferences, campuses, public schools and other venues. He is interviewed often in the media, and he has written blogs forPsychology Today,One Green Planet, Secretary of Innovation, andPhysicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.He is a manuscript reviewer for scholarly journals such asAnimal Behaviour,theJournal of Applied Animal Welfare Science,and theJournal of Consciousness Studies.
Bibliography
edit- Books
- The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations(Humane Society Press, 2000)ISBN978-0965894210
- Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good(Macmillan, 2006)ISBN978-1403986023
- Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals(Macmillan, 2010)ISBN978-0230107816
- The Exultant Ark:A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure(University of California Press, 2011)ISBN978-0520260245
- What A Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins(Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016)ISBN978-0374288211
- Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects(Penguin Books, 2020)ASINB085XJG442
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abRanderson, James (25 April 2010)."Jonathan Balcombe: 'Stop being beastly to hens'".The Guardian.London.Retrieved11 July2013.
- ^Humane Society University
- ^abDuin, Julia (14 April 2012)."Humane Society University in D.C. is a pioneer in the growing animal studies movement".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on 14 February 2013.Retrieved12 July2013.
- ^abc"REDLANDS: University hosts 'Animals, Society' lecture series".The Press Enterprise.Retrieved12 July2013.
- ^Viegas, Jennifer (9 February 2011)."Bats like to hang out with their friends, too".NBC. Archived fromthe originalon 6 September 2014.Retrieved12 July2013.
- ^Balcombe, Jonathan."Dissection: The Scientific Case"(PDF).Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science.Routledge.Retrieved16 May2014.
- ^"Exclusive Interview with the Amazing Jonathan Balcombe – Author of What A Fish Knows".veggievision.tv. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
- ^Robinson, Nicola (6 August 2007)."Pleasurable Kingdom".Sydney Morning Herald.Retrieved11 July2013.
- ^Lange, Michael."Vergnügen als Evolutionsvorteil".Radiofeuilleton: Kritik.Deutschlandradio.Retrieved11 July2013.
- ^"Book review: Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals".lifestyle.scotsman.Scotsman.Retrieved11 July2013.
- ^Phillips, Robert (28 October 2011)."The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure".The Ecologist.Retrieved12 July2013.
- ^Callahan, Maureen."Birds do it, Bees do it".The New York Post.Retrieved12 July2013.
- ^Bouton, Katherine (18 July 2011)."The Joy of a Sun Bath, a Snuggle, a Bite of Pâté".The New York Times.Retrieved12 July2013.
- ^Balcombe, Jonathan (15 May 2016)."Fishes Have Feelings, Too".NYT.Retrieved15 May2016.