Book Reviews

Adema, Janneke. Living books: experiments in the posthumanities. Cambridge, Mas: MIT Press, 2021. xiv, 335 p. ISBN 978-0-262046-022. $35.00/Open access. (Leonardo Book Series).

At the very beginning of this short review, I would like to introduce the project that is closely related to the title of the book and the research that a reader will find in between its covers or on screen, depending on the chosen mode of reading. The author connects her own work to the project Living Books About Life experimenting with open access humanities monograph publishing by the Open Humanities Press. If you will go the the latter site, you will find other most interesting series and projects, information about labs and journals, and links to all open access publications published by this most interesting publisher. You also find contacts of people to contact if you want to participate and collaborate in different projects and initiatives.

This initial information is very important to the overview of the book, which is based on the principles recognized and implemented by the colleagues of the author in the mentioned projects. This is quite natural as Janneke Adema, who works at the Research Center in Postdigital Cultures at Coventry University, also serves on the Editorial Board of Open Humanities Press. You will not find her own book on the site of the Open Humanities Press, as it is published by the MIT Press in a different, though related open access initiative and within the series of Leonardo, International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. The author goes to a great length explaining the interplay of demands on researchers placed by managerial bureacracies and their ideal grass root ideas and intiiatives, which affected her decision to publish the book through the MIT Press. It is a necessary explanation, though all the mentioned initiatives are comnected with each other and actually pursue similar, sometimes the same aims. So, you can find this book on open access through the MIT Press site, just click on the title.

The subject of the book is the transformations of the whole complicated activity of the book production starting with the basic approaches and interpretations of the concept of the 'book' and authorship to actual production and economics of publishing. The author is applying a historical approach to her subject, not so much following the changes in the activities related to different processes of book creation, but rather concetrating on the transformation of the ideas pertaining to them. Her focus is on the latest influences on technology affecting the humanistic and humanities traditions of scholarship and publication of its results. Thus, she creates an extremely interesting and rich text where not only old and modern ideas are colliding, but also innovations in humanities and technology are meeting and weave into rather unexpected and sometimes fantastic patterns.

Following the historical approach the author reflects on the origins of book history and identifies its three discursive levels (sources, history writing, historiography) determining our perception of the book (p. 66), but questions and critiques each of them (chapter 1). Then she equally critically dissects the concept of authorship as it has changed through ages and introduces other concepts of authorship that are emerging through our creative practices enhances by technologies. Her own book may serve as an example of such collaboratively created product. She also questions the concepts of 'plagiarism' and 'anonimity' of authorship within this context (chapter 2). The materiality of the book and its emergence as an object of knowledge and trade, the processes of publishing within scholarly communication and economics of journal and book publishing within science and humanities are deconstructed in the historical perspective in chapter 3. The author brings to light a complex of contradictions and focuses on the concept of 'openness' that is changing the nature of the discourses and practices not by eliminating the tensions, but by changing their nature and introducing new ones (chapter 4). The contradictions within discourses and practices of the open access have deserved a separate chapter 5. I have found the parts on experimentation in cultural studies and publishing most relevant for my own interests,. The last chapter draws together the discussions of the previous chapters and through the metaphors of 'liquid books' and 'fluid publishing' presents a new vision of book history and reconstructed approaches to thinking about publishing, book, and even humanities' studies.

The book is not an easy read for a mass audience. It requires some understanding of modern scholarly discourses and humanities, but also acquaintance with critical approaches to cultural studies. So, from my point of view, the author addresses the scholarly public, not only in humanities, but in many social science disciplines. This scholarly public should include not only researchers and scholars, but also other members of academic community. I would recommend it also to academic publishers and other actors involved in policy making, especially cultural policy.

Elena Maceviciute

University of Borås
April, 2022

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