There is growing evidence from the science of human behaviour that our everyday, folk understanding of ourselves as conscious rational, responsible agents may be mistaken. The essays in this volume display and explore this radical claim.

There is growing evidence from the science of human behavior that our everyday, folk understanding of ourselves as conscious, rational, responsible agents may be radically mistaken. The science, some argue, recommends a view of conscious agency as merely epiphenomenal: an impotent accompaniment to the whirring unconscious machinery (the inner zombie) that prepares, decides and causes our behavior. The new essays in this volume display and explore this radical claim, revisiting the folk concept of the responsible agent after abandoning the image of a central executive, and "decomposing" the notion of the conscious will into multiple interlocking aspects and functions. Part 1 of this volume provides an overview of the scientific research that has been taken to support "the zombie challenge." In part 2, contributors explore the phenomenology of agency and what it is like to be the author of one's own actions. Part 3 then explores different strategies for using the science and phenomenology of human agency to respond to the zombie challenge. Questions explored include: what distinguishes automatic behavior and voluntary action? What, if anything, does consciousness contribute to the voluntary control of behavior? What does the science of human behavior really tell us about the nature of self-control?

Here you have found a book so foul, so repulsive, so horrifying... that you will undoubtedly find yourself running to the nearest bathroom in an effort to both relieve your bowels and scrub your hands clean of its putrid filth. Though these attempts will be in vain -- just as the authors of this demented book of short stories have planned. I speak of none other than the intolerable Mr. Vincent V. Cava and his dimwitted pen pal, S.R. Tooms (the pair oftentimes billed simply as Hideous and Handsome). They have finally released this humorous collection of terrifying tales, despite the bitter public outcry which demanded these pages never see the light of day.

The hidden material histories of music. Music is seen as the most immaterial of the arts, and recorded music as a progress of dematerialization—an evolution from physical discs to invisible digits. In Decomposed, Kyle Devine offers another perspective. He shows that recorded music has always been a significant exploiter of both natural and human resources, and that its reliance on these resources is more problematic today than ever before. Devine uncovers the hidden history of recorded music—what recordings are made of and what happens to them when they are disposed of. Devine's story focuses on three forms of materiality. Before 1950, 78 rpm records were made of shellac, a bug-based resin. Between 1950 and 2000, formats such as LPs, cassettes, and CDs were all made of petroleum-based plastic. Today, recordings exist as data-based audio files. Devine describes the people who harvest and process these materials, from women and children in the Global South to scientists and industrialists in the Global North. He reminds us that vinyl records are oil products, and that the so-called vinyl revival is part of petrocapitalism. The supposed immateriality of music as data is belied by the energy required to power the internet and the devices required to access music online. We tend to think of the recordings we buy as finished products. Devine offers an essential backstory. He reveals how a range of apparently peripheral people and processes are actually central to what music is, how it works, and why it matters.

In Colombia, decades of social and armed conflict and the US-led war on drugs have created a seemingly untenable situation for scientists and rural communities as they attempt to care for forests and grow non-illicit crops. In Vital Decomposition Kristina M. Lyons presents an ethnography of human-soil relations. She follows state soil scientists and peasants across labs, greenhouses, forests, and farms and attends to the struggles and collaborations between farmers, agrarian movements, state officials, and scientists over the meanings of peace, productivity, rural development, and sustainability in Colombia. In particular, Lyons examines the practices and philosophies of rural farmers who value the decomposing layers of leaves, which make the soils that sustain life in the Amazon, and shows how the study and stewardship of the soil point to alternative frameworks for living and dying. In outlining the life-making processes that compose and decompose into soil, Lyons theorizes how life can thrive in the face of the violence, criminalization, and poisoning produced by militarized, growth-oriented development.

Death, Decomposition, and Detector Dogs: From Science to Scene is designed to help police investigators and Human Remains Detection K9 handlers understand the basics of forensic taphonomy (decomposition) and how to most effectively use a human remains detection (HRD) K9 as a locating tool. The book covers basic anatomy and the physiology of canine

A postmortem X-ray of a male homicide victim reveals a bullet lodged next to his spine. That he was shot is clear. How recently? is what death investigators must determine. The answer: the absence of scar tissue surrounding the bullet proves the victim had been recently shot. And while the average person may find tattoos to be creative and aesthetic, to the trained death investigator, they can actually be the key to aiding in the eventual identification of a body. They say the dead can't speak. But in the fascinating field of forensic pathology, the deceased can tell an elaborate story, especially when death investigators know what clues to look for. The first volume in the new Forensic Pathology Atlases: Causes of Death Series, this book takes an in-depth look at the determination of the time of death, postmortem changes, and identification. In TIME OF DEATH, DECOMPOSITION AND IDENTIFICATION, you'll learn through the extensive use of photographs and discussion how estimating the time of death can rarely be accomplished with scientific accuracy. You'll learn about the numerous changes the body undergoes after death, and how positive and probable identifications are made. For death investigators, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and anyone else involved in forensic death cases, TIME OF DEATH, DECOMPOSITION AND IDENTIFICATION is a "must have" resource.