Now pre-order!

 

https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/the-units-of-life/ellen-clarke/9780192857194

Building

 I just noticed my book is already listed for presale at waterstones

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-units-of-life/ellen-clarke/9780192857194

squeeeee!!!

Cover visuals

 OUP has done a superb job designing my cover! But which do you think i should choose?

    

    

   

Good news and bad news

I usually prefer to start with bad news, and save something to look forward to, end on a high. But the bad news this time is kinda funny anyway so I'll hold it back.

Book update

So apparently I've done all I can, and now I just have to wait for the machinations of OUP's production process to play out. There have been all sorts of delays and hold-ups recently, and it looks like July 2025 is the earliest I can hope to see it published. Perhaps I'll be able to hold a copy in my hand a little before that, I'm not sure.

It feels so slow! So many relevant papers get published in the meantime that it then looks like i'm ignoring. And I'm terrified someone will make basically the same argument and gazump me. Frankly that's unlikely in philosophy, but still. It's crazy to remember that I began writing this book in 2019, just weeks before the world ground to a halt. That was my first ever sabbatical, which got transformed into 6 months of home schooling a 3 year old and a 6 year old instead. Or at least home-containing them, lol, i don't remember much school happening. That was before I got divorced and became a single mum 60% of the time. So much has happened and the book itself changed so much.

In hindsight I didn't really know how the book was going to end up, the proposal was pretty promissory. I knew that I wanted colour pictures and a fairly chatty, lively style. I wanted it to have some of the same vibes as my talks, where I show the audience a bunch of cool critters and blow their minds with weird facts.

One thing I certainly didn't anticipate was how philosophical it turned out - a whole chapter on identity?! Analytic metaphysics? Possible worlds!!!!! I guess this was the influence of my move to Leeds, in which i lost my regular interactions with microbiologists and anthropologists but gained much more contact with metaphysicians.

At some point I was chatting to a colleague about our aspirations for books we were both writing. He said he wanted his book to be careful and not make too many mistakes. I laughed and said what I cared about most was I didnt want my book to be boring. I bloody hope I've succeeded. It's a book that takes risks rather than being careful, and I've no doubt there are mistakes and naivetes. I want to inspire and provoke rather than have the last word. And in some ways its a love letter to philosophy of biology. Homage to the incredible splendour of the living world but also an attempt to show-not-tell biologists, in particular, the sorts of insights and assistance that philosophy has to offer.

No shade to the other kinds, but I'm the kind of philosopher of biology who is motivated above all else by the idea that philosophy can help science, can help solve scientific mysteries. it's really the mysteries themselves that I want at the centre of everything. But sometimes it feels like the hardest thing about my job is explaining to scientists over and over what I am and trying to persuade them that I might be able to help. I hope this book helps. I hope some folk find it interesting. I hope someone reads it!

Hey, reach out if you fancy reviewing it!

First look at these gorgeous illustrations in from Guido Prieto for my book

 https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/pers_publ/publ/PersonDetail.jsp?personId=469088930&lang=EN 

Book check-in

Well this blog has clearly been floundering of late. Six months with no new posts. That seems like a bad thing. It's not all bad news though.

Day 359 .............it's in!!!!!

Let me know if you're willing to comment on the draft for me!

Here's the outline:

Day 307: Looking on the bright side

It occurred to me recently that in this 'How to finish a book' series I've tended to write mostly when I'm feeling negative about the work - to berate myself, or create excuses about other stuff I've been busy with, or just defiantly state how far my output has subceeded my plans.  I consciously intended to do a bit of that, at the outset. I like the recent trend of academics talking about all the rejections and failed experiments they've endured, to balance out the normal misleading bias towards only talking about successes. Plus, I think it's important for parents especially to be real about just what they're up against when they try to do more than just wipe stuff up and dispense snacks.

On the other hand, I might have gone too far and given the impression that my book is way behind schedule, that I never get anything done.

Day 223: Time to get real

So another 65 days passed. And did I 'slay the beast' that I was 'hellbent' on slaying, AKA chapter 3? I did not. 

Reader, I'm ashamed.

Day 158 Feeling the burn

It's wednesday. I'm having one of those grey, lack-lustre weeks where the sky is full of sleet, my cats have become incontinent, and I'm fighting-off the kind of first-world but endless problems that make you want to crawl under a duvet, with a pint of gin. And I got some disappointing news that means I'm stuck in the first circle-of-hell, domestically speaking, for at least another month.

*But* today I crossed the final 't' of the first half of the chapter I'm working on - the chapter that refuses to die. And I'm hell-bent with gritted teeth on slaying the rest of the beast by the end of next week.

Day 141 Update: pre-birth jitters

 It's been too long since my last progress report. The schedule went a bit off-piste thanks to Christmas, dry January, my standard cognitive chaos. But I haven't been idle, honest guvnor. I've pretty much vanquished chapter 8. 

Which leaves me only two chapters still undrafted. They're the two chapters that I thought would be the easiest, because they rely the most on existing material. Somehow that's made them the hardest instead. I'm not sure if this is because I find it more fun to write newer stuff, or perhaps because the remaining chapters deal with the issues that are most at the heart of all my work so the bar is higher, or what. But i can't avoid them any longer.

What I've started doing is reviewing the overall shape of the beast though. I've got around 73,000 words drafted which feels good. I promised the publisher between 80 and 100 thousand, so it feels like I'm right on track.  Of course, as well as the two remaining chapters, I've got the intro and conclusions still to do, as well as editing and redrafting, references, pictures and index to sort out. There is still plenty to do! 

But I'm close enough to the end now that a new sort of fear is beginning to set in. Not so much, 'Will i get it written?' as 'Will it be any good?' And there is something else too. Reviewing the macroscopic structure of the arguments, its dawned on me that it's turning out slightly, well, different from how I expected. Which is terrifying.

I've often joked that I don't feel entirely in charge when I'm writing. It's a bit like getting possessed by a idea and i don't always know where it will lead. I'm often surprised by the ending.

Is this normal? I have no idea. Many women have compared finishing a book to having a baby - long gestation period, painful birth, celebratory announcement period etc. But of course it doesn't stop there - the child keeps growing and developing (if you're lucky). and parenthood is all about cultivating something autonomous, rather than sculpting clay. 

It's like my work has a life of its own too. And I'm not the only author, because the end product reflects all sorts of things that happened, like things I read, other people's work, as well.

One of the surprises, so far, is that its a lot more philosophical than I thought it would be. This is partly because I set out to respond to philosophical work on my earlier writings but mostly, I'm sure, about people who have influenced me - like my former grad students, Will Morgan and Arthur Carlyle, who inspired me to think loads about really metaphysical issues like personal identity.

It's scary because it feels a bit out of my lane - I'm not a metaphysician! and because I feel much safer talking about real things, describing actual creatures, than in evaluating possible worlds and so on. I guess I'm also worried the abstract stuff gets too dry and will alienate people who'd rather be hearing about colourful and engaging animal life histories. 

Maybe I'll change the balance again in the end - I've been working more at the abstract end of things, but the two remaining chapters will hopefully bring it back to earth. I'll have to consult the muse, next time it's with me. I guess I'm also slightly freaked out because I've ended up writing much more new material than I originally intended to - not just new ways of putting things, but getting into entirely new problems and literatures that I'd never thought about before. Which has made it more fun for me, of course. But now that I'm remembering that my baby is going to have to go out into the world one day, it suddenly feels risky. 

It's not me to be an over-protective parent though. I'm more the type who bungs them into roller-skates and laughs when they fall over. Tells 'em to wipe their muddy hands on their knees and crack on. But then, I've always known, deep inexplicably in my core, that my kids are awesome and will do just fine. My book, on the other hand.......I need to work out what the equivalent is of helicopter authoring. I guess instead of disallowing boyfriends I'd be refusing to let anyone read it.

What I really need, to help with these jitters, is a) to work really hard editing and polishing it up but also b) to find some well-trusted, but also totally qualified people to read bits and beg them not to hold back on criticism, for my own good.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It's time to reach out to my academic village.......

Day 97: 'Twas the week before christmas.........

and inside Ellen's house, 

was an orgy of late-night writing,

amidst mess, noodle pots, and empty bottles of famous grouse.

Day 72: Nanny McPh*$%

72 days......that's 2.4 months. How much is a respectable amount to have written in 2.4 months? How much was I planning to have written in 2.4 months?  You know the expression, 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade'? Well the fact is that making any kind of juice is a lot like writing.........you get through a whole pile of raw material, put in a load of work, and get a tiny dribble of juice plus a ton of waste for your efforts. It's not clear its even worth it, especially when juice in a carton is so cheap! 

Day 22: Biological substances (success at last!)

With massive relief I can report that Chapter 7 has been defeated. I slept on it, and conferred with my wonderful ex-student, Dr Will Morgan, and I've found my way to a conclusion I'm happy with. Now I need readers!

The chapter explores the following question: Do concepts of Biological Individuality provide identity conditions for the objects they apply to, or are they defined by 'mere' properties?

Day 18: Failure?

Reader, this is the trouble with public commitment devices.....they can be embarrassing. I was so determined to finish this chapter that i've worked a crazy number of hours these last few days. It wasn't quite an all-nighter last night (i'm too old for that) but the typing stopped at midnight and started back up at 8am today.

The truth is I've *nearly* finished it. Maybe. I've got about 8 thousand words i'm happy with. Ish. But it's that eleventh hour where its traditional for me to get stuck. To oscillate between thinking it's about done, if i only i scale down its framing a bit. and thinking i've hit a fundamental wall and worked out precisely why it was all a pointless rabbit hole.

Is it just me that finds it impossible to measure or predict the pace of completion of my work? I feel like it must be the same with sculptors. You don't start the work when you pick up the chisel. before that you have to have spent hours thinking, looking at other sculptures, having ideas, discarding them, looking for materials, discarding them. The point where the book proposal has been sent off - that's when you find yourself standing in front of the block of marble, chisel in hand. There is no turning back now. You paid for the stone. You  planned out what you're going to do to it. but did you?

Are you half way through the sculpture when half the amount of marble has been removed? Surely not. and surely no two sculptors proceed in the same way. Probably each carving is different.  I often start hacking at the rock without having fully decided what i'm planning to make. Probably some sculptures are the same. You wait to see what emerges from the stone, somehow. 

This morning i'd have said my book chapter was at the point where i've done all the big cuts. I've worked out where the head is going to be, the details of the posture are fixed, the angles, the scale is all there. It's too late to change course - to make a dog instead of a woman, or to start again with different stone. That's most of the way there for me. All that comes after that is bits of polishing. The big decisions have all been sorted out. Some artists would leave it at that, and enjoy the roughcut, impressionistic effect. I may even have submitted such roughcuts to journals at times, hoping that someone else would appreciate the simple rugged beauty of an idea in its virgin, unpolished state (ha!)

But it's never too late to have a crisis of confidence. Is the head too small? Shall i just finish the rest and leave it headless? Or do i need to start over?

The truth is i'm stuck, and its the sort of stuck that only gets resolved when you put the chisel down and go away for a bit. Think about something else. Get a second opinion.

Reader, I didn't finish the chapter.  I'm sorry. But I will.

Day 5 (Am i regretting this numbering system yet?)

 Time to do some reviewing of the week, before i sign out and into parent mode till monday. 

Did i meet my goals? Did it turn out as i planned? Do i need to make some changes for next week?

Ha, i'm sometimes sniffy about business-style evaluation systems, but that two-line exercise just revealed my first rookie error. I didn't set any goals last week! At least, i only set them for one day, and they were pretty vague. I should probably set some writing goals, as in actual numbers of words written each week. except i don't think i'm ready for that yet. I'm the kind of person who can spew out words numbering in 4 or even 5 digits in a day without particularly trying. In fact, it takes a concerted effort not to. Because its often useless - they're either random tangents or repetitions of things i already wrote. I do it when i'm avoiding the more taxing labour of actually *thinking*.

What i did do last week was make progress on some more specific goals. I sent off a review, read a couple papers that were on my list, attended a bunch of awesome talks at EPSA, and got my talk for next week mostly into shape. Oh and i started blogging and updated my website. That's not horrible going for a week. *but* its very hard to measure the extent to which any of it furthered my book. 

Here is an attempt at some plausible goals for next week though:

• Today: Reread James Di Frisco's excellent paper on Sortals, projectibility and selection.
• Tuesday and Wednesday: work on my talk in the mornings, then attend the workshop for the rest of the day
• Then by the end of the week i should capitalise on everything being fresh in my mind, and get a first draft of the whole metaphysics chapter finished.

ok go!

Day 1. (or approx 548 if we're counting since i actually *started* the project)

 I've got a relatively long day at my disposal today - 9.30 till 5 - because my kids do after school club on tuesdays. Mondays are short - 9.30 till 3 - and wednesdays to fridays are long, because my ex picks the kids up on those days at the moment. In theory its a pretty good weekly schedule for writing, because i've got a short day on monday to ease myself back into thinking after a weekend of pritsticking and wiping things, and the days gradually get longer till by the end of the week i can go on full on crazed-immersion and pull all nighters, just in time to be a weird starey robot for my kids on saturday.

In practice, of course, there are all manner of obstacles in the path of extended concentration. This week is EPSA, the meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association, in Turin. I'm not presenting, but since i'm on the steering committee i will definitely attend some talks and meetings, virtually.  I also have a deadline coming up on a paper i'm supposed to referee. And next week i'm presenting (virtually) at a meeting in Paris. Happily, there is some overlap between the topic of those two.

So, the plan for today is to write my referee's report (i already read the paper yesterday - i like to sleep on it before i write my report, if i can), read a second  paper on a similar topic, and then start assembling some thoughts that will double as (i) content for my talk next week and (ii) the basis for chapter 7 of my book - on metaphysical problems associated with biological individuality.

Ok, go!

How to finish a book (?)

 It's 9.24 on a tuesday morning. I've just got back from the school run, fed the cats and unloaded the dishwasher so i could make myself a coffee. And i'm acting on an idea i had while falling asleep last night.

Last spring i was lucky enough to be awarded a semester of research leave, by the Leverhulme Trust. It's to complete a book project that i began the spring before last, when my sabbatical was interrupted by you-know-what. The title is 'The Units of Life: Kinds of individuals in biology'. I managed to get two chapters and a proper book proposal finished in the car crash formerly known as 2020. On the one hand, this was cool, as it enabled me to get a contract with OUP and a Leverhulme Award to actually finish it. On the other hand, this leaves 6 chapters still to go, and now that people have paid me money i actually have to do it (whose idea was this?! why did i only ask for a semester of leave? why is the school holiday so long waaaaaaaaaaa etc.)

The kids went back to school last week, so i've finally got a suitable amount of bandwidth to get down to writing in earnest. and i'm pretty petrified 😬

I've also been thinking for ages that i want to try to get back to blogging a bit. It's not so much the done thing any more, compared to when i first started blogging in 2013. Most former bloggers have moved on to tiktok or become influencers by now, but i'm waaaaay too old and daggy for those. 

So i've hit upon the idea of using this platform as a sort of veruccas-n-all diary of what it's like to be a 40 year old academic with two young children, trying to complete a book manuscript in four months. At worst it will be a boring displacement activity. At best it will serve me as a commitment device and way to mull ideas over. It might even make someone chuckle, and maybe someone senior will even read it and spot some terrible error i'm making in time to save me from it!

So the plan is to log on every  few days to make a note of what i'm planning to do, what got in my way and what miserable level of sanity i'm currently operating at.

Good luck reader!