It’s publication day! Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji is published today in the USA. You can order a copy from Norton, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Bookshop.org, Hudson, Powell’s, or Walmart.
It’s almost here! Face with Tears of Joy will be published in the US on the 1st of July and in the UK on the 17th of July. (World Emoji Day, in other words, but I didn’t have to tell you that, did I?)
I have made a thing! Head over to emoji.shadycharacters.co.uk to peruse the Shady Characters Periodic Table of Emoji.
What do I mean by a periodic table of emoji? Well, I answer that question in some detail in the notes under the table itself, but briefly, I wanted to see if I could use a table to tell us something about how emoji are perceived. Which emoji are positive? Which are negative? Which ones convey sentiments that match their appearances, and which deviate from them?
The reviews for Face with Tears of Joy have started to come in, and I am happy (and relieved) to say that reviewers seem to be enjoying the book quite a bit! Here are a few quotes:
Houston chronicles the rise of the emoji in this fun romp through the evolution of digital language…equal parts informative and delightful.
I’ve always really enjoyed 99% Invisible, Roman Mars’ long-running podcast about design, which makes it all the more special to have appeared on three different episode in the past — on the octothorpe (#), the interrobang (‽), and pocket calculators respectively. Now, to mark the publication of Face with Tears of Joy, I’m pleased to say that I’m on it again!