Dr. Jonathan Balcombe is the author of five non-fiction books, including: the New York Times best-seller What A Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of our Underwater Cousins, The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure, Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals, Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good, and The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations. His books have been translated into sixteen foreign languages. Balcombe currently writes and speaks independently. He is an Associate Editor with The Editorial Department, a private editing firm. He also serves as Associate Editor for Animal Sentience, an interdisciplinary journal on animal feelings. Balcombe teaches a course in animal sentience for the Viridis Graduate Institute. In addition to writing, Balcombe enjoys biking, nature, painting and drawing, cooking and baking, piano, singing, and trying to understand the neighborhood squirrels.