Isaac Yuen
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ekostories.bsky.social
Isaac Yuen
@ekostories.bsky.social
1.6K followers 680 following 120 posts
✒️ Writer weaving human with the more-than-human
🌍 Book: Utter, Earth, WVU Press
🎶 Book: The Sound Atlas w/ Michaela Vieser, Reaktion Books
🐫 Artwork: The Minimal Animal Project 🐋🦋🦑
🌱 Links to everything: linktr.ee/isaac_yuen
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ekostories.bsky.social
The writer's ritual: @michaelavieser.bsky.social unboxes our author copies of The Sound Atlas, in full hardcover glory!

Out now in the UK via @reaktionbooks.bsky.social and in Nov via @uchicagopress.bsky.social

#soundstories #deeplistening #armchairtraveler
September 8, 2025 at 7:17 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Thanks to Dr. Miranda Melcher for chatting with us about The Sound Atlas!

Listen here: newbooksnetwork.com/the-sound-at... or wherever you get your podcast!
September 4, 2025 at 2:43 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Next stop in The Sound Atlas: San Francisco, with detours in Baden-Baden, Germany, the Aeolian Islands, Sicily, and Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts—all in an attempt to trace the history of the Aeolian harp, an ancient instrument that is played solely by the wind...
A 28 metre-high steel wind harp in San Francisco designed by Lucia and Aristides Demetrios (DougK at waymarking.com)
September 1, 2025 at 4:48 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
The first chapter & stop of The Sound Atlas is, believe it or not, New Jersey.

There, in 1964, at the Holmdel Horn Antennae, began the saga of two radio astronomers accidentally tuning into a background radiation that originated from the Big Bang, changing the science of cosmology forever...
A black and white image of the Holmdel Horn Antennae in New Jersey.
August 30, 2025 at 12:49 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Thanks to Kyoichi Tsuzuki, renowned photojournalist and author of TOYKO STYLE & ROADSIDE JAPAN, for this heartfelt blurb for THE SOUND ATLAS, coming out next week!

Preorder your copy here: shorturl.at/kKNn3
#soundscape #soundstories #newbook
@michaelavieser.bsky.social
@reaktionbooks.bsky.social
A blurb by Japanese photojournalist Kyoichi Tsuzuki for the Sound Atlas, a new essay collection by Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen: "I've always thought that music has nurtured me more than literature or art, but I never realized that there was such a rich soundscape outside of music! This book taught me that to 'see' sound is to touch life."
August 28, 2025 at 8:28 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
UK friends and readers, you can get 25% off the preorder of THE SOUND ATLAS at @waterstones.bsky.social using the code SUMMER25. Offer is exclusive to the Waterstones website & app and ends on 7/31:

Link at www.waterstones.com/book/the-sou...

@reaktionbooks.bsky.social #WPreorder #soundatlas 🌏👂🎶
A 25% off of preorder for The Sound Atlas by Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen at Waterstones bookstores. Offer code is SUMMER25 until July 31.
July 30, 2025 at 7:54 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Always nice to have a full list of birdcalls in Merlin within a minute. 🐦
A list of songbirds on the Merlin bird ID app.
May 16, 2025 at 1:52 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
First proof for The Sound Atla I co-wrote with @michaelavieser.bsky.social is here! Final version is coming out this fall. Let me know if you are interested in reviewing it.
Cover of The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds Across Landscapes and Imagination
April 29, 2025 at 6:04 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Four front-facing creatures from The Minimal Animal Project. More here: rb.gy/mz064a #animalart #sciart
A Glass Frog (Sachatamia orejuela) from the Minimal Animal Project. A Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) from The Minimal Animal Project. An Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) from The Minimal Animal Project. A Furred Sponge Crab (Pseudodromia latens) from The Minimal Animal Project.
April 25, 2025 at 2:15 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
It's Earth Day 🌍, and I'm happy to share this conversation I had with curator Mary Woodbury over at Dragonfly: An Exploration of Eco-Fiction, as part of a spotlight on the works of Hayao Miyazaki: dragonfly.eco/isaac-yuen-o...

#earthday #ecofiction #hayaomiyazaki #ghibli #nausicaa #totoro #mononoke
An image from Princess Mononoke, a film by Hayao Miyazaki. An image from My Neighbour Totoro, a film by Hayao Miyazaki. An image from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, a film by Hayao Miyazaki.
April 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
An old essay of mine on The Legend of Zelda videogame series, published over at Newfound, a nonprofit publisher whose celebrated work "investigates how place shapes identity, imagination, and understanding."

newfound.org/archives/vol...

#zelda #nintendo #hyrule #creativenonfiction #essay
The opening of an essay on The Legend of Zelda titled "Journeys of HYRULE_", published in 2019 by Newfound, a nonprofit publisher whose celebrated work investigates how place shapes identity, imagination, and understanding. #videogames #zelda #creativenonfiction #essay
April 3, 2025 at 5:30 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
"The name mahi-mahi comes from the Hawaiian language and means 'very strong', through the process of reduplication." ~Wikipedia definition.
A paper textured poster depicting three mahi-mahi fish swimming with the caption 'be mahi-mahi, be strong strong. #sciart
March 31, 2025 at 2:23 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Keep swimming. Be brave in the face of seemingly impossible obstacles. Find strength in the vision of a new future birthed from each deed of courage. Keep swimming. Keep fighting.
A poster featuring a trio of salmon with the slogan "keep swimming against the tide." #sciart #inspirational #resistance
March 27, 2025 at 7:28 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
A poster of small trout fry swimming under the phrase"Small fry unite for the common stream" #graphicdesign #sciart
March 25, 2025 at 2:02 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Cover reveal for the English edition of THE SOUND ATLAS, co-written with @michaelavieser.bsky.social & published via @reaktionbooks.bsky.social Fall 2025!

👉 Pre-orders now available:
UK: reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/the-sou...
US: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
The cover reveal for The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds Across Landscapes and Imagination, by Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen, set to come out fall 2025 through Relation Books. #covereveal #essays #naturewriting #sound #nonfiction
March 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Visiting the UK in early spring, rereading the last and favourite line in Orwell's 1946 essay, thinking of forms of #resistance throughout @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social Orwell's Roses.
🐸🌹✊
Poster design depicting George Orwell's essay "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad" and a design of a toad with golden eyes. #sciart #naturewriting #resistance #orwell
March 11, 2025 at 10:51 AM
ekostories.bsky.social
People have been asking for prints and t-shirts of my latest artwork series, so I've made them available over at my artshop, with more designs on the way: www.redbubble.com/people/iyuen...

#sciart #artandresistance #staystrong
Two squids holding tentacles in solidarity A giant salamander resisting the torrent that rushes over it. A scary looking lancetfish looking into the light. An alfonsino fish catching the light with its large reflective eyes
March 8, 2025 at 10:53 AM
ekostories.bsky.social
We might not have the gold reflective eyes of the splendid alfonsino (what a name!) but it's important to train ourselves to see the light, however faint, to the world goes dark. It is important to never lose sight of what we are fighting for.
A poster featuring a splendid alfonsino fish in a beam of light accompanied by the text "catch the light when it comes". #sciart #fishart #inspirational
March 5, 2025 at 3:26 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Alepisaurus ferox, or the longnose lancetfish. Seen as bycatch with no commercial value. A vital monitor for ocean health. All fang and fin and punk rock. A fish to rally behind for the modern age.✊
A poster of a longnose lancetfish looking into the light with the saying "Stay Fierce: Make the Dark Fear You". #sciart #resistance
March 4, 2025 at 2:28 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Endure amidst the current
Be motionless in the tumult
When the shadow descends
Be muscle, be maw, be might
And fend with one's being entire
A poster with a Japanese giant salamander and the accompanying text "Resist the Torrent Giant Salamander Style."
March 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Always a good time to make art, but rarely a better time than now. Stay strong. Hold true. Keep making. 🦑🤝🦑
A poster depicting a pair of squid holding tentacles, with the text "Hold Fast To Each Other".
March 2, 2025 at 6:23 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
"How to Debate as a Fish"

Listen to me read one of the essays from my essay collection UTTER, EARTH: Advice on Living in a More-than-Human World, published by @wvupress.bsky.social 🎏🐟👂

m.soundcloud.com/vestopr/isaa...

#naturewriting
A collage of various fish in stamp form, ranging from tuna to yellowtail to salmon and mackerel.
January 20, 2025 at 5:07 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Pacific Chub Mackerel.
Part of the "Aquatic Beings of Japan" stamp design series.
#animalart 🎏
A stamp design featuring a Pacific Chub Mackerel.
January 12, 2025 at 5:29 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
Japanese Yellowtail or Amberjack (Seriola quinqueradiata)
Part of the "Aquatic Beings of Japan" stamp design series.
#animalart 🐟
January 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
ekostories.bsky.social
A trio of chum or keta salmon. (Oncorhynchus keta)
Part of the "Aquatic Beings of Japan" series.
#animalart
January 2, 2025 at 11:47 AM