The Humanure Handbook was something of an accidental literary phenomenon. Joe Jenkins began writing the book as a master's thesis while attending Slippery Rock University's Master of Science in Sustainable Systems program in northwestern Pennsylvania in the early 90s. Not content with academic convention, but fastinated with the topic of humanure composting, Jenkins decided to convert the book's language into a popular format and self-publish the thesis as a book.
The intention was to learn how to "self-publish" using a book that probably no one would ever read. As expected, every possible publishing mistake was made on the first edition of the book, published in January 1995. Yet, an unbelievable 10,000 copies sold. Clearly there was more interest in this topic than Jenkins had expected, so he revised the book and published the 2nd edition in 1999. This edition sold another 15,000 copies and won awards.
The 3rd edition was born in 2005, sold out its first 10,000 printing and is working on the next 10,000 copies. The book and topic receive regular coverage in the news and have been mentioned on Howard Stern, BBC, CBC, NPR, the New Yorker Magazine, Grist, Seoul Broadcasting (SBS), Playboy, Wall Street Journal, Mother Earth News, and many others.
Jenkins maintains a business in north western Pennsylvania (Joseph Jenkins, Inc.), where he resides on 143 acres with a large garden, an orchard, several family members, and a compost pile or two. Jenkins speaks at various venues when time allows, provides consulting services, maintains a publishing business, and two online stores, including one on this site.
VIDEO: Take a tour of the Jenkins home with the BBC's Ethical Man.
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Joseph Jenkins Inc., 143 Forest Lane, Grove City, PA 16127 USA: Ph: 814-786-9085; fax: 814-786-8209
