Cover art for Face with Tears of Joy
Published
Norton, September 2025
ISBN
9781324075141
Format
Softcover, 288 pages
Dimensions
21.1cm × 14cm × 2cm

Face with Tears of Joy A Natural History of Emoji

Fast $7.95 flat-rate shipping!
Only pay $7.95 per order within Australia, including end-to-end parcel tracking.
100% encrypted and secure
We adhere to industry best practice and never store credit card details.
Talk to real people
Contact us seven days a week – our staff are here to help.

We are surrounded by emoji. They appear in politics, movies, drug deals, our sex lives, and more. But emoji's impact has never been explored in full. Named for the world's most popular pictogram, Face with Tears of Joy tells the whole story of emoji for the first time.

In this rollicking tech and pop culture history, Keith Houston follows emoji from their birth in 1990s Japan, traces their Western explosion in the 2000s, and considers emoji's ever-expanding lexicon. Along the way, Houston explores vital developments in tech history and reveals the body of technocrats governing this 3,600-character language. He also addresses the eggplants in the room: risque emojis, controversy, and accusations of "selling out." Finally, readers learn about the future of emoji, as some of the language's pioneers consider what comes next. Face with Tears of Joy is a language- and tech-lover's delight, stuffed with gloriously nerdy details, illustrations, and fun.

Related books