The best environmental books we’ve read in 2025
We published 28 book reviews this year and promoted many more. Out of all the books we’ve read, here are some of our favorites. We hope you enjoy them — and we thank …
New and forthcoming environmental books (December 2025)
As we approach the end of the year I’m pleased to share another impressive selection of newly published (or soon-to-be-published) environmental books. Enjoy! Cowbells on the Kill Floor: Veganism, Legacy …
Wild Fictions; Essays on Literature, Empire, and the Environment by Amitav Ghosh
The University of Chicago Press, 2025 Among writers of climate and environmental fiction, Amitav Ghosh is known for his 2016 non-fiction book The Great Derangement, where he argues that fiction …
New environmental journal: Germinate
There’s a new journal for environmental writers to be aware of: Germinate. Published 4 times a year, the journal is “an open-access, digital publication of the American Society for Environmental …
Imagining a different Thanksgiving tradition
The annual presidential pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey has to be one of the most curious traditions in this country. It officially dates back to George H.W. Bush, though John …
Shining a light on birding’s blind spot
I was pleased to contribute an essay to The Revelator recently. It begins… Birding is having a moment. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are more than 90 …
Lost Animals: Voices of Extinction
What would the last living passenger pigeon (seen in silhouette above) have to say if he or she were alive today? Or the Tasmanian tiger? Or the Carolina parakeet? In …
Bloom Again, A Novel by Marybeth Holleman
University of Alaska Press, 2025 Edward O. Wilson, a pioneer of evolutionary biology, once wrote, “Humanities will have to blend with the sciences, because technology is going to demand the …
Confucius’s pet dog: The Chinese Animal Studies Network
If you’re interested in learning more about animal histories in China check out the Chinese Animal Studies Network. They have an excellent newsletter. I recently read this Talking Animals Q&A …
A Q&A with Kendra Coulter
I was thrilled to have this chat with Kendra Coulter, author of Defending Animals and the newly released novel The Tortoise’s Tale. Dr. Coulter is a professor at Huron University …
Book Review: The Tortoise’s Tale by Kendra Coulter
Years ago, when I was in the Galápagos Islands, a fellow traveler asked how long tortoises live. Our guide’s answer was: “We don’t know.” No human has yet lived long …