In 1997, J.M. Coetzee delivered two lectures at Princeton University in the form of short stories. These stories ended up in the novella The Lives of Animals, which now is celebrating 25 years. In these stories, Coetzee introduced the world to the character of Elizabeth Costello, a famous Australian novelist who has reached the eff …
As we enter fall we (in the Northern Hemisphere) can be grateful for reasons to stay inside — and read. Which leads me to this list of new(ish) and upcoming books that have passed across on desks… Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death By Susana Monsó When the opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralyzed. Her …
There is a conversation, repeated several times, during the powerful novella Of Cattle and Men by Paula Maia, translated by Zoë Perry: “Like they say in these parts: as long as there’s a cow in this world, there will be a man keen to kill it.”“And another keen to eat it,” concludes Edgar Wilson. Edgar …
In Letters To My Sheep, a lovely, thoughtful book comprising sixty-three short chapters, Teya Brooks Pribac, a scholar and multidisciplinary artist who lives in the Blue Mountains of Australia, shares musings, meditations, stories, and insights into the lives of her extraordinary companions. “You’ll know when you’ve reached happiness,” Brooks Pribac tells us, “because there will be …
It’s not often that I come across books with ‘vegan’ in the title — particularly now that ‘plant-based’ has become the less controversial, more mainstream alternative. Yet I still prefer vegan and probably always will. In Vegan Minded Christine Cook Mania has penned a heartfelt and inspiring account of her vegan journey, from the day …
The term “Effective Altruism” has been buzzy for a while now and has attracted well-known followers and promoters — and because of this, the movement is generally associated with doing good. However, The Good It Promises, The Harm It Does: Critical Essays on Effective Altruism asks, “What if Effective Altruism, whatever the intentions of its leaders and …
There was a time, many years ago, when I believed that I couldn’t give up eating meat because I needed my protein. I was an athlete after all. I needed lots of protein — even though I had little idea what protein actually was. I only believed that it must have come from animals. I …
Never had the proverb You are what you eat came to mind so often as I was reading Frankenstein was a Vegetarian by Michael Owen Jones. The book encompasses a wide-ranging assortment of essays about subjects such as the last meals of death row inmates, the meals politicians choose to be photographed eating, and cultural …
Animal agriculture is one of the most environmentally damaging industries on our planet — not to mention unfathomably cruel. And though there are times when I wonder if we as a society will ever move beyond eating animals, I was heartened to see this recent announcement from the Plant Based Foods Association. They report that …
In 2016, we began compiling lists of the best books we read that year (new or old, it didn’t matter). And now here we are in 2021, and we’ve got another wonderful list of the best environmental books we’ve read this year. These may not be the books you’ll find in the top lists of …
Few people have done as much to protect whales and the waters they live in than Paul Watson. Founder of the Sea Shepherd Society, Watson has devoted a lifetime to quite literally going head-to-head with whalers in oceans around the world. Watson is also a powerful writer, with numerous books to his name over the …
