Books
Evolution's Edge: The Coming Collapse and Transformation of Our World
by Graeme Taylor, is available from New Society Publishers.
While growing resource shortages threaten to destroy the world economy, runaway global warming threatens to destroy most life on Earth. The world’s leading climate scientists warn that humanity has only a few years in which to prevent disaster. But can we change the global economy this quickly? Evolution’s Edge explains not only why the collapse of our violent and destructive global system is inevitable, but also why a new type of sustainable civilization has begun to emerge. Because the obstacles to human progress are cultural, not technical, we can accelerate this evolutionary process through uniting around ethical, constructive views and values. Full of transformative ideas and tools, this book is a practical guide to a better future.
“Beautifully lucid… If our children and grandchildren are to have a future worth living, we’re probably going to get there along the path this book describes. Written with charm and style and rich with insight, this book is highly recommended for anyone looking for reasons for hope.”
— Thomas Homer-Dixon, award-winning author and Chair of Global Systems Studies at the Balsillie School of International Affairs
IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) 2009 GOLD MEDAL winner in the category “Most Likely to Save the Planet”
Read the Introduction here.
Copies may be ordered here.
Wild Foresting: Practising Nature's Wisdom
edited by Alan Drengson and Duncan Taylor, is available from
New Society Publishers.
Wild foresting as a practice goes far beyond the minimal impact of ecoforestry — it promotes the responsible use of forests, connects indigenous knowledge systems, tailors global practices, and celebrates cultural and biological diversity. In this fascinating anthology, international forestry experts — who among them have won the Nobel Prize, the Star of St. Olaf, the Order of Canada, and the Order of BC — bring their proficiency and passion for human-wild forest relationships to a broad range of stories. The diverse activities represented include wild farming, wild crafting, adventure therapy, permaculture, ecosystem restoration, and education.
“Wild Foresting reminds us that the knowledge exists to restore and sustain the ecological health of our forests, and to restore our relationship with the land. The next step is having the will to use that knowledge.”
— Mitch Friedman, Executive Director, Conservation Northwest
Read about the Wild Forest movement here.
Copies may be ordered here.
Animals and Ethics: An Overview of the Philosophical Debate (3rd ed.)
by Angus Taylor, is available from Broadview Press.
To what extent should (non-human) animals be regarded as members of the moral community? Should many of them be ascribed moral rights, and can our use of animals for food, clothing, and medical experimentation be rationally justified? Is animal liberation at odds with the holistic values of the environmental movement? Animals and Ethics provides a detailed, impartial, and accessible introduction to the vigorous debate on these matters that has sprung up among philosophers in recent times. Those who read this book will be in a better position to answer these questions for themselves and to consider whether a radical reorientation of our view of animals is a necessary component of any sustainable global civilization.
“Angus Taylor’s Animals & Ethics is, quite simply, the finest text on animal ethics available. There is no other text that covers such a broad range of material with such expertise and lucidity. Taylor’s readings of the key works and thinkers in the field are not only reliable but often remarkably insightful. For any professor interested in teaching animal ethics, as well as any general reader who wishes to learn more about the central philosophical debates concerning animals, I recommend Taylor’s book without reservation.”
— Matthew Calarco, California State University, Fullerton, author of Zoographies: The Question of the Animal from Heidegger to Derrida
Read the Preface here.
Copies may be ordered here.
A Paramedic's Tales: Hilarious, Horrible, and Heartwarming True Stories
by Graeme Taylor, is available from Harbour Publishing.
Not knowing what’s around the bend makes for a fast-paced adventure every time a paramedic goes on duty. Taylor, who worked as a paramedic for twenty-one years in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, the B.C. Interior, and Victoria, shares true stories that are both gritty and uncensored; yet the compassion and courage of
co-workers, patients, strangers — and people who had previously threatened to kill our narrator — shine through the gore.
“In Graeme Taylor’s raw and entertaining book, we are taken from the provincial backroads to urban rooftop heli-jet pads in a gritty tribute to the BC Ambulance Service. A great mix of humanity and humour.”
— Wayne Cope, author of Vancouver Blue
IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) 2021 BRONZE MEDAL winner
Copies may be ordered here.
Ethical Issues: Perspectives for Canadians (4th ed.)
edited by Eldon Soifer, Doug Al-Maini, Ann Levey, and Angus Taylor, is available from Broadview Press.
Ethical Issues: Perspectives for Canadians is a collection of readings designed to introduce students to a number of important topics, including our obligations toward the environment, the treatment of non-human animals, abortion, assisted reproduction, end of life decision-making, freedom of expression, war, multiculturalism, and more. Readings have been carefully selected to represent a broad array of perspectives and arguments. Relevant legislation, court cases, and other non-philosophical works complement the writings of professional philosophers to provide students with multiple approaches to the issues. Brief introductions and discussion questions are provided for each reading, and a general introduction to the basic ethical theories is included.
“The fourth edition of Ethical Issues: Perspectives for Canadians features plentiful and varied readings in each of its eight sections. The readings demonstrate how issues can be framed in different ways and how such differences in concern and interpretation prevent ethical and social problems from being reducible to simple for-and-against debates. While the readings are challenging, they are not beyond the abilities of undergraduate students, especially given the useful discussion questions provided by the editors. Because the readings are argumentative (and well argued) and not at all propagandistic, students will acquire an appreciation for the value of hard thought in their own lives.”
— Mark Mercer, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax
Copies may be ordered here.
Ecoforestry: The Art and Science of Sustainable Forest Use
edited by Alan Drengson and Duncan Taylor, published by New Society Publishers (1997).
Ecoforestry: The Art and Science of Sustainable Forest Use focuses on the philosophy, goals, policies, and practices of ecologically and economically sustainable forest use. Encyclopedic in scope, the topics covered in Ecoforestry include ecoforestry principles and practices; forest ecosystem components and restoration; ethnobotany; fire and ecosystem management; community forestry; wood and forest products certification; the deep ecology movement; and current ecoforestry practitioners and techniques. Accessible to a wide audience ranging from foresters and loggers to environmentalists, restorationists, planners, and policy analysts.
“This is an excellent read and an excellent reference book. It doesn’t matter if you are a novice ecoforester, advanced ecoforester, a general environmentalist, or you are just trying to learn something new.”
— Joseph Clift in The Trumpeter
Off Course: Restoring Balance between Canadian Society and the Environment
by Duncan M. Taylor, published by the International Development Research Centre (1994).
The author argues that the term ‘sustainable development’ is often used to reinforce some of the worst aspects of an unsustainable, expansionist world view. Using the crisis in Canada’s forest and agricultural sectors to show the need to rethink contemporary economic and environmental policies, he makes recommendations for a strategy of resource sustainability for Canada. Off Course shows that continued survival for the human family depends on accepting the imperatives of environmental sustainability, and adapting human behaviour and institutions to those imperatives.
Read the book here.
Poles Apart: Winners and Losers in the History of Human Development
by Alastair M. Taylor and Angus M. Taylor, published by the International Development Research Centre (1992). Serbian translation Na Suprotnim Polovima published by Albatros Plus (2019).
The North. The South. The industrialized world. The developing world. The two poles of humanity at a crossroads. They have become mutually vulnerable. They face an uncertain future. From the Stone Age to the Space Age, Poles Apart traces the evolution of humanity. Its content is harsh, but its message is hopeful. Together, South and North can begin to shape an equitable world, a world of ecological and societal sustainability.
Read the book here.
Indonesian Independence and the United Nations
by Alastair M. Taylor, published by Stevens & Sons (1960), by Cornell University Press (1960), and republished by Greenwood Press (1975).
“The freedom of the Indonesian people was an objective that was admitted by all, including the Dutch, as something that was both necessary and desirable. The tragedy was the strife and struggle which took place before freedom came. This book is the record of that struggle, told with fairness and objectivity, with careful and scholarly attention to detail and to accuracy. It is a tragic story of lost opportunities and might-have-beens. Its lesson has an application — especially in the intervention of the United Nations — to situations and developments far beyond Indonesia.”
— Lester B. Pearson, from the Foreword
Read the Foreword and Preface here.
Civilization Past & Present
by T. Walter Wallbank and Alastair M. Taylor, first published by Scott, Foresman (1942). Many editions, in a variety of formats and with additional authors, have been issued since then.
Originally published in 1942, Civilization Past & Present was the first text of its kind. Its objective was to present a survey of world cultural history, treating the development and growth of civilization not as a unique European experience but as a global one through which all the great culture systems have interacted to produce the present-day world. It attempted to include all the elements of history — social, economic, political, religious, aesthetic, legal, and technological.
— from the Preface to the Golden Anniversary Edition (1992), published by HarperCollins