Social sciences

Mind-altering substances, according to many of the essays in this book, have played a major part not only in cultural development but also in human brain development. Researchers suggest that we purposely enhanced receptor sites in the brain, especially dopamine and serotonin, through the use of plants and fungi over a long period of time. The trade-off for lowered functioning and potential drug a

Part travelogue, part experiential spiritual memoir, Kevin Turner takes us to visit with authentic shamans in the steppes and urban centers of modern-day Mongolia. Along the way, the author, a practicing shaman himself, tells of spontaneous medical diagnoses, all-night shamanic ceremonies, and miraculous healings, all welling from a rich culture in which divination, soul-retrieval, and spirit depo

With the rise of urban living and the digital age, many North American healers are recognizing that traditional medicinal knowledge must be recorded before being lost with its elders. A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle is a historic document, including nearly 200 color photos and maps, in that it is the first in which a native healer has agreed to open his medicine bundle to share in

An authoritative, persuasive, and riveting call for the legalization and responsible use of medical marijuana, The Cannabis Manifesto is a book whose time has come The Cannabis Manifesto is both a call to action and a radical vision of humans' relationship with this healing but controversial plant. Steve DeAngelo, the founder of Harborside Health Center, the world's largest medical-cannabis dispe

A revised edition of the classic bestselling how to draw book. A life-changing book, this fully revised and updated edition of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is destined to inspire generations of readers and artists to come. Translated into more than seventeen languages, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is the world's most widely used instructional drawing book. Whether you are dra

From time immemorial, the mandala has been an expression of inner reality—for individuals, groups, and whole cultures. When you draw or paint a mandala of your own, you’re making a portrait of your unconscious at a particular moment in your life, which when carefully regarded, can provide astonishing insights into your own deepest truth. The Mandala Workbook offers a complete guide to

With a foreword by Kathy FrestonVegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters can feel like they're living in different worlds. Many vegans and vegetarians struggle to feel understood and respected in a meat-eating culture, where some of their most pressing concerns and cherished beliefs are invisible, and where they are often met with defensiveness when they try to talk about the issue. They can become fr

For thirty years, Karen Davis has been advocating for, writing about and studying the world of chickens and other domesticated fowl. As the founder and director of United Poultry Concerns, Davis has done more than perhaps anyone to reveal the complex and socially rich lives of birds. Her writing - intellectually rigorous, passionate, erudite and witty - brings fully to the fore the great injustice

In LOVE NOTES, a collection of articles, essays and presentations, Philip McKibbin introduces the Politics of Love and explores the possibilities of this emerging theory. The Politics of Love affirms the importance of love and reimagines our relationships: to ourselves, each other, non-human animals and the natural environment. This love is inclusive, critical, generous and constructive. Instead o

As humankind moves deeper into the Anthropocene, a period marked by climate disruption, species extinction, and profound challenges to human and animal welfare, what and how we teach our children has never been of greater importance. In this passionate, incisive, and diverse collection of thirteen interconnected essays, educators at every level of education and from four continents call for a re-i

Words matter; they mould and mirror our values and our reality. And so it is with the language we use to think and talk about species other than our own. In TONGUE-TIED, Hanh Nguyen unpacks the many metaphors, meanings, and grammatical formulations that speak to and echo our physical exploitation of other-than-human animals, and shows how they constrain our abilities to relate to our animal kin fa

In this scintillating combination of critical race theory, social commentary, veganism, and gender analysis, media studies scholar Aph Ko offers a compelling vision of a reimagined social justice movement marked by a deconstruction of the conceptual framework that keeps activists silo-ed fighting their various oppressions—and one another. Through a subtle and extended examination of Jordan Peele's

Did you know that a quarter of all the meat consumed in the United States is eaten by pets? That's the equivalent to the amount devoured by 26 million Americans and it makes U.S. cats and dogs equal to the fifth largest country in terms of animal protein consumption. Yet the impact pet food has on the environment and climate change, how healthy or necessary it is for our animal companions or how i

La Dieta de la Paz Mundial presenta las líneas maestras para entender el mundo de forma más enriquecedora, a partir de la comprensión de las implicaciones de largo alcance de nuestras elecciones alimenticias. ¿Qué es tan simple como comer una manzana? Y sin embargo, ¿qué podría ser más sagrado o profundo? La comida es nuestra conexión más íntima y reveladora, tanto con el orden natural como con nu

It feels like politics counts more today than it ever has. At the same time, people are frustrated by “the mess in Washington” or think “I can't make a difference.” LOCAL POLITICS MATTERS shows a way out - a chance for everyday people to feed their hunger for political action while having a positive impact. LOCAL POLITICS MATTERS takes the knowledge that scholars have gathered from half a century

Proponents of human exceptionalism claim that only humans possess certain morally significant capacities, and as a result are entitled to be treated better than members of all other species. In the last fifty years, scientists have discovered how these capacities are shared by other species, which only raises the questions of how and why we evade responsibility for inhumane behaviour, not only to

In 1993, Jim Mason, journalist, advocate, and pioneering figure in the contemporary animal advocacy movement, published An Unnatural Order - a sweeping overview of the origins of our hatred and destruction of the natural world and its creatures, from the dawn of agriculture to the present day. Now fully revised and updated to reflect developments in paleoanthropology and ethology, as well as great

THE COWGIRL AND THE RACEHORSE offers a moving, intimate, and richly descriptive memoir on the relationship between a girl and her horses. Beginning with a traumatic horse-riding accident, Wells reflects on the personalities and characters of the many horses—both real and fictional—who have accompanied her through often difficult life experiences, teaching her strength, resilience, discipline, care

For fifty years, both as a combat veteran, police officer, and trainer for law enforcement and the military, Charles “Sid” Heal has devoted his time to limiting the occasions for catastrophic loss of life and to defusing potentially explosive, life-endangering situations. He has written on de-escalation tactics (Sound Doctrine: A Tactical Primer) and ways to end hostage situations (An Illustrated

In the summer of 2019, artist and poet Linnea Ryshke worked as a labourer at an organic meat farm. She transformed what she saw, as well as the specific and acute interactions she had with the animals, into a series of poems, photographs, and artwork. Linnea's intimate, honest, and poignant experience reflects what it means to confront the lives and deaths of individual creatures under your care.