John Elkington's 3 favorite reads in 2023

This is a profoundly moving book. An exploration of grief, recovery, and, ultimately, hope.

Ben Goldsmith is someone I have known for years through our joint work on greening capitalism. The loss of his daughter, Iris, sent intense shockwaves well beyond the family. Indeed, I live in Barnes, southwest London, and the London plane tree dressed by her mourners for well over a year is 7-8 minutes’ walk from our home.

Ben’s attempts to come to terms with soul-searing grief repeatedly had me in tears – and I don’t normally have that reaction to books. Then, ultimately, his deepened calling to nature – and to its protection and regeneration – is both uplifting and a call that we all now need to answer.

The fact that both my first and second book choices refer to octopuses, or octopi, is something that only struck me as I picked my way through the towering mountains of books I have bought (the bigger number) and read (a smaller, though still substantial number) in the past 12 months.

But if Ben Goldsmith’s book had me in tears, Ray Nayler’s had me laughing out loud and reading out sections to my long-standing (and long-suffering) wife, Elaine.

The story centres on pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who is invited to the remote Con Dao Archipelago to investigate a species of highly intelligent – and occasionally highly dangerous - intelligent octopus. As the book’s own blurb says, she should have studied the fine print in her contract rather more carefully before embarking on the adventure.

DIANIMA, a tech corporation best known for its work on AI, has bought the archipelago and sealed off the islands, so it can concentrate on its mysterious work there. No one has asked the octopus population what they think about all this—and the investigators are about to find out, to their peril.

Malm’s short paperback—running to just 200 pages—profoundly challenged my thinking on how we “save Earth”.

The book argues that non-violent engagement strategies are being gamed by the powers that be. It also shows how many successful social movements have combined peaceful and violent wings, with political leaders of the day forced into existentially wrenching decisions by the risk of escalating violence. 

In his compelling manifesto, long-standing climate activist Malm, also infamous as a saboteur of SUV tires and coal mines, explains how similar dynamics played out in the overturning of slave economies, the ending of the British Raj in India, and the civil rights movement in the United States.

He then argues that lessons from the past have a great deal to teach us about how we can best tackle climate and biodiversity emergencies.