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Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis
A groundbreaking investigation of the Caribbean as both an idyll in the American imagination and a dark laboratory of Western experimentation, revealing secrets to racial and environmental progress that impact how we live today.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the Caribbean Island of Guanahaní to find an Edenic scene that was soon mythologized. But behind the myth of paradise, the Caribbean and its people would come to pay the price of relentless Western exploitation and abuse. In Dark Laboratory, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe embarks on a historical journey to chart the forces that have shaped these islands: the legacy of slavery, indentured labor, and the forced toil of Chinese and enslaved Black people who mined the islands’ bounty—including guano, which, at the time, was more valuable than gold—for the benefit of European powers and at the expense of the islands’ sacred ecologies.
Braiding together family history, cultural reportage, and social studies, Goffe radically transforms how we conceive of Blackness, the natural world, colonialism, and the climate crisis; and, in doing so, she deftly dismantles the many layers of entrenched imperialist thinking that shroud our established understanding of the human and environmental conditions to reveal the cause and effect of a global catastrophe. Dark Laboratory forces a reckoning with the received forms of knowledge that have led us astray.
Through the lens of the Caribbean, both guide and warning of the man-made disasters that continue to plague our world, Goffe closely situates the origins of racism and climate catastrophe within a colonial context. And in redressing these twin apocalypses, Dark Laboratory becomes a record of the violence that continues to shape the Caribbean today. But it is also a declaration of hope, offering solutions toward a better future based on knowledge gleaned from island ecosystems, and an impassioned, urgent testament to the human capacity for change and renewal.
12 hrs. 44 min.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the Caribbean Island of Guanahaní to find an Edenic scene that was soon mythologized. But behind the myth of paradise, the Caribbean and its people would come to pay the price of relentless Western exploitation and abuse. In Dark Laboratory, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe embarks on a historical journey to chart the forces that have shaped these islands: the legacy of slavery, indentured labor, and the forced toil of Chinese and enslaved Black people who mined the islands’ bounty—including guano, which, at the time, was more valuable than gold—for the benefit of European powers and at the expense of the islands’ sacred ecologies.
Braiding together family history, cultural reportage, and social studies, Goffe radically transforms how we conceive of Blackness, the natural world, colonialism, and the climate crisis; and, in doing so, she deftly dismantles the many layers of entrenched imperialist thinking that shroud our established understanding of the human and environmental conditions to reveal the cause and effect of a global catastrophe. Dark Laboratory forces a reckoning with the received forms of knowledge that have led us astray.
Through the lens of the Caribbean, both guide and warning of the man-made disasters that continue to plague our world, Goffe closely situates the origins of racism and climate catastrophe within a colonial context. And in redressing these twin apocalypses, Dark Laboratory becomes a record of the violence that continues to shape the Caribbean today. But it is also a declaration of hope, offering solutions toward a better future based on knowledge gleaned from island ecosystems, and an impassioned, urgent testament to the human capacity for change and renewal.
12 hrs. 44 min.
13 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 21, 2025
76 people are currently reading
2042 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 25, 2025
Well researched, deeply affecting, and timely
I took my time reading Dark Laboratory because I am sure the author took her time writing this book. She seeks to examine the impact of the climate crisis in the Caribbean going as far back as Columbus and I think this was achieved. I loved reading about the differently islands, their culture and how climate change is affecting them specifically. It is hard to write a book about the Caribbean on a topic like climate change and keep it interesting and deeply nusansed but the author was able to achieve that.
An important read.
I took my time reading Dark Laboratory because I am sure the author took her time writing this book. She seeks to examine the impact of the climate crisis in the Caribbean going as far back as Columbus and I think this was achieved. I loved reading about the differently islands, their culture and how climate change is affecting them specifically. It is hard to write a book about the Caribbean on a topic like climate change and keep it interesting and deeply nusansed but the author was able to achieve that.
An important read.
May 4, 2025
In Dark Laboratory Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe asks the question, "Is colonization the root of the current climate crisis?" Using examples from the days of Columbus to present day all inclusive resorts and private islands for the wealthy she seeks to make the connection between how the exploitation of the Caribbean has had negative effects throughout history.
This book needed to be more organized and streamlined. I understood the argument it was making but it didn't always do a great job making the argument. It jumped around to different countries and time periods, sometimes reiterating facts we received earlier. Even though chapters were labelled by different topics discussed in said chapter there's a lot of jumping around. Maybe it would've been better to break it up into chapters highlighting different island or chapters highlighting different time periods. We also have sections that highlight places outside of the Caribbean looking to make connections to the similar way colonization has affected those countries. That could've all been on chapter. There were some interesting stats shared here about environmental waste in various countries in the Caribbean the work that needs to be done when it comes to recycling but we didn't get a lot on that. She introduces personal anecdotes about her family history and how colonization has affected them but I couldn't really see how that tied into the climate crisis.
This book needed to be more organized and streamlined. I understood the argument it was making but it didn't always do a great job making the argument. It jumped around to different countries and time periods, sometimes reiterating facts we received earlier. Even though chapters were labelled by different topics discussed in said chapter there's a lot of jumping around. Maybe it would've been better to break it up into chapters highlighting different island or chapters highlighting different time periods. We also have sections that highlight places outside of the Caribbean looking to make connections to the similar way colonization has affected those countries. That could've all been on chapter. There were some interesting stats shared here about environmental waste in various countries in the Caribbean the work that needs to be done when it comes to recycling but we didn't get a lot on that. She introduces personal anecdotes about her family history and how colonization has affected them but I couldn't really see how that tied into the climate crisis.
December 9, 2025
I DNF (yet) so this review is for part 1 and the first chapter of part 2.
This book is more manifesto than academic. I was really hoping it would be a well explained / argued book detailing how and why the current climate crisis has roots in colonialism and the slave trade. However, despite the clear brilliance of the author - this book falls well short of arguing her thesis simply because it is so poorly edited and disorganized. There are routinely two to four main thoughts rattling around any given paragraph often times seemingly unrelated. She’d often present these great introductions to ideas and I’d be fired up like “great tell me how this works, or why it works” and she’d pivot and say: “this should be further interrogated”. And I began to get really frustrated at that. I came to this book looking for answers but there aren’t any, just lots of fascinating thoughts that lead nowhere.
There many things left unexplained, vague references to cultural events or historical events that I wasn’t familiar with. This book asks a lot of the reader and I read with frequent trips to Wikipedia to get educated on various things referenced. I feel like that’s ok to a point. I appreciate that she expects a lot out of the reader. But after a certain point I think it also hurts the book and her arguments. It just kinda makes the argument feel weak as it wasn’t fully supported. Or at least adding another one sentence to explain what she means by a particular reference would be great. She often reaches into modern and recent culture with references like this to support seemingly unrelated things and they just feel like random injections until I read up and figured out what she might have meant. It wasn’t always clear to me.
This book is more manifesto than academic. I was really hoping it would be a well explained / argued book detailing how and why the current climate crisis has roots in colonialism and the slave trade. However, despite the clear brilliance of the author - this book falls well short of arguing her thesis simply because it is so poorly edited and disorganized. There are routinely two to four main thoughts rattling around any given paragraph often times seemingly unrelated. She’d often present these great introductions to ideas and I’d be fired up like “great tell me how this works, or why it works” and she’d pivot and say: “this should be further interrogated”. And I began to get really frustrated at that. I came to this book looking for answers but there aren’t any, just lots of fascinating thoughts that lead nowhere.
There many things left unexplained, vague references to cultural events or historical events that I wasn’t familiar with. This book asks a lot of the reader and I read with frequent trips to Wikipedia to get educated on various things referenced. I feel like that’s ok to a point. I appreciate that she expects a lot out of the reader. But after a certain point I think it also hurts the book and her arguments. It just kinda makes the argument feel weak as it wasn’t fully supported. Or at least adding another one sentence to explain what she means by a particular reference would be great. She often reaches into modern and recent culture with references like this to support seemingly unrelated things and they just feel like random injections until I read up and figured out what she might have meant. It wasn’t always clear to me.
dnf
January 24, 2025I was soooo looking forward to this.... but it's a big nope. The introduction is a long, tedious tirade and then it just gets weird: magical thinking (plants with their own "distinct wavelength", animism, mysticism, overuse of "sacred", everything natural is benevolent); meaningless word salad ("Still, we manage to create a poetics out of that which wishes to destroy us and the planet") indistinguishable from the wonderful Bullshit Generator [ https://sebpearce.com/bullshit/ ] only much much longer. The kind of book where I expect "hegemony" to appear any moment. The content is not helped by the writing, which is choppy and staccato.
There are nuggets of actual information, on Jamaican geography, extractive mining, flora and fauna, but not enough to make it worth the slog. Not enough to be useful. Abandoned, p.41 (two pages into chapter two).
There are nuggets of actual information, on Jamaican geography, extractive mining, flora and fauna, but not enough to make it worth the slog. Not enough to be useful. Abandoned, p.41 (two pages into chapter two).
August 24, 2025
“Freedom for everyone requires a confrontation with the capitalist greed upon which Western society was founded.”
“May we live to unlearn the American kind of love, which is a dangerous kind of love. It is a possessive love. It is a colonizing love, greedy love.”
Many thanks to Doubleday Publishers and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Tau Leigh Goffe’s important and timely book Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis. This was a monumental work, building on Dr. Goffe’s work of her Dark Laboratory. I wasn’t familiar with the lab, but it is an important research lab, using an interdisciplinary approach to interrogate history and literature while examining the role colonialism, discrimination, and inequality have had on the environment and climate. This is a book I am going to need to revisit over time because there were so many ideas and important points throughout the book. As Dr. Goffe explains in the introduction “My lab is a space for research on climate, race, and technology, and more importantly, it is a philosophy. We at the lab understand that climate crisis cannot be solved without solving racial crisis. The two are inseparable.” I loved this approach to examining climate and race, and showing how the two are inseparable. This kind of approach to environmental justice is what Dr. King was advocating prior to his death, but Dr. Goffe’s analysis and critical inquiry (as well as her advocacy and fight) extends beyond America’s continental shores and looks at the colonialization of the Caribbean, as well as other islands (Hawaii in particular) to show how economic exploitation and forced implementation of American/European methods and naming conventions have threatened the natural order as well as the lives of many. Goffe’s questioning of colonialism’s impact reminded me of some other books I’ve recently read, including The Seven Circles by Chelsea Luger and Thosh Collins, that advocates for returning to indigenous ways of eating, health, and care to bring about more balance, and Reclaiming the Black Body by Alishia McCullough, who also advocates for a return to balance by nourishing more traditional and culturally relevant ways of diet and exercise. While Dr. Goffe’s examination of history, literature, and the climate crisis is vaster and more expansive, there’s a shared focus on the recognition that certain ideas, approaches and cultures have been forced upon us, limiting our perspectives and our voices. Dr. Goffe’s approach seeks to resurrect many of these voices, in a manner that reminded me of Toni Morrison’s “re-memory”—using stories and generational knowledge, shared experiences, to keep culture and the self alive. It was not a surprise, then, to learn that Dr. Goffe was one of Morrison’s last students at Princeton and has adapted Morrison’s pedagogy and methods of inquiry for her lab. I recognize many similarities between the themes and concerns of both thinkers.
Beyond being an important book that challenges our assumptions about the nature of the climate crisis, Dr. Goffe incorporates her own experiences and family into the narrative, since she was born in England, descended from Chinese Jamaicans. Tracing her family history and sharing her experiences of visiting family across the globe, from Hong Kong to Surinam and Jamaica, Dr. Goffe’s own story helps to explore how colonization has both created new cultures and also eliminated others, forcing a kind of assimilation towards the dominant culture. I knew a little about the Chinese in Jamaica (and other islands like Hawaii), but I didn’t realize there was also a move to return Jamaicans of Chinese descent to Hong Kong and other areas in China, despite not being initially from China. Dr. Goffe explained how her family members probably were not easily assimilated into either Jamaica or China, being somewhat outcasts in both societies. Her analysis helps to show how this colonial mentality ends up being more exclusionary and problematic, causing confusion and identity issues. I really appreciated how Dr. Goffe challenges many assumptions about the current climate crisis by re-evaluating its origins at Columbus’s landing in the Caribbean. It makes sense since his initial landing in the Caribbean completely shifted the culture and landscape from one of living in harmony with nature to one that exploited the people, environment and resources for profit making. While Dr. Goffe does note how many people from other lands (African, Chinese, Indian), brought their own culture, ways, and knowledge with them, it is also sad to think about how much was lost along the way.
One of the most amazing aspects of Dr. Goffe’s book is the different subjects she examines throughout the chapters. The beginning of the book looks at islands as colonial laboratories, but also examining the resistance to colonialism, specifically by looking at the Maroons of Jamaica, as well as the origins of the climate crisis with Europeans arrival in the Caribbean, bringing her argument about the exploitation of these lands for profit to the forefront. Her other chapters look at some of the results of colonialism—I’m not sure what else to call them—but many of them touch our lives, and I didn’t always think about the colonial implications of these. One of the most powerful and relevant chapters was on museums and how they often remove the life from the native lands to preserve a kind of death of animals, plants, and sometimes people for study and entertainment. Dr. Goffe explored the University of Pennsylvania’s acquisition of the remains of the children of MOVE, who died from a police bombing of their home in 1985. I’ve been to that museum many times, and I was shocked to learn about this. However, in the larger context of the collection, it makes sense. This museum and others like it routinely house the remains and sacred artifacts from other cultures in the name of science and entertainment. Understanding the process of acquisition and the purpose of exhibiting artifacts like these is really important, and something I will think more about when visiting museums. Dr. Goffe also explores coral and sea life, connecting it to her own experiences of learning to swim (and nearly drowning) as a young Black girl. I loved learning more about coral, and how it is an animal of the sea, and not a plant. I also didn’t know that coral makes noise and am more interested in the kinds of sounds that coral produces. Another chapter delves into the shit—literally looking at the exploitation of guano, bat waste, to examine how colonialism has impacted the well-being of bats, as well as examining how Chinese and African workers and lands around Haiti and other areas of the Caribbean were exploited and appropriated for the power of guano. Other chapters look at animals—including birding and the mongoose, exploring how naming conventions moved away from indigenous practices of naming based on the sound or color to name them after people, oftentimes with questionable backgrounds. The introduction of the mongoose to Jamaica was another interesting chapter that shows how imposing European thinking in Caribbean culture often leads to destructive and exploitative outcomes. Dr. Goffe also explores how the introduction of marijuana to Jamaica from India serves as a model for other methods of botany, and often altered the landscape and environments of other countries and cultures, oftentimes causing an imbalance from invasive species. While ganja helped to create more cultures of resistance in Jamaica and recognize the medicinal qualities of plants, it also led to more carceral practices in relation to plants, frequently causing arrests and imprisonment for the use of plants.
The end of the book examines plate tectonics, looking at volcanic activity in Montserrat to further analyze the kind of inequality that colonialism produces. I was actually reading this book while visiting Hawaii for the first time. Although we didn’t get to the Big Island of Hawaii, there was a volcanic eruption there. People were able to visit, but Dr. Goffe’s examination of the cases of Montserrat showed how oftentimes indigenous people are at the mercy of the volcano, while others like tourists or those who have more prestige or power are often able to escape. It was an important reminder for me about my own privilege and an important history lesson that showed how some people are not as lucky to escape the destructive forces of nature, further highlighting the kind of climate justice and environmental inequality that often occurs, but that we don’t always hear about. I’m so glad that this book will be available. Although it is not an easy read, I can see this as being an important book to use in the classroom. Any of the chapters would work well to challenge students’ assumptions about the nature of culture, the environment, language, music, or literature. Furthermore, it can also help to highlight or provide context and validation for the experiences of other students whose voices are not always celebrated or elevated in the classroom or curriculum. I’m also really excited for the work of Dr. Goffe and the Dark Laboratory. I’m sure there will be more to learn from them, and I look forward to further publications, studies, and advocacy from this great organization.
“May we live to unlearn the American kind of love, which is a dangerous kind of love. It is a possessive love. It is a colonizing love, greedy love.”
Many thanks to Doubleday Publishers and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Tau Leigh Goffe’s important and timely book Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis. This was a monumental work, building on Dr. Goffe’s work of her Dark Laboratory. I wasn’t familiar with the lab, but it is an important research lab, using an interdisciplinary approach to interrogate history and literature while examining the role colonialism, discrimination, and inequality have had on the environment and climate. This is a book I am going to need to revisit over time because there were so many ideas and important points throughout the book. As Dr. Goffe explains in the introduction “My lab is a space for research on climate, race, and technology, and more importantly, it is a philosophy. We at the lab understand that climate crisis cannot be solved without solving racial crisis. The two are inseparable.” I loved this approach to examining climate and race, and showing how the two are inseparable. This kind of approach to environmental justice is what Dr. King was advocating prior to his death, but Dr. Goffe’s analysis and critical inquiry (as well as her advocacy and fight) extends beyond America’s continental shores and looks at the colonialization of the Caribbean, as well as other islands (Hawaii in particular) to show how economic exploitation and forced implementation of American/European methods and naming conventions have threatened the natural order as well as the lives of many. Goffe’s questioning of colonialism’s impact reminded me of some other books I’ve recently read, including The Seven Circles by Chelsea Luger and Thosh Collins, that advocates for returning to indigenous ways of eating, health, and care to bring about more balance, and Reclaiming the Black Body by Alishia McCullough, who also advocates for a return to balance by nourishing more traditional and culturally relevant ways of diet and exercise. While Dr. Goffe’s examination of history, literature, and the climate crisis is vaster and more expansive, there’s a shared focus on the recognition that certain ideas, approaches and cultures have been forced upon us, limiting our perspectives and our voices. Dr. Goffe’s approach seeks to resurrect many of these voices, in a manner that reminded me of Toni Morrison’s “re-memory”—using stories and generational knowledge, shared experiences, to keep culture and the self alive. It was not a surprise, then, to learn that Dr. Goffe was one of Morrison’s last students at Princeton and has adapted Morrison’s pedagogy and methods of inquiry for her lab. I recognize many similarities between the themes and concerns of both thinkers.
Beyond being an important book that challenges our assumptions about the nature of the climate crisis, Dr. Goffe incorporates her own experiences and family into the narrative, since she was born in England, descended from Chinese Jamaicans. Tracing her family history and sharing her experiences of visiting family across the globe, from Hong Kong to Surinam and Jamaica, Dr. Goffe’s own story helps to explore how colonization has both created new cultures and also eliminated others, forcing a kind of assimilation towards the dominant culture. I knew a little about the Chinese in Jamaica (and other islands like Hawaii), but I didn’t realize there was also a move to return Jamaicans of Chinese descent to Hong Kong and other areas in China, despite not being initially from China. Dr. Goffe explained how her family members probably were not easily assimilated into either Jamaica or China, being somewhat outcasts in both societies. Her analysis helps to show how this colonial mentality ends up being more exclusionary and problematic, causing confusion and identity issues. I really appreciated how Dr. Goffe challenges many assumptions about the current climate crisis by re-evaluating its origins at Columbus’s landing in the Caribbean. It makes sense since his initial landing in the Caribbean completely shifted the culture and landscape from one of living in harmony with nature to one that exploited the people, environment and resources for profit making. While Dr. Goffe does note how many people from other lands (African, Chinese, Indian), brought their own culture, ways, and knowledge with them, it is also sad to think about how much was lost along the way.
One of the most amazing aspects of Dr. Goffe’s book is the different subjects she examines throughout the chapters. The beginning of the book looks at islands as colonial laboratories, but also examining the resistance to colonialism, specifically by looking at the Maroons of Jamaica, as well as the origins of the climate crisis with Europeans arrival in the Caribbean, bringing her argument about the exploitation of these lands for profit to the forefront. Her other chapters look at some of the results of colonialism—I’m not sure what else to call them—but many of them touch our lives, and I didn’t always think about the colonial implications of these. One of the most powerful and relevant chapters was on museums and how they often remove the life from the native lands to preserve a kind of death of animals, plants, and sometimes people for study and entertainment. Dr. Goffe explored the University of Pennsylvania’s acquisition of the remains of the children of MOVE, who died from a police bombing of their home in 1985. I’ve been to that museum many times, and I was shocked to learn about this. However, in the larger context of the collection, it makes sense. This museum and others like it routinely house the remains and sacred artifacts from other cultures in the name of science and entertainment. Understanding the process of acquisition and the purpose of exhibiting artifacts like these is really important, and something I will think more about when visiting museums. Dr. Goffe also explores coral and sea life, connecting it to her own experiences of learning to swim (and nearly drowning) as a young Black girl. I loved learning more about coral, and how it is an animal of the sea, and not a plant. I also didn’t know that coral makes noise and am more interested in the kinds of sounds that coral produces. Another chapter delves into the shit—literally looking at the exploitation of guano, bat waste, to examine how colonialism has impacted the well-being of bats, as well as examining how Chinese and African workers and lands around Haiti and other areas of the Caribbean were exploited and appropriated for the power of guano. Other chapters look at animals—including birding and the mongoose, exploring how naming conventions moved away from indigenous practices of naming based on the sound or color to name them after people, oftentimes with questionable backgrounds. The introduction of the mongoose to Jamaica was another interesting chapter that shows how imposing European thinking in Caribbean culture often leads to destructive and exploitative outcomes. Dr. Goffe also explores how the introduction of marijuana to Jamaica from India serves as a model for other methods of botany, and often altered the landscape and environments of other countries and cultures, oftentimes causing an imbalance from invasive species. While ganja helped to create more cultures of resistance in Jamaica and recognize the medicinal qualities of plants, it also led to more carceral practices in relation to plants, frequently causing arrests and imprisonment for the use of plants.
The end of the book examines plate tectonics, looking at volcanic activity in Montserrat to further analyze the kind of inequality that colonialism produces. I was actually reading this book while visiting Hawaii for the first time. Although we didn’t get to the Big Island of Hawaii, there was a volcanic eruption there. People were able to visit, but Dr. Goffe’s examination of the cases of Montserrat showed how oftentimes indigenous people are at the mercy of the volcano, while others like tourists or those who have more prestige or power are often able to escape. It was an important reminder for me about my own privilege and an important history lesson that showed how some people are not as lucky to escape the destructive forces of nature, further highlighting the kind of climate justice and environmental inequality that often occurs, but that we don’t always hear about. I’m so glad that this book will be available. Although it is not an easy read, I can see this as being an important book to use in the classroom. Any of the chapters would work well to challenge students’ assumptions about the nature of culture, the environment, language, music, or literature. Furthermore, it can also help to highlight or provide context and validation for the experiences of other students whose voices are not always celebrated or elevated in the classroom or curriculum. I’m also really excited for the work of Dr. Goffe and the Dark Laboratory. I’m sure there will be more to learn from them, and I look forward to further publications, studies, and advocacy from this great organization.
June 7, 2025
DNF'd at 152 pages.
There was so much promise in the concept, but it fell flat.
Overreaching. Poorly organized. No real answers or solutions to help move the conversation forward.
There was so much promise in the concept, but it fell flat.
Overreaching. Poorly organized. No real answers or solutions to help move the conversation forward.
March 28, 2025
I had to take my time with this one, a few breaks here and there to pick up some faster reads as the content of this book digests better with some pauses, and the writing style is a bit dense and academic. But while it may not be the most accessible read for people seeking out some political, indigenous-environmentalist non-fiction, with patience and time it’s an entirely worthwhile read. If you’ve read and loved Braiding Sweetgrass I feel this could be a beneficial read to add to your library- but be warned, it lands heavier.
Having recently read Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, a lot of this book felt like a perfect supplemental read. Colonialism not only meant violence to indigenous populations and the displacement of multiple cultures, but also the removal and propagation of plant and animal species in foreign environments, completely changing the natural world of the Caribbean. What is celebrated as environmentalist studies directly related to the seeking of increased wealth by those with the means to travel and explore foreign areas of the world to Europe and the US. This book even brings up the nature of bird watching, and the competitive nature of having one’s own life list as fuel for eco-tourism. There’s so much in this book to think on, but I think the thoughts surrounding the evolution of capitalism may have been a favorite part:
The terms "native" and "endemic are evoked in Western ecological rhetoric but have little to do with how many Native communities approach matters of biodiversity. "Native" attitudes to biology of which there are a heterogenous range across the world-tend not to align with the scientific frame of "invasion" regarding natural life. The orientation of militarism and war against the natural environment seem to be more of a Western approach The term "introduced species" may be a more relevant alternative. But if the treatment and the sentiment against the maligned plants and animals is the same, it makes no difference which name is used. Colonial scientific attitudes are "survival of the fittest": pit one against another, and villainize innocent plants and animals. Nor does it seem practical or effective in most contexts. Population control and animal control follow the logic of annihilation and segregated life. It stands to reason that a colonial solution would be proposed by those who introduced a colonial problem by playing God.
Having recently read Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, a lot of this book felt like a perfect supplemental read. Colonialism not only meant violence to indigenous populations and the displacement of multiple cultures, but also the removal and propagation of plant and animal species in foreign environments, completely changing the natural world of the Caribbean. What is celebrated as environmentalist studies directly related to the seeking of increased wealth by those with the means to travel and explore foreign areas of the world to Europe and the US. This book even brings up the nature of bird watching, and the competitive nature of having one’s own life list as fuel for eco-tourism. There’s so much in this book to think on, but I think the thoughts surrounding the evolution of capitalism may have been a favorite part:
“When was the genesis of modern capitalism?
It is so easy to confuse capitalism with commerce, but they are not the same. Still, some Marxists do not fully connect the dots between climate and labor politics, because they do not attend to the rubric of race as relevant. Multiple global systems of commerce existed before modern capitalism, and for a sustainable future, we will need a new, reimagined order of commerce. Race existed before capitalism, and scholars look to the medieval period for its origins, but capitalism became refined as a colonial sorting tool only after 1492. Modern capitalism's origin depended on the trading of humans as chattel. Contrary to the philosophy of trickle-down economics, the global economic system of capitalism impoverishes us all. The true cost has been the natural environment, of which we are a part. Capitalism has impoverished our imaginations by discrediting the traditions of the global majority. It is insistent and seductive and convinces us that there can be no other system of commerce, trade, or exchange beyond itself. Whether new and more stable financial systems will develop using the banking platforms of Webs or whether they will be entirely analog, different organizations of power are a requirement for a sustainable green future.”
June 8, 2025
Truly difficult getting through the mix of first person and historical/ investigative style writing, though there were portions I found compelling when not jumping back and forth.
July 14, 2025
Quite interesting. A bit dry and I definitely needed to speed up the narration speed on the audiobook.
June 16, 2025
Dark Laboratory is exactly what you might expect from an over politicized climate change book.
That being said, I actually really enjoy books on climate change, but I think the market might be getting oversaturated.
This review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Huge thanks to Doubleday for my review copy!
That being said, I actually really enjoy books on climate change, but I think the market might be getting oversaturated.
This review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Huge thanks to Doubleday for my review copy!
August 26, 2025
2.5/5
A truly interesting and unique premise-- that globalization and the climate crisis, originated in the Caribbean. However, this book felt like the stream of consciousness of a very educated person as opposed to the resulting manuscript of years of academic work at "elite" institutions. The author states in the book that her background is English/literature, history and journalism, so I expected Malcolm Gladwell levels of interweaving of the three.
I think the title was an upsell. Though each named topic was discussed with anecdotes and defined in general, I expected more academic depth on each. This really could have been a wonderful treatise, if the author rethought organization and didn't shy away from what seemed like "low hanging fruit", mostly race (as a mixed race person she said she didn't really care to have the conversation about herself but ended up giving an abbreviated autobiography anyway) and geography.
I'm no professional editor, but I think that even without doing more research, the author could have made book this more cohesive by any of the following:
- making the outline about plant and animal species that were native to or introduced across time (since she discusses species and the naming of them historically)
- organizing the book around each continent's links/contributions to the Caribbean (she speaks about peoples, plants and animals from each, and it would have saved a lot of repetition)
- the above idea could be combined with using a birding motif to steer the book
- organizing around natural history alongside textbook history
- my favourite idea though, would be her organizing the book around each of the academic/professional talks she mentioned. As she straddles multiple disciplines, she is a part of seemingly disparate communities that cover each of the main topics of the book. It would have been a cool way to organize it that was unique to her, didn't discuss her racial makeup, and touched on every historical and climate point that got her to the points of each talk
Some of these approaches may have felt too obvious, but there was enough repetition of some content to warrant rethinking how it (e.g. the guano, the Maroons, etc.) was introduced and where.
I get that alliteration is fun to use, but I hate that Columbus is named in the title, even if he had to be discussed in the book. As the author notes, he wasn't even that great and didn't even "discover" what he thought...
Small note for the author to be more mindful of deep sighs getting caught (and kept) on the narration/audiobook.
A truly interesting and unique premise-- that globalization and the climate crisis, originated in the Caribbean. However, this book felt like the stream of consciousness of a very educated person as opposed to the resulting manuscript of years of academic work at "elite" institutions. The author states in the book that her background is English/literature, history and journalism, so I expected Malcolm Gladwell levels of interweaving of the three.
I think the title was an upsell. Though each named topic was discussed with anecdotes and defined in general, I expected more academic depth on each. This really could have been a wonderful treatise, if the author rethought organization and didn't shy away from what seemed like "low hanging fruit", mostly race (as a mixed race person she said she didn't really care to have the conversation about herself but ended up giving an abbreviated autobiography anyway) and geography.
I'm no professional editor, but I think that even without doing more research, the author could have made book this more cohesive by any of the following:
- making the outline about plant and animal species that were native to or introduced across time (since she discusses species and the naming of them historically)
- organizing the book around each continent's links/contributions to the Caribbean (she speaks about peoples, plants and animals from each, and it would have saved a lot of repetition)
- the above idea could be combined with using a birding motif to steer the book
- organizing around natural history alongside textbook history
- my favourite idea though, would be her organizing the book around each of the academic/professional talks she mentioned. As she straddles multiple disciplines, she is a part of seemingly disparate communities that cover each of the main topics of the book. It would have been a cool way to organize it that was unique to her, didn't discuss her racial makeup, and touched on every historical and climate point that got her to the points of each talk
Some of these approaches may have felt too obvious, but there was enough repetition of some content to warrant rethinking how it (e.g. the guano, the Maroons, etc.) was introduced and where.
I get that alliteration is fun to use, but I hate that Columbus is named in the title, even if he had to be discussed in the book. As the author notes, he wasn't even that great and didn't even "discover" what he thought...
Small note for the author to be more mindful of deep sighs getting caught (and kept) on the narration/audiobook.
May 3, 2025
I had high expectations for this book. However, there were so many personal anecdotes and wordy texts that I found myself getting bored at times. Still good information!
June 18, 2025
This book really annoyed me. I have no doubt that Goffe is very smart and well-versed in critical theory and literary theory. However, this book was going in way too many directions at once, and it was confusing and lacked any coherent argument.
I was expecting a book about the history of foreign intervention and colonialism in the Caribbean from 1492 to present. This book comes off more as a political screed that is unfocused and provides no real solutions. No doubt, there is a connection between slavery, colonialism, capitalism, and climate change. That is beyond question. However, what exactly those connections are in this book is tenuous. Goffe makes claims based on catchy political slogans but lacks evidence for many of them.
In the introduction, Goffe hints that Zheng He “may have discovered the Americas before Columbus,” a claim which lacks any evidence whatsoever. She devotes a lot of this book to attacking figures like Charles Darwin and Alexander Von Humboldt. No doubt, by today’s standards their views were racist, but they both argued against scientific racism and were progressive by the standards of their time.
While Goffe acknowledges that Charles Darwin did not actually support social Darwinism, she still goes to great lengths to allege his complicity. For Goffe, any attempt to taxonomize nature is a colonial mission akin to downright eugenics or genocide. Again, there is real connection between Enlightenment rationality and the so-called “civilizing mission” but this argument is stretched to absurd proportions. Few scientists today would ignore the racist views and practices of many earlier scientists, but science itself is a powerful tool for understanding the world.
This last argument brings me to my main critique of this book: Goffe on one hand wants to “stop the climate crisis” (as she should) but also dismisses all “western science” while her only solution to reversing climate change is “listen to Indigenous people.” I don’t want to dismiss the practices of various Indigenous people, but Goffe’s view seems to romanticize and essentialist them. While colonialism is violent and irreversible, we need to use all tools at our disposal, including “western science” to deal with the global problem of climate change. It bothers me when people say “eastern” or “western” science. We should acknowledge Caribbean contributions to science obviously, and use any scientific means to combat climate change.
There are many things that Goffe does well. There are a lot of interesting historical facts and personal anecdotes about the history of the Caribbean. Her experiences as a person of Chinese and African descent give a unique perspective on this region. It’s clear that she’s smart and makes a lot of connections very quickly, I just wish that this information was organized in a more coherent and logical way, and that there was more rigorous and concise editing.
I was expecting a book about the history of foreign intervention and colonialism in the Caribbean from 1492 to present. This book comes off more as a political screed that is unfocused and provides no real solutions. No doubt, there is a connection between slavery, colonialism, capitalism, and climate change. That is beyond question. However, what exactly those connections are in this book is tenuous. Goffe makes claims based on catchy political slogans but lacks evidence for many of them.
In the introduction, Goffe hints that Zheng He “may have discovered the Americas before Columbus,” a claim which lacks any evidence whatsoever. She devotes a lot of this book to attacking figures like Charles Darwin and Alexander Von Humboldt. No doubt, by today’s standards their views were racist, but they both argued against scientific racism and were progressive by the standards of their time.
While Goffe acknowledges that Charles Darwin did not actually support social Darwinism, she still goes to great lengths to allege his complicity. For Goffe, any attempt to taxonomize nature is a colonial mission akin to downright eugenics or genocide. Again, there is real connection between Enlightenment rationality and the so-called “civilizing mission” but this argument is stretched to absurd proportions. Few scientists today would ignore the racist views and practices of many earlier scientists, but science itself is a powerful tool for understanding the world.
This last argument brings me to my main critique of this book: Goffe on one hand wants to “stop the climate crisis” (as she should) but also dismisses all “western science” while her only solution to reversing climate change is “listen to Indigenous people.” I don’t want to dismiss the practices of various Indigenous people, but Goffe’s view seems to romanticize and essentialist them. While colonialism is violent and irreversible, we need to use all tools at our disposal, including “western science” to deal with the global problem of climate change. It bothers me when people say “eastern” or “western” science. We should acknowledge Caribbean contributions to science obviously, and use any scientific means to combat climate change.
There are many things that Goffe does well. There are a lot of interesting historical facts and personal anecdotes about the history of the Caribbean. Her experiences as a person of Chinese and African descent give a unique perspective on this region. It’s clear that she’s smart and makes a lot of connections very quickly, I just wish that this information was organized in a more coherent and logical way, and that there was more rigorous and concise editing.
February 25, 2025
Dark Laboratory is a wide ranging exploration of environmental destruction, colonialism and exploitation.
Tao Leigh Goffe's writing is urgent and impassioned. Her main point is that the current climate crisis began in 1492 when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Caribbean. That, she posits, was the beginning of globalisation, when western style capitalism began the process of extracting everything possible from the newly discovered territories, from minerals to animals, plants and humans. And in their place they left ecological destruction, planted monocultures, introduced invasive species and displaced peoples and cultures.
It's not an easy read, and not only because the subject matter is difficult and troubling. In part this is because she assumes a certain amount of prior knowledge. Her mind is quick and she darts from idea to idea which can make some of her thinking hard to follow. But there is no denying the impact of colonialism has had on the world. Western capitalism has served none of us well, with its acquisitiveness and rapacious greed bringing us to this point in time where a few have so much at the expense of the many.
If we as a species are to survive, we need to listen to different voices. Tao Leigh Goffe suggests that these should include the indigenous peoples, the poets and the dreamers, but more importantly, the island dwellers who have already survived the environmental impact of colonialism. I couldn't follow all her arguments, and I don't know if I totally agree with everything she says, but she makes a compelling case for change, to forge new ways of thinking to avoid global catastrophe.
Tao Leigh Goffe's writing is urgent and impassioned. Her main point is that the current climate crisis began in 1492 when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Caribbean. That, she posits, was the beginning of globalisation, when western style capitalism began the process of extracting everything possible from the newly discovered territories, from minerals to animals, plants and humans. And in their place they left ecological destruction, planted monocultures, introduced invasive species and displaced peoples and cultures.
It's not an easy read, and not only because the subject matter is difficult and troubling. In part this is because she assumes a certain amount of prior knowledge. Her mind is quick and she darts from idea to idea which can make some of her thinking hard to follow. But there is no denying the impact of colonialism has had on the world. Western capitalism has served none of us well, with its acquisitiveness and rapacious greed bringing us to this point in time where a few have so much at the expense of the many.
If we as a species are to survive, we need to listen to different voices. Tao Leigh Goffe suggests that these should include the indigenous peoples, the poets and the dreamers, but more importantly, the island dwellers who have already survived the environmental impact of colonialism. I couldn't follow all her arguments, and I don't know if I totally agree with everything she says, but she makes a compelling case for change, to forge new ways of thinking to avoid global catastrophe.
Read
June 12, 2025DNF. I was disappointed in the execution of this book on an incredibly important topic. I was already bought-in to the author’s premise, that colonization hasn’t ended and capitalist extractive/ exploitative practices are destroying the environment. I also just moved from living in the Caribbean for three years, and how that region has been and is being impacted is near and dear to my heart.
However, this was such a missed opportunity. It was sort of a mix of manifesto and research, which is confusing and is not persuasive to skeptical readers. Not that they don’t have their place, but opinions and personal interpretations are so easy to pick apart.
I would have been more on board with this if it’d been structured with sticking to the facts for the first part, and then maybe the author clearly expresses their interpretation and opinions in a dedicated section. I just couldn’t keep investing my time reading opinions I already agreed with, which makes it something I can’t even recommend to others.
However, this was such a missed opportunity. It was sort of a mix of manifesto and research, which is confusing and is not persuasive to skeptical readers. Not that they don’t have their place, but opinions and personal interpretations are so easy to pick apart.
I would have been more on board with this if it’d been structured with sticking to the facts for the first part, and then maybe the author clearly expresses their interpretation and opinions in a dedicated section. I just couldn’t keep investing my time reading opinions I already agreed with, which makes it something I can’t even recommend to others.
July 30, 2025
I had such high hopes for this book and expected and wanted to learn so much. There were snippets of brilliance and it did expand my understanding of the history of colonialism and its ongoing implications. Its basic premise that we cannot have climate justice if the global majority do not lead the climate agenda and conversation is a strong one. The point made that if we as environmentalists treat the colonial past as closed history to simply focus on the current crisis, then we will fail, is also a strong point. However the book's thesis, concepts and points being made were wordy, disjointed, hard to follow and at times didn't even make sense. Well not to me anyway. There was much brilliance in the book but it needed some serious editing and organising and needed to be half the length it is. I finished it because I changed to the audio version and that got me to the end.
February 17, 2025
‘Dark Laboratory’ charts and chronicles the embedded and systemic colonial racism primarily from Western Europeans to those in the Caribbean, and argues that this ‘history’ should not have ‘a veil of ignorance’ pulled in front of it, but should be exposed, acknowledged, and a new narrative told. Goffe questions, ‘Yet, as a global community, we continuously fail to address the origin of the problem. Without economic and historical analyses of the origins of the climate crisis, how can we expect to understand its sedimented layers?’
She urges a new narrative that empowers communities long oppressed and which can be used as a powerful guide to help adapt to and mitigate the climate and ecological crisis. ‘We need new stories, new technologies, and new forms of nature writing.’
This book is a comprehensive, evidence-led study of the impact of colonialism and for Goffe this begins in the 1492 ‘discovery’ of the Americas and leads in an unbroken line to the 21st century. The players have changed, but the exploitative and extractive game is the same. ‘We are experiencing the consequences of a centuries-long cycle of exploitation of people of color, whom European colonial powers have forced to extract resources from the earth.’
Although this is a text which consciously looks towards the past, it also aims to break the cycle of the future- that future suffering need not be an inevitable future for millions. She states that not to break this cycle, could make us just as complicit as the arrogant and ignorant users of the past. ‘We must refuse to betray future generations, especially because we have been forsaken by so many before us.’
What’s past is prologue
Goffe calls on past strong, powerful leaders, to support us in our struggle and to have as examples. She reminds her readers of Queen Nanny of the Maroons and her refusal to betray those who would come after her. ‘Queen Nanny’s name echoes across the mountain ranges of the archipelago because she refused to sign the eighteenth-century British Treaty. She refused to betray the future.’ Interestingly, in the UK, Queen Nanny’s name should be well known to a generation of school students, who meet her in national exams, where the question of who gets to write history and who has the power to write history, and who gets to whitewash history, becomes the focus.
It is no accident also that Goffe uses arguably the most colonial Shakespeare play- ‘The Tempest’- to exemplify the historic struggles and conflicts between ‘native’ and ‘invader’. She continues to evaluate the colonial experimentation that played out in the Caribbean and asks, ‘What has the cost of imperialism been for the natural environment?’ She answers her own question by arguing that this European ideology led to the destruction of ‘Eden.’ ‘The mandate for discovery was a justification for ecological degradation.’ And continues that, ‘When Europeans arrived with the cross in the Caribbean, they could not help but see Eden.’
Goffe powerfully argues that racism lies at the foundation of the climate crisis and that the Caribbean has systematically been asset stripped for Western ‘trophy hunters’. ‘Racism structures the climate crisis because it was a part of its origins.’ She challenges modern day readers to accept this argument and to no longer be complicit in continued acts of racism- whether this be in the guise of modern day confrontations in Central Park (Cooper v Cooper), or in the mindset of policing and the justice system to black people, Rastafarians and Indigenous peoples around the globe. ‘To remain willfully blind to race is to enforce racist modes that lead to the premature death of racialized people.’
‘Too much evidence’
‘Dark Laboratory’ calls for a new kind of climate storytelling- one that no longer puts colonial and capitalist expansion as the priority and ‘norm’ of economic models. ‘Ultimately, hope rests on the caesura of capitalist expansion.’ With the book’s comprehensive and forensic analysis of the guano trade, coral coloniality, slavery, plant theft- which led to the rise of Big Pharma, animal theft and land theft, Goffe argues that there is simply too much evidence of the endemic racial ideology for it to be ignored, whitewashed or greenwashed.
She closes the text by imagining the next ‘New World’- ‘Time traveling from 1492 to the far future has been necessary for the scale of imagination of this book and will be necessary to face the climate crisis. Poets and policymakers will be critical to the scale of empathy we need.’
New stories will not however, be enough, by themselves, to stem the tide of rising sea levels, which pose a ‘death sentence’ for the Caribbean and other island states. If we cannot break the modern chains of never-ending capitalist growth, then climate disaster awaits, and the deaths of millions of Caribbean and Polynesian people will once again bloody our hands.
She urges a new narrative that empowers communities long oppressed and which can be used as a powerful guide to help adapt to and mitigate the climate and ecological crisis. ‘We need new stories, new technologies, and new forms of nature writing.’
This book is a comprehensive, evidence-led study of the impact of colonialism and for Goffe this begins in the 1492 ‘discovery’ of the Americas and leads in an unbroken line to the 21st century. The players have changed, but the exploitative and extractive game is the same. ‘We are experiencing the consequences of a centuries-long cycle of exploitation of people of color, whom European colonial powers have forced to extract resources from the earth.’
Although this is a text which consciously looks towards the past, it also aims to break the cycle of the future- that future suffering need not be an inevitable future for millions. She states that not to break this cycle, could make us just as complicit as the arrogant and ignorant users of the past. ‘We must refuse to betray future generations, especially because we have been forsaken by so many before us.’
What’s past is prologue
Goffe calls on past strong, powerful leaders, to support us in our struggle and to have as examples. She reminds her readers of Queen Nanny of the Maroons and her refusal to betray those who would come after her. ‘Queen Nanny’s name echoes across the mountain ranges of the archipelago because she refused to sign the eighteenth-century British Treaty. She refused to betray the future.’ Interestingly, in the UK, Queen Nanny’s name should be well known to a generation of school students, who meet her in national exams, where the question of who gets to write history and who has the power to write history, and who gets to whitewash history, becomes the focus.
It is no accident also that Goffe uses arguably the most colonial Shakespeare play- ‘The Tempest’- to exemplify the historic struggles and conflicts between ‘native’ and ‘invader’. She continues to evaluate the colonial experimentation that played out in the Caribbean and asks, ‘What has the cost of imperialism been for the natural environment?’ She answers her own question by arguing that this European ideology led to the destruction of ‘Eden.’ ‘The mandate for discovery was a justification for ecological degradation.’ And continues that, ‘When Europeans arrived with the cross in the Caribbean, they could not help but see Eden.’
Goffe powerfully argues that racism lies at the foundation of the climate crisis and that the Caribbean has systematically been asset stripped for Western ‘trophy hunters’. ‘Racism structures the climate crisis because it was a part of its origins.’ She challenges modern day readers to accept this argument and to no longer be complicit in continued acts of racism- whether this be in the guise of modern day confrontations in Central Park (Cooper v Cooper), or in the mindset of policing and the justice system to black people, Rastafarians and Indigenous peoples around the globe. ‘To remain willfully blind to race is to enforce racist modes that lead to the premature death of racialized people.’
‘Too much evidence’
‘Dark Laboratory’ calls for a new kind of climate storytelling- one that no longer puts colonial and capitalist expansion as the priority and ‘norm’ of economic models. ‘Ultimately, hope rests on the caesura of capitalist expansion.’ With the book’s comprehensive and forensic analysis of the guano trade, coral coloniality, slavery, plant theft- which led to the rise of Big Pharma, animal theft and land theft, Goffe argues that there is simply too much evidence of the endemic racial ideology for it to be ignored, whitewashed or greenwashed.
She closes the text by imagining the next ‘New World’- ‘Time traveling from 1492 to the far future has been necessary for the scale of imagination of this book and will be necessary to face the climate crisis. Poets and policymakers will be critical to the scale of empathy we need.’
New stories will not however, be enough, by themselves, to stem the tide of rising sea levels, which pose a ‘death sentence’ for the Caribbean and other island states. If we cannot break the modern chains of never-ending capitalist growth, then climate disaster awaits, and the deaths of millions of Caribbean and Polynesian people will once again bloody our hands.
April 10, 2025
The Caribbean isn't often recognized as ground zero of colonial conquest, but its islands form a dark laboratory of colonial desires and experiments. As such, this island chain is the epicenter of the modern globalized world. Many can only imagine the Amerindian peoples Columbus encountered in abstract terms. He described Native peoples in his journals as being childlike, anointing them erroneously as Indians.
Tao Leigh Goffe is the founder of the eponymous climate research organisation - which focuses on the intersectionality of race, technology and ecology with climate change.
In this non fiction book - the focus is specifically on modern capitalism, colonialism and slavery which she sees as effectively mutually dependent in their origins, a beginning she specifically traces to Columbus and his 1492 landing in the Americas.
And the Caribbean forms the dominant geographical setting for this polemical treatment of the West, colonialism, exploitative and extractive capitalism, science (particularly what she sees as its racially underpinned refusal to acknowledge or learn from - other than by way of further exploration - indigenous, non-white and even other flora and fauna beliefs, discoveries and methods of organisation) - and their very more than 500 year rule in leading the world to environmental degradation - with the burden falling very disproportionately on indigenous and black peoples and small island nations.
I read this book, very deliberately, on a all inclusive holiday in the Caribbean - knowing this would intensify the discomfort of the reading experience as, while not a major part of the book, the author is clear that tourism, particularly exclusive tourism, is symptomatic of much of what she is condemning.
The book suffers I think from three main faults - which I think are as intertwined as the very issues she condemns. The book is written in an humanities academic/liberal arts register - no attempt here to adapt for a non fiction reading audience; the author sees (in some cases chooses to imagine it or wish for) clear links between seemingly disparate and distinct ideas (both negative in her charge sheet and positive ones as she sets out remedies) - but frequently omits or fails to justify the thought process that produces the links, so that the text is littered with apparent non-sequiturs or what seem like significant over-reaches; the book will I think fail to impact anyone other than those that already support her ideas - little attempt is made to build bridges with anyone from those she opposes or even really to convince the neutral and many of her ideas seem somewhere between idealistic and very unrealistic.
My thanks to Vintage for a paper ARC.
We do not yet have the full vocabulary to describe the ethics of these alliances [of the Maroons and Blacks and other non-establishment groups in Jamaica] because we rely so much on European languages (which is to say colonial languages such as Spanish and English) to articulate radical coalitions. European lexicons are not only inadequate but are also antithetical to Black, Indigenous, or Asian liberation. At Dark Lab, one of our ongoing initiatives is the composition of a collective Decolonial Glossary. The concept is to demilitarize our language before we can decolonize our imaginations. Some of the terms we will ask contributors to define may be guttural sounds, kissing teeth, common gestures, or specific diasporic registers of humor.
March 8, 2025
I have not read this book. It would normally not be a book I would read. And I have no plans to read this book. I did read the summary of the book and a few of only eight reviews by people who have read it. Believe it or not it came up in a library search for the keyword 'gardening'. ??
I wish publishers would be a little more selective in what they choose to print. This sounded like a real stretch to me. That we should isolate slavery as the root cause of climate change? The title doesn't say that but the reviews and the summary do. One reviewer said it was not well edited and the author would include 4 or 5 different ideas in one paragraph and then lead nowhere with it. He speculates a theory and then instead of proving it with some evidence to back it up, he would say, that needs to be 'interrogated'?
If someone has a personal story to tell, and a personal perspective, personal point of view - say that and write about that. Don't present it as if you've solved a great mystery. And don't attach your personal story to world events unless there truly is, clearly is, a connection everyone can see. And in an environment where there is so much polarization and controversy, why add more fuel to the fire with speculation and drawing conclusions about things long past.
And what difference does it make? Corruption is in the world now and it has always been there through history. What does anyone have to say to change that, instead of just looking for someone to blame. There is plenty of blame to go around and each of us always has the choice to contribute to the beneficial or the opposite. It's not always easy to see those choices except for after the fact, but they are there if you really want to see them and do better at making choices. For instance choosing to write or publish this book. What benefit is it?
I wish publishers would be a little more selective in what they choose to print. This sounded like a real stretch to me. That we should isolate slavery as the root cause of climate change? The title doesn't say that but the reviews and the summary do. One reviewer said it was not well edited and the author would include 4 or 5 different ideas in one paragraph and then lead nowhere with it. He speculates a theory and then instead of proving it with some evidence to back it up, he would say, that needs to be 'interrogated'?
If someone has a personal story to tell, and a personal perspective, personal point of view - say that and write about that. Don't present it as if you've solved a great mystery. And don't attach your personal story to world events unless there truly is, clearly is, a connection everyone can see. And in an environment where there is so much polarization and controversy, why add more fuel to the fire with speculation and drawing conclusions about things long past.
And what difference does it make? Corruption is in the world now and it has always been there through history. What does anyone have to say to change that, instead of just looking for someone to blame. There is plenty of blame to go around and each of us always has the choice to contribute to the beneficial or the opposite. It's not always easy to see those choices except for after the fact, but they are there if you really want to see them and do better at making choices. For instance choosing to write or publish this book. What benefit is it?
April 1, 2025
I am not an apologist for colonialism, and I acknowledge that there is much to be learned from traditional social, economic and technological practices of indigenous peoples. I also acknowledge that sometimes European science has been infected with racist and colonialist attitudes, but that's a far cry from the positions taken here that felt naive and extreme to me. Most of science is objective. Sure, it's always affected by the societies that the scientists come from, but good science tries hard to extract that part of it and get as close as possible to objectivity. The scientific method has built in ways of doing that. There are ways to incorporate traditional practices into modern ones so as to have the best of both worlds, but let's not discard science altogether. It's also true that colonialist exploitation has contributed to the problem of climate change, but really it's unrestrained free market capitalism that has caused the problem more than colonialism per se. We colonialists have happily poured even more carbon and toxic waste into the environments of our own countries than we have in the third world, though too often the way that it has been done in the third world is particularly ugly. Finally, I agree with Ms. Goffe that the perspective of the humanities has a valuable contribution to make in understanding and solving the climate crisis and in building a future world where we can all live in harmony and justice, but let's apply that perspective with wisdom and with acknowledgment of the value of the natural and social sciences that also need to be considered in a broad interdisciplinary perspective.
Overall this book felt like the kind of positioning that contributes to polarization. It has too much jargon and pejorative labeling and too little in the way of workable wise solutions.
Overall this book felt like the kind of positioning that contributes to polarization. It has too much jargon and pejorative labeling and too little in the way of workable wise solutions.
June 10, 2025
I think this was ultimately a miss for me. It’s strange - I come from a humanities background and read a ton of literary non-fiction but this writing style just did not land the material well. I think the reviews that call this a manifesto instead of a factual investigation are on the mark. As an example - the chapter on museums reflects my expertise. While I found it much easier to read, I realized it was because you had to be embedded in the author’s particular space of references, viewpoints, jargon and assumptions to enjoy the weaving of ideas. Even then, I think it was challenging because I don’t think any original thesis was made (in that chapter specifically).
I think it’s not clear if this is meant for a wide audience. While I might guess that this writing style reflects the author’s desire to move away from traditional academic / non-fiction writing, reflecting the folkloric and community based methods of research she privileged, I think it does not do the concept or the material justice. Tons of disparate ideas and buzzwordy statements are thrown out with not much development or exploration. It’s too superficial for an expert, kinda primary for someone that basically agreed with you, and downright disorienting for someone who is reading to learn or to be convinced. I know the author has forthcoming projects, so I’d be curious to see how her long form writing style develops. At the moment, it was a pretty unsatisfying delivery of a very compelling concept and evidently many years of research.
Did I learn new things? Yes. Did I retain them? Probably not.
I think it’s not clear if this is meant for a wide audience. While I might guess that this writing style reflects the author’s desire to move away from traditional academic / non-fiction writing, reflecting the folkloric and community based methods of research she privileged, I think it does not do the concept or the material justice. Tons of disparate ideas and buzzwordy statements are thrown out with not much development or exploration. It’s too superficial for an expert, kinda primary for someone that basically agreed with you, and downright disorienting for someone who is reading to learn or to be convinced. I know the author has forthcoming projects, so I’d be curious to see how her long form writing style develops. At the moment, it was a pretty unsatisfying delivery of a very compelling concept and evidently many years of research.
Did I learn new things? Yes. Did I retain them? Probably not.
August 30, 2025
A really loving 3.5 stars!!
Goffe really knows her stuff, and the history and fragments of stories and connections she builds up in this book are really incredible, and I agree with pretty much all of her points and arguments. I also think what she is attempting with this one is exciting, by combining non-fiction with literary writing, personal narrative, and scattered interconnected stories.
... I just think the writing here ended up being pretty weak. It felt incredibly scattered and difficult for the reader (specifically on audiobook for me) to follow her main argument in certain chapters. I could easily see thematically how each of the chapters/narratives fit together, but argument wise, it just did not feel cohesive to read. Potentially just because I had such high expectations, and because I nominally agreed with everything being argued for in this book, in terms of centering the Caribbean when it comes to environmental justice and post-colonialism, then I was extra disappointed by just feeling like the structure of the book didn't take on the argument as clearly as I would have liked.
Also, I felt like the audiobook narration was very stilted and didn't place emphasis on the right points to keep the reader on the path to reading comprehension.
I still got so so much out of this, and I would honestly recommend it (although probably the physical over the audiobook) but it doesn't quite hold up to the other non-fiction books I've read this year.
Goffe really knows her stuff, and the history and fragments of stories and connections she builds up in this book are really incredible, and I agree with pretty much all of her points and arguments. I also think what she is attempting with this one is exciting, by combining non-fiction with literary writing, personal narrative, and scattered interconnected stories.
... I just think the writing here ended up being pretty weak. It felt incredibly scattered and difficult for the reader (specifically on audiobook for me) to follow her main argument in certain chapters. I could easily see thematically how each of the chapters/narratives fit together, but argument wise, it just did not feel cohesive to read. Potentially just because I had such high expectations, and because I nominally agreed with everything being argued for in this book, in terms of centering the Caribbean when it comes to environmental justice and post-colonialism, then I was extra disappointed by just feeling like the structure of the book didn't take on the argument as clearly as I would have liked.
Also, I felt like the audiobook narration was very stilted and didn't place emphasis on the right points to keep the reader on the path to reading comprehension.
I still got so so much out of this, and I would honestly recommend it (although probably the physical over the audiobook) but it doesn't quite hold up to the other non-fiction books I've read this year.
January 26, 2025
I'm grateful to Doubleday for the free ARC of this brilliant book.
Dark Laboratory traces today's climate crisis all the way back to the journey of Christopher Columbus to the Caribbean, and the birth of globalisation.
She examines the cascading effects of that world altering discovery on the whole of mankind, and more devastatingly on Mother Earth.
The author talks about annihilation of enclosed communities, the role of countries, devastating impacts of colonization, and the immense western experimentation, which slowly killed the very spirit of nature flourishing in its aura.
It deeply dissects the themes of Race, Colonialism, natural disasters and eventual environmental degradation.
Tao has put her soul in the book, and it's evident. The book is well researched, and the language flows, so it's easy to comprehend, and if you wish to know more about one of the most important and burning contemporary issues on the face of Earth, please read this one! Highly recommended.
Do read the Climate Prelude and Terminology section in the beginning of the book since it'll be like a reading guide and help in understanding the technological terms, and historical/geopolitical aspects associated with or mentioned throughout the book.
Dark Laboratory traces today's climate crisis all the way back to the journey of Christopher Columbus to the Caribbean, and the birth of globalisation.
She examines the cascading effects of that world altering discovery on the whole of mankind, and more devastatingly on Mother Earth.
The author talks about annihilation of enclosed communities, the role of countries, devastating impacts of colonization, and the immense western experimentation, which slowly killed the very spirit of nature flourishing in its aura.
It deeply dissects the themes of Race, Colonialism, natural disasters and eventual environmental degradation.
Tao has put her soul in the book, and it's evident. The book is well researched, and the language flows, so it's easy to comprehend, and if you wish to know more about one of the most important and burning contemporary issues on the face of Earth, please read this one! Highly recommended.
Do read the Climate Prelude and Terminology section in the beginning of the book since it'll be like a reading guide and help in understanding the technological terms, and historical/geopolitical aspects associated with or mentioned throughout the book.
May 28, 2025
So disappointed. I was really looking forward to this one but DNF'ed it somewhere around p. 42. The author clearly has A LOT of good thoughts all competing to get out. Instead of taming them and arranging them into a narrative that weaves together her own history, the book's message, and illustrative anecdotes, the author blended all her thoughts together in a choppy idea smoothie that sometimes packs 4 or more ideas into a paragraph and develops none of them fully. The narrative switches over the course of less than a page from Hong Kong to Jamaica to three generations ago to present day to her lived experience to an idea from another reference... It is exhausting and confusing.
I have read many other books that I found more helpful and that develop the idea of colonialism, capitalism, and climate change: Pollution is Colonialism (Max Liboiron), The Dawn of Everything (Graber and Wengrow), The Value of a Whale (Adrienne Buller), This Changes Everything (Naomi Klein), Fresh Banana Leaves (Jessica Hernandez).
I have read many other books that I found more helpful and that develop the idea of colonialism, capitalism, and climate change: Pollution is Colonialism (Max Liboiron), The Dawn of Everything (Graber and Wengrow), The Value of a Whale (Adrienne Buller), This Changes Everything (Naomi Klein), Fresh Banana Leaves (Jessica Hernandez).
July 1, 2025
Did not finish @ 50%
I think this is a great book with an honest Decolonial exploration of the climate crisis and its origins. The author rightfully explores language and colonization in regards to nature. I love what I read in the book and think it’s really important. However, I don’t feel that we ever reach conclusions, every 5 pages or so we are introduced to something new and how it connects to colonization. Again I love what is being pointed out here and find this would especially be vital reading for those in the climate movement, conservation, and studying to work in environmental fields. I also think this book should be approached as a course offering. Each chapter serves as a perfect introductory starting point for studying deeper. I simply don’t have the time for that right now and find I can’t immerse in the book because it feels like a new starting point every few pages, so I am not finishing this book. For now. I hope to revisit later and sit with this book in a way that honors what it’s trying to do.
I think this is a great book with an honest Decolonial exploration of the climate crisis and its origins. The author rightfully explores language and colonization in regards to nature. I love what I read in the book and think it’s really important. However, I don’t feel that we ever reach conclusions, every 5 pages or so we are introduced to something new and how it connects to colonization. Again I love what is being pointed out here and find this would especially be vital reading for those in the climate movement, conservation, and studying to work in environmental fields. I also think this book should be approached as a course offering. Each chapter serves as a perfect introductory starting point for studying deeper. I simply don’t have the time for that right now and find I can’t immerse in the book because it feels like a new starting point every few pages, so I am not finishing this book. For now. I hope to revisit later and sit with this book in a way that honors what it’s trying to do.
March 31, 2025
Dark Laboratory presents the complex, poetic, beautiful climate work of this generation, and its clarion call is sure to provoke and challenge, while also opening windows into worlds too often unseen.
-Michelle Anya Anjirbag
Read the full review at: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/review...
-Michelle Anya Anjirbag
Read the full review at: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/review...
May 19, 2025
Very informative book exploring the orgins of climate change. Really opened my perspective to give background and history for a wider persepctive on the many factors that have led to climate change. Also interesting to learn more about the Caribbean and Hawaii was also mentioned. Heavy subject matter but important read.
October 1, 2025
tao leigh goffe is an intellectual's intellectual istg! beautiful and lush writing on the caribbean and pacific worlds, environmental storytelling, and anticolonialism. I loved how she contended with the "environment bros" and the long legacies of science as the means for racial domination, while weaving in Black, Indigenous, and Asian methodologies and ecologies. never wanted it to end!!
February 6, 2025
Thank you Doubleday for the ARC.
This was so insightful and heartbreaking to see just how far back destroying our world goes back. How colonizing and racism played its part in it.
Tao poured everything in this book and you can feel her passion through the pages.
This was so insightful and heartbreaking to see just how far back destroying our world goes back. How colonizing and racism played its part in it.
Tao poured everything in this book and you can feel her passion through the pages.
June 13, 2025
Loved (!!!) the ideas and arguments. Amazing that there was a section/thinking on atolls. It was a little less academic/argumentative than I’d anticipated—which made for a really compelling read but at times I found it hard to follow.
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