Gaia: The Growth of an Idea (St. Martin’s Press, 1990) explored the Gaia Hypothesis that the Earth adjusts and regulates itself more like a living organism than a geological machine, as traditional Earth science holds, with ramifications for fields ranging from biogeochemistry to goddess worship. The book began as an article for The New York Times Magazine (11/86), and led to Joseph being invited to present his findings at the  United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Common Sense: Why It’s No Longer Common (Addison-Wesley, 1994),  examined the psychology, philosophy and folk wisdom of common sense, with lots of satire on the lack thereof..  As a result, Joseph served as commonsense consultant for a variety of organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme (mission to Bogota, Colombia) and the American Society for Industrial Security.

Joseph also co-wrote two New York Times bestsellers: Amerika: The Triumph of the American Spirit (Pocket Books, 1987), a novelization of the 14-hour ABC miniseries, and Strawberry Fields Forever: John Lennon Remembered (Bantam, 1980), an “instant book” written in the week following Lennon’s assassination.

Until recently, Joseph was chairman of the board of an Albuquerque, New Mexico research firm developing ultra-high temperature plasma furnaces designed to completely disintegrate extremely toxic biological, chemical and medical wastes. In addition, the plasma technology has rocket thruster applications. Joseph is also chairman and co-founder of Treevestors, Inc. which markets sustainably raised tropical hardwood and also serves as a brokerage for forestry-related carbon credits.