UW dean and former Gonzaga basketball player Ed Taylor on new memoir May 14, 2026 at 1:00 pm Updated May 14, 2026 at 1:00 pm When a friend first suggested that he write a book, Ed Taylor responded emphatically.  “For me, it was a hard no,” he said. Eventually, Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the University of Washington, came around to the idea of writing up stories just for friends to read. Those quickly started pouring out, he said, in the form of letters to his mother and reflections from his childhood.  Some years and 300 pages later, Taylor’s memoir “The Power of the River” (out now from Hinton Publishing) collects those stories. The book stretches from his childhood in California, through his undergraduate years studying and playing basketball at Gonzaga, and into his current role at UW.  Taylor spoke with The Seattle Times about growing up in a small town, feeling drawn to the power of stories and the metaphor of a river.…