Reading RecommendationsSince people have little time for discussion groups in today's busy world, we decided to offer a lower commitment list of reading recommendations for interested parties. We will list a variety of books here throughout the year so you can see if you find something new (or old) that piques your interest when you need a good read! Looking for books on green careers? See the CES Resource Library!
The Abstract Wild
by Jack Turner
"Eight provocative essays...on a common theme: how wildness (once but no longer the essence of wilderness) has been mediated, micromanaged, and abstracted nearly out of existence. The essays include rants against the status quo, memoirs of wild places, and a tribute to Doug Peacock, who dared to live among grizzlies." (from Amazon.com)
--Recommended by Bill Kupinse, English
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
by Barbara Kingsolver
Well-known author Kingsolver and her family write about a year of eating only local food. Voted Tacoma's Book of the Year!
--Recommended by...everyone!
Collapse: How societies choose to fail or suceed
by Jared Diamond
Through a series of case studies from Greenland to Wyoming, Diamond posits that societies have repeatedly been faced with extreme environmental degradation that threatens their existence, that societies are generally aware of their dire circumstances, but usually choose not to respond in the most favorable manner.
--Recommended by Gwyn Jones
Desert Solitaire or The Monkey Wrench Gang
by Edward Abbey
Choose either of these great works by Abbey--Desert Solitaire being his most famous nonfiction work, focusing on his experiences as a ranger at Arches National Park in Utah, and The Monkey Wrench Gang a novel that Amazon.com calls "an incendiary call to protect the Ameican wilderness."
--Recommended by Allie Bohegian '11
The Golden Spruce
by John Vaillant
"The felling of a celebrated giant golden spruce tree in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands takes on a potent symbolism in this probing study of an unprecedented act of eco-vandalism." (from Amazon.com)
--Recommended by Bill Kupinse, English
The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism
by Barry Sanders
"Sanders explores a completely different aspect of the [military] situation and positions military activity as the single-greatest contributor to the worldwide environmental crisis, looking at everything from fuel emissions to radioactive waste to defoliation campaigns.
--Recommended by Alana Kazam
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why we need a green revolution--and how it can renew America
by Thomas Friedman
"Friedman takes a fresh and provocative look at two of the biggest challenges we face today: America's surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11; and the global environmental crisis, which is affecting everything from food to fuel to forests." (from Amazon.com)
--Recommended by Kelly LaMar '09
Living downstream: A scientist's personal investigation of cancer and the environment
by Sandra Steingraber
In her early twenties, Steingraber was afflicted with cancer... Writing from the twin perspectives of a survivor and a concerned scientist, she traces the high incidence of cancer and the terrifying concentrations of environmental toxins in her native rural Illinois...and other communitiies. (from Amazon.com)
--Recommended by Allie Bohegian '11
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to save civilization
by Lester R. Brown of the Earth Policy Institute
As the name suggests, this is the third edition of this book. The Earth Policy Institute (EPI) offers a free copy of the book on their Web site (PDF format). EPI indicates that with this and past editions of the book, many purchasers returned and purchased multiple copies to distribute to friends, family, and political decision-makers. Ted Turner has distributed some 3,600 copies to government and business heads around the world, as well as "the world's 672 other billionaires" (yeah, they're not really on our facebook networks, huh?).
--Recommended by Barbara Weist
A Sand County Almanac
by Aldo Leopold
"A classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published" (from Amazon.com)
--Recommended by Barbara Weist
Walden; or, Life in the Woods
by Henry David Thoreau
--Recommended by Allie Bohegian '11
The World without Us
by Alan Weisman
If Earth was depopulated overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished? ...Days after our disappearance, pumps keeping Manhattan's subways dry would fail, tunnels would flood, soil under streets would sluice away, and the foundations of towering skyscrapers built to last for centuries would start to crumble..." (from Amazon.com)
--Recommended by Bill Kupsinse, English | 
