Some books you may find interesting. Send me your favorites and I’ll add them in. The reviews are picked from those presented on Amazon to give a hint of content and style.
| Falter | McKibben 2019 | “McKibben, a veteran environmental writer, is never hectoring or hyperbolic; here, he turns the possibility of human extinction (from climate change, artificial intelligence, etc.) into an absorbing analysis with a glimmer of hope.” ―The New York Times Book Review |
| The Sixth Extinction | Kolbert 2015 | “Natural scientists posit that there have been five extinction events in the Earth’s history (think of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs), and Kolbert makes a compelling case that human activity is leading to the sixth.” ―Bill Gates |
| Countdown | Weisman 2014 | “Countdown converts globetrotting research into flowing journalism, highlighting a simple truth: there are, quite plainly, too many of us. A world that understands Weisman’s words will understand the pressing need for change.” — Bill Streever, author of Cold and Heat |
| The Uninhabitable Earth | Wallace-Wells 2019 | “The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. . . . I encourage people to read this book.”—Alan Weisman, The New York Review of Books |
| Losing Earth | Rich 2019 | “An eloquent science history, and an urgent eleventh-hour call to save what can be saved.” ―Barbara Kiser, Nature |
| The Vanishing Face of Gaia | Lovelock 2010 | An “unwilling Cassandra,” he is nevertheless an “an optimistic pessimist” and thinks we will survive the coming Hot Epoch, but predicts climate change will reduce our population from 9 billion to around one billion or less.” |
| Earth in Human Hands | Grinspoon 2016 | “Earth in Human Hands is a remarkable synthesis of natural history, planetary science, extinction histories, Earth’s climate and the human effect on the world…If we do it right, the 21st century won’t be the peak of human achievement, but rather our initial foray into a brilliant, uncertain but full-of-potential future.”―Forbes |
| Story of Earth | Hazen 2013 | “With infectious enthusiasm for his subject, Hazen introduces readers to Earth’s defining moments . . . [and] argues that understanding the interplay between Earth’s geological and biological pasts can help us predict and prepare for the future of life on our planet.” —Saron Yitbarek, Discover |
| Eating the Sun | Morton 2009 | “A rare delight….Oliver Morton writes so engagingly that [Eating the Sun] reads as a well-crafted biography of the earth on behalf of the plant kingdom.” (Prospect Magazine) |
| Symbiotic Planet | Margulis 1999 | In Symbiotic Planet, renowned scientist Lynn Margulis shows that symbiosis, which simply means members of different species living in physical contact with each other, is crucial to the origins of evolutionary novelty. |
| Rising | Rush 2019 | “Deeply felt . . . Rush captures nature with precise words that almost amount to poetry; the book is further enriched with illuminating detail from the lives of those people inhabiting today’s coasts.”―New York Times |
| Field Notes from a Catastrophe | Kolbert 2015 | “A perfect primer on global warming. It might be the most important book you read this year.” ―Cleveland Plain Dealer |
| A Farewell to Ice | Wadhams 2017 | “Peter Wadhams brings huge expertise to his subject – and he is an excellent writer. He explains why the fate of Arctic ice is crucial for the world’s climate and clarifies the controversies and complexities that confront scientists and policymakers. A fascinating book.” – Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, President of the Royal Society 2005-10 |
| Brave New Arctic | Serreze 2018 | “Serreze provides an arresting account of the history of climate science, written by someone who saw it all unfold before his own eyes. If you thought you had heard it all, think again, and read this book.” (The Inquisitive Biologist) |
| The Two Mile Time Machine | Alley 2014 | “A superlative account of a complex topic . . .It is refreshingly straightforward to read, often humorous, yet still deadly serious, complete with anecdotes and understandable explanations of complex processes.” (Choice) |
| The Long Thaw | Archer 2016 | “This is the best book about carbon dioxide and climate change that I have read. David Archer knows what he is talking about.”―James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies |
| Power to Save the World | Cravens 2007 | Faced by the world’s oil shortages and curious about alternative energy sources, Gwyneth Cravens skeptically sets out to find the truth about nuclear energy. Her conclusion: it is a totally viable and practical solution to global warming. |
| Smart Power | Fox-Penner 2014 | “If you’re serious about policies that place energy efficiency on a level playing field with new energy supplies, and energy policy generally, this book is essential reading.” (Art Rosenfeld, California Energy Commission) |
| The Grid | Bakke 2016 | “Bakke describes the grid as far more than towers and wires . . . She leads readers through a history of the grid and a maze of financial, legal, regulatory, and environmental considerations with sprightly good humor . . . Finally, Bakke sketches a possible design of the ‘intelligent grid’ of the future . . . A lively analysis.” – Kirkus Reviews |
| The Nuclear Environmentalist | Gomez-Cardenas 2012 | I like the author’s open and honest approach, his competence and his rigorous summaries of a global problem that concern us all. I would recommend reading it before voting for any topic related to the energy problem on our planet.” (Antonella Del Rosso, CERN Courier, March, 2013) |
| Unintended Consequences | Erickson 2019 free download | http://unintended-consequences.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Unintentended-Consequences-Web-Version.pdf |
| Super Fuel | Martin 2013 | Makes the case that thorium, an abundant, safe element that cannot easily be turned into a weapon, should be fuelling our reactors instead of uranium.” ―New Scientist |
| Seeing the Light | Montgomery 2017 | This is the first accessible book to discuss all aspects of nuclear power in the context of the new nuclear era to help combat climate change and lethal air pollution, for students, the general public, and anyone interested in the future of energy production and the future of humanity on Earth. |
| Buying Time | Makabe 2017 | “Nuclear energy, with its relatively small footprint, has demonstrated its prowess as a source of power far cleaner and safer than all other forms of energy. I highly recommend Makabe’s clear, strong presentation of the choices that lie ahead in regard to energy resources for the growing world population.” (Gwyneth Cravens, author of Power to Save the World) |
| Death and Life of the Great Lakes | Egan 2018 | “A marvelous work of nonfiction, which tells the story of humanity’s interference with the natural workings of the world’s largest unfrozen freshwater system.” – Anne Moore, Crain’s Chicago Business |
| Carbon Capture | Herzog 2018 | This is a well written and accessible book about an important technology for the energy and industrial economies. Dr. Herzog gives practical examples and points out the important role carbon capture will play in our future. |
| How Bad are Bananas – The Carbon Footprint of Everything | Berners-Lee 2011 | The book puts our decisions into perspective with entries for the big things (the World Cup, volcanic eruptions, the Iraq war) as well as the small (email, ironing, a glass of beer). And it covers the range from birth (the carbon footprint of having a child) to death (the carbon impact of cremation). |
| Drawdown | Hawken ed 2017 | The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world |
| Merchants of Doubt | Oreskes 2011 | “Anyone concerned about the state of democracy in America should read this book” ―Al Gore “Merchants of Doubt should finally put to rest the question of whether the science of climate change is settled. It is, and we ignore this message at our peril” ―Elizabeth Kolbert |
| Thank you Fossil Fuels and Good Night | Meehan 2017 | “This work is highly significant. This book stands out for its logical development and treatment of sources of energy, new technologies, a scan of individual country energy plans, and policy for an energy transition.” —David Chapman, Prof Emeritus Geophysics, University of Utah |
| Green Earth (This is a novel) | Stanley-Robinson
2004-2015 |
“Perhaps it’s no coincidence that one of our most visionary hard sci-fi writers is also a profoundly good nature writer—all the better to tell us what it is we have to lose.”—Los Angeles Times |
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