Environmental Reading List

Part of The Alchemist's Lair Web Site
Maintained by Harry E. Pence, Professor of Chemistry, SUNY Oneonta, for the use of his students. Any opinions are totally coincidental and have no official endorseme nt, including the people who sign my pay checks. Comments and suggestions are welcome (pencehe@oneonta.edu).

Last Revised Oct. 10, 1996

ENVIRONMENTAL BOOKS

Some Personal Recommendations

Harry E. Pence, Chemistry Department, SUNY-Oneonta

Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill & Wang, 1983, 241 pages.

Crosby, Alfred W. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. 386 pages.

Fowler, Robert Booth. The Greening of Protestant Thought, 1995.

McClintock, James I. Nature's Kindred Spirits, 1994.

Marx, Leo. The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964. 392 pages.

Merchant, Carolyn. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution. San Francisco: Harper, 1980. 348 pages.

Muir, John. My First Summer in the Sierra. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911. 354 pages.

Mumford, Lewis. The Myth of the Machine. Vol. 1, Technics and Human Development. New York: Harcourt, 1967. 342 pages.

Quammen, David. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions, 1996.

Wilson, Edward O. In Search of Nature, 1996.

THE ENVIRONMENTALIST'S BOOKSHELF - Top 40 Books

Taken from

The Environmentalist's Bookshelf: A Guide to the Best Books

by Robert Merideth

G.K. Hall & Co., New York, 1993

These rankings are based on questionnaire survey responses from more than 236 environmental experts from around the world. The number in parentheses following each title indicates the number of respondents recommending that book. In the case of "ties," books are listed alphabetically by author.

1. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There. (100)

2. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. (81)

3. Brown, Lester R., and staff of Worldwatch Institute. State of the World. (31)

4. Ehrlich, Paul R. The Population Bomb. (28)

5. Thoreau, Henry David. Walden; or Life in the Woods. (28)

6. Nash, Roderick. Wilderness and the American Mind. (21)

7. Schumacher, Ernst F. Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. (21)

8. Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. (20)

9. Commoner, Barry. The Closing Circle: Nature, Man, and Technology. (18)

10. Meadows, Donella H., Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III. The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind. (17)

11. Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. (16)

12. McPhee, John A. Encounters with the Archdruid. (16)

13. Ma rsh, George Perkins. Man and Nature. (16)

14. Thomas, William L., Jr., ed., with Carl O. Sauer, Marston Bates, and Lewis Mumford. Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth. (16)

15. Abbey, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang. (14)

16. World Resources Institute. World Resources: 1992-93. (14)

17. Myers, Norman, ed., with Uma Ram Nath and Melvin Westlake. Gaia: An Atlas of Planet Management. (13)

18. Lovins, Amory B. Soft Energy Paths: Toward a Durable Peace . (12)

19. World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. (12)

20. Ehrlich, Paul R., Anne H. Ehrlich, and John P. Holdren. Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment. (11)

21. Eiseley, Loren C. The Immense Journey. (11)

22. Lovelock, J.E. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. (11)

23. Miller, G. Tyler. Living in the Environment: Concepts, Problems, and Alternatives. (11)

24. Odum, Eugene P. Fundamentals of Ecology. (11)

25. Ward, Barbara, and Rene Dubos. Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet. (11)

26. Daly, Herman, and John Cobb, Jr. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. (10)

27. Devall, Bill, and George Sessions. Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered. (10)

28. Lopez, Barry. Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape. (9)

29. Peterson, Roger Tory. A Field Guide to the Birds. (9)

30. Reisner, Marc P. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. (9)

31. Vogt, William. Road to Survival. (9)

32. Adams, Ansell, and Nancy Newhall. This Is the American Earth. (8)

33. Callenbach, Ernest. Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston. (8)

34. Dillard, Annie. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. (8)

35. Fox, Stephen R. The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and His Legacy. (8)

36. Glacken, Clarence J. Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature and Culture in Western Thought from Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century. (8)

37. McHarg, Ian L. Design with Nature. (8)

38. McKibben, Bill. The End of Nature. (8)

39. Hardin, Garrett. Exploring New Ethics for Survival: The Voyage of Spaceship Beagle. (7)

40. Worster, Donald E. Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas. (7)

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