Recommended Readings
from Dr. Harris
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Sand County Almanac – Aldo Leopold
A central work in the founding of environmental awareness and studies. Beautiful, lucid, fun to read prose.
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Silent Spring – Rachael Carson
Again, well-written, seminal book that in many ways ignited the modern environmental movement. Not a good read if you love DDT or hate bald eagles.
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NOLS Wilderness Ethics: Valuing and Managing Wild Places - Susan Brame, Chad Henderson
A broad survey, with lots of good idea/good teaching points/good readings. A part of NOLS leadership, Dr Harris receives no incentives for suggesting this book.
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The Big Necessary – Rose George
An interesting examination of how western countries deal with – and don’t deal with -- their poop. After reading this, you’ll begin to wonder why we chose to sully the 95% of sewage that is minimally-dirty ‘grey water’ with the 5% of what Rose nicely calls ‘shit.’ This is a good question. A bit British for my taste, but I’m sure she’s working to overcome this. By any other name, I’m sure she’d smell as sweet . . .
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Sixth Extinction – Elizabeth Kolbert
This book rocks. I just finished it, so it is the latest addition to the roster. She explores how human changes in the earth are having as meaningful and lasting an impact as the 5 prior great extinction events (by meteor, etc). Her prose is lucid, the span of time vast, and the story a good one.
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Omnivore’s Dilemma – Micheal Pollan
A fascinating, well-written investigation of three potential meals, roughly broken down into “industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves.” For most of us, it is an eye-opening look at how ubiquitous ‘industrial’ food production has become – which isn’t romantic, and more importantly, doesn’t lead to good public policy, good health policy, or good food.
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The Forest Unseen – George David Haskell
A beautiful year-long observance of a small patch of old-growth forest Tennessee which provides remarkable insights into the reach of evolution, the unseen why’s of salamanders, bugs, birds, bees, trees throughout the U.S. The NYT’s loved it. Very well-written.
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Desert Solitaire – Edward Abbey
For those not familiar with him, Abbey is a funny, somewhat prickly iconoclast, who is generally either loved or hated. This is his story of a couple of seasons as a backcountry ranger in the undeveloped Arches National Park in the early 60’s.
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Encounters with the Archdruid – John McPhee
McPhee is one of the leading essayist/nonfiction writers of the last 40 years. This book describes three trips in backcountry settings – each one featuring former Sierra Club director, and then founder of Friend of the Earth, David Brower – but each with three different ‘opponents’ (the developers of mines, resorts and dams) along on the backcountry trip.
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Cadillac Desert – Marc Reisner
A great narrative on the battle between individuals and cities to control the single most important natural resource that defines where and how people live in the Western US – water. Be forewarned, LA and Las Vegas take a bit of a beating.
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Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run – David Brower
See Brower’s hx. Essays.
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The Practice of the Wild: Essays – Gary Snyder.
Synder was present at the founding of the ‘Beat’ poetry movement and has spent his life as a poet, translator, environmental scholar and intellectual. His prose is lucid, extends to include science and Shamanism, Native American/Eastern/Western philosophy. A better choice for those intellectually free-wheeling enough to strike off towards territories a bit removed from the standard scientific text. This is one they will look back on in 100 years and say, ‘”How was it he seeing what no one else was??”
