Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness

Written by: Lyanda Lynn Haupt

First line: By all rights, I should never see the crow who perches almost daily on the electrical wire just beyond my study window.

Why you should read this book: It transcends the typical nature narrative by acknowledging the place that crows inhabit not only in the wild, but also in the human world, in both the physical and mythological realm. Weaving factual details along with the author's own story of depression and recovery, it's a small but powerful piece about the place of humans within their own sphere, with elements of biology, psychology, literature, spirituality, and education. A really impactful story, one that can help the reader open their eyes to the world around them, just as the author's relationship with real crows helped her to accomplish.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You have no respect for scavengers.

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Written by: Bill McKibben

First line: Imagine we live on a planet. Not our cozy, taken-for-granted earth, but a planet, a real one, with melting poles and dying forests and a heaving, corrosive sea, raked by winds, strafed by storms, scorched by heat. An inhospitable place.

Why you should read this book: Global warming, the author's data shows, is not a possible threat for our grandchildren, but a reality that has already begun transforming our lovely blue planet into a hot, dangerous, alien world. Climate change has been set into motion, and all calculations show that we have already surpassed the maximum level of atmospheric carbon dioxide (that would be 350 parts per million) necessary to keep thing comfy and verdant. After presenting pages and pages of chilling and disturbing evidence that we've screwed nature and she's going to screw us right back, McKibben describes what we need to do to survive on this new planet: cutting energy usage, investing in renewable, sustainable energy resources, and pulling back from unchecked and dangerous growth and globalization to create vibrant, functional, and self-reliant communities based agriculture, energy, and human networks (don't worry; we get to keep the Internet).

Why you shouldn't read this book: Possibly the most depressing work I have ever read; if you're enamored of your denial and think that oil and fossil fuels are the future, taking this book seriously could come as a real boot to the head.

Slow Food: The Case for Taste

Author: Carlo Petrini

First line: In Bra, a small city in Piedmont on the edge of the territory known as the Langhe, a group of young people were involved in social issues in the middle of the 1970s.

Why you should read this book: Inspired by a group of left-leaning Italian youth intent on preserving the best of recreational culture and fired in the crucible of anti-McDonald's activism, the Slow Food movement is a radical expression only in regard to the radical degradation of modern global culture it seeks to cure. Based on an ideal of conviviality, Slow Food is a movement dedicated to the preservation of culture, flavor, and the environment through the recognition of promotion of exquisite, historical, local specialties, breeds, and cultivars. This book documents the history and ideals of the movement, showcasing the philosophy, literature, and above all, the work that emphasizes tradition and excellence in food production, which ought to be available to the entire world.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're working in your garden.

Efrain of the Sonoran Desert: A Lizard's Life among the Seri Indians

Author: Amalia Astorga as told to Gary Paul Nabhan

First line: As I pulled my kayak up onto the beach below the Seri village--before any of the girls and boys ran up to greet me--I spotted a zebra-tailed lizard lounging in the sun.

Why you should read this book: A brilliant lens on an endangered indigenous culture, this book is broken into three rough parts: Nabhan's two experiences as a visitor to the Seri people; Astorga's story about the intelligent sand-dwelling lizard who became her friend; and supplemental information about the Seri, other endangered cultures, Sonoran lizards, and conservation. Each section is delightful, but the central story about Efraim, who is as faithful to Astorga "as any husband could be," is a true gem. This book functions on many levels and is appropriate for very young children (provided they are capable of surviving the death of a beloved creature in a story) as well as older children and adults.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't get the big deal about some endangered reptiles dying in the desert.

George's Secret Key to the Universe

Authors: Lucy and Stephen Hawking

First line: Pigs don't just vanish, thought George as he stood staring into the depths of the very obviously empty pigsty.

Why you should read this book: When one of the world's most brilliant living theoretical physicists teams up with his novelist daughter to pen the science-fiction response to Harry Potter, anyone with an interest in science or speculative fiction has got to take notice. The story follows George, the son of Luddite eco-warriors, as he follows his wayward pig, Freddy, into the forbidden house next door, where he meets absent minded scientist, Eric, his fanciful daughter, Annie, and his mind-bogglingly useful laptop, Cosmos, which allows good-hearted users to travel through space without mucking around with rocketry or wasting time getting from place to place. When Eric's former colleague, G. Reeper, discovers the computer's existence, his dastardly plan sends Eric hurtling toward a black hole, and it's up to George to unlock the secrets of the universe and save his friend.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You can't believe Hawking changed his mind about that whole "no escape from a black hole" thing.

The Deep

Author: Claire Nouvian

First line: In 2001, after watching a stunningly beautiful film at the Monteray bay Aquarium in California, I took my first dive into the deep.

Why you should read this book: In the deep ocean, the sunless zone beginning two hundred meters from the surface and stretching down as far as eleven thousand meters, explorers have discovered an uncounted wealth of biodiversity in myriad astounding forms seemingly ripped from the pages of science fiction. This book, with huge, glossy, full-color illustrations on almost every page, brings to light a massive, yet still partial catalog of surprising benthic and pelagic organisms in all their alien splendor, accompanied by short (under fifteen hundred word) essays by scientists covering a broad overview of deep sea life. Giant squids, bioluminescent jellies, fanged anglerfish, and creatures that beggar description and have yet to be named or classified: every page of this book is like a mind-blowing birthday present from your favorite eccentric uncle.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You fear sea monsters.

Tomorrow, the Stars

Editor: Robert A. Heinlein

Quote: "I don't know who they are--but it's the story of the boy who cried wolf. Only this time the wolves realized--" Then the phone went dead.

Why you should read this book: Although these stories are fifty or sixty years old and certainly dated in terms of sexism and racism, the themes and the technology remain fresh enough to hold the attention of the lover of science-fiction. Of note is "The Report on the Barnhouse Effect" by Kurt Vonnegut, from that era when Vonnegut still wrote flat-out science fiction, a story that is possibly more relevant today than it was during the Cold War. Science fiction from the day when sf was about imagination rather than special effects.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're in it for the special effects.

Diet for a Dead Planet: How the Food Industry Is Kiling Us

Author: Christopher D. Cook

First line: You are in the supermarket, exhausted after another long day at the office (or perhaps the factory).

Why you should read this book: Every element of the food industry in America is regulated, not by what is healthy, sustainable, or even beneficial for farmers, but by giant business conglomerates possessing complete control over the government agencies meant to regulate them. Monoculture, pesticide use, corporate control, exploitation of migrant laborers, tainted food, dependence on processed food, unfair subsidy distribution, and two hundred fifty years of surplus are killing Americans. As succinct as it can possibly be, given the density of the material, this book lays out the hidden facts of the food industry and the capitalistic forces that threaten to destroy our prosperity.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You live hundreds of miles from the nearest commercial farm or ranch, off the grid, organically producing all your own food according to the principles of sustainable agriculture, bartering with your neighbors for anything you can't raise yourself.