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Book Picks

Alternatives to Alternative Energy

Posted on October 3, 2012
Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism (Our Sustainable Future)
Image of Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism (Our Sustainable Future)
Author(s): Ozzie Zehner
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (2012)
Binding: Paperback, 464 pages
List Price: $29.95

Pursuing new alternative-energy technologies is fine and good, but society will not resolve its energy troubles unless it changes the underlying problem of energy and resource overuse, argues University of California–Berkeley visiting scholar Ozzie Zehner.

An Economy Of, By, and For the People

Posted on October 3, 2012
Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution
Image of Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution
Author(s): Marjorie Kelly
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2012)
Binding: Paperback, 288 pages
List Price: $19.95

In Owning Our Future, business ethicist Marjorie Kelly envisions commerce that makes human well-being, not wealth, its goal.

Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth’s Last Wilderness

Posted on September 16, 2010
Image of Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth's Last Wilderness
Author(s): Robert Swan, Gil Reavill
Publisher: Broadway (2009)
Binding: Hardcover, 304 pages
List Price: $24.99

by Robert Swan with Gil Reavill. Broadway. 2009. 290 pages. $24.99.

Antarctica’s long-term survival is in question, warns Robert Swan, a researcher who has led expeditions to both the North and South poles. In 2041, he explains, the international treaty protecting Antarctica from human development is up for review. He fears that human development might win, due to the continent’s vast oil, natural gas, and mineral resources, and the likelihood that—if current consumption trends continue—existing oil wells will be mostly drained and no longer sufficient to sustain industrialized civilization.

Apocalypse Never: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World

Posted on September 15, 2010
Image of Apocalypse Never
Author(s): Dr. Tad Daley
Publisher: Rutgers University Press (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 312 pages
List Price: $24.95

by Tad Daley. Rutgers. 2010. 296 pages. $24.95.

Ridding the world of nuclear weapons is both feasible and necessary for survival, argues science journalist Tad Daley. As long as nations keep them, it is only a matter of time before they fire them at each other, he warns.

Armageddon Might Be Closer Than We Think

Posted on August 6, 2012
X-Events: The Collapse of Everything
Image of X-Events: The Collapse of Everything
Author(s): John L. Casti
Publisher: William Morrow (2012)
Binding: Hardcover, 336 pages
List Price: $26.99

Modern society is increasingly complex and, consequently, increasingly fragile, according to systems theorist John Casti.

Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis

Posted on September 17, 2010
Image of Blackout
Author(s): Richard Heinberg
Publisher: Clairview Books (2009)
Binding: Paperback, 208 pages
List Price:

by Richard Heinberg. New Society. 2009. 200 pages. Paperback. $18.95.

Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water

Posted on December 6, 2010
Image of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water
Author(s): Peter H. Gleick
Publisher: Island Press (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 232 pages
List Price: $26.95

by Peter H. Gleick. 2010. 211 pages. AMACOM. $26.96.

Consumption of bottled water has skyrocketed over the last few decades, says globally recognized water expert Peter Gleick. However, he thinks that the tide may be turning. In Bottled and Sold, Gleick describes a “war on bottled water” now under way in offices, recreation centers, restaurants, and private homes across the globe.

Brain Sense: The Science of the Senses and How We Process the World Around Us

Posted on September 16, 2010
Image of Brain Sense: The Science of the Senses and How We Process the World Around Us
Author(s): Faith Hickman Brynie
Publisher: AMACOM (2009)
Binding: Hardcover, 288 pages
List Price: $24.00

by Faith Hickman Brynie. AMACOM. 2009. 274 pages. $24.

The brain is much more dynamic than scientists used to think, according to science and health writer Faith Hickman Brynie in Brain Sense. She takes readers on a tour of how the brain and the senses interact, sharing discoveries that she says have dramatic implications for brain research and medical practice. Examples:

Breakthroughs Gone Wild

Posted on June 14, 2012
The Very Next New Thing: Commentaries on the Latest Developments That Will Be Changing Your Life
Image of The Very Next New Thing: Commentaries on the Latest Developments That Will Be Changing Your Life
Author(s): Gini Graham Scott JD Ph.D
Publisher: Praeger (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 184 pages
List Price: $34.95

Wooly mammoths could once again roam the frozen tundras. People recently killed by freezing or drowning could be brought back to life. And chimpanzees might take up day jobs in professional movie studios as cinematographers and camera operators.

Bringing the Planet Back from the Brink

Posted on June 14, 2012
World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse
Image of World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse
Author(s): Lester R. Brown
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (2011)
Binding: Paperback, 240 pages
List Price: $15.95

Many great civilizations collapsed due to exhaustion of their resource bases, and our civilization is on the brink of repeating history, warns Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, in World on the Edge. He traces a plethora of present crises brought on by unchecked human activity: rising food prices, shortages of freshwater, instability in dozens of failing states, perva