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citrine

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Informative & Useful Books
« on: September 30, 2015, 06:13:57 PM »
Please list any books you think might be particularly informative or useful now or in times to come. Cookbooks, gardening books, how to reduce your impact, all manner of how to books, etc.

I'll start with an odd one:

Unscrewed: Salvage and Reuse Motors, Gears, Switches, and More from Your Old Electronics
by Ed Sobey
near Raleigh, North Carolina / USDA Zone 7b

OrganicSu

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2015, 06:35:31 PM »
Gaia's Garden - currently reading and it is completely changing what and how I will grow what I will eat. More fundamentally it will allow me to drastically reduce my water usage while becoming self sufficient food wise. And even more - I believe I will be better equiped to survive a societal meltdown (if/when there is no running water/electricity).

Neven

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2015, 07:33:36 PM »
I saw the opening post and thought about a book, but here it is in the first reply:

Gaia's Garden - currently reading and it is completely changing what and how I will grow what I will eat.
So, I guess I'll to have second that one.  ;)

It's a fantastic book, very informative and inspiring. I can also recommend talks by author Toby Hemenway on Youtube.

A cookbook my wife really likes and I enjoy too, is Nourishing Traditions. The philosophy behind it, based on work by Weston A. Price, appeals to us and makes sense on many levels.

Last year we bought a book on fermentation, called the Art of Fermentation. Haven't read it yet, but should be good.

For those who speak German, Oekobuch Verlag helped me a lot with the practical side of things. They produce quality books about a variety of subjects.
Make money, not peace

anotheramethyst

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2015, 06:41:30 AM »
keep an eye out tor old military handbooks.  i have one from 1941.  it's a how-to manual that covers incredibly broad topics including how to dig a latrine (and build lots of other structures with minimal equipment), first aid for people and animals (including horses) and many other practical bits of info using technology that was available during the second world war.  i also have a bunch of books about gardening, herbalism, foraging, sewing, and other skills.  i think it's important to develop your skills as an individual because we will lose those fossil fuel "energy slaves" and our skills will be more valuable than any gadgets we can save.  pick skills you like, and develop them as hobbies... like beekeeping, or whatever.  also u look less weird if it's "just a hobby" wink wink

Clare

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2015, 07:18:30 AM »
Yes AA, I have a copy of Hard Times Handbook by australians K & I Smith, kept in in our emergency box in case of disasters (earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruptions are all possiblities living here) . Not a military one but full of all sorts of depression era survival skills & budget saving ideas!

We have lots of gardening & cooking/preserving books in our library, an accumulation of 30+ years of progressive learning, eg. from my trad home garden books from the 60's to John Jeavons then Mel Bartholomews Square Foot Gardening & just now I have out all the permaculture books from our 2 local city's libraries!

So I am enjoying reading the Gaia's Garden too. Plus find these other 2 books a great help with my current campaign to learn more about soil & how to improve mine here.

Building Soil, a down-to-earth approach. Elizabeth Murphy
I found this an excellent introduction & v practical.

Teaming with Microbes, the organic gardener's guide to the soil food web - J Lowefels & W Lewis - these authors are great advocates for adding compost & worm tea etc as their being biologically active materials, in contrast to Gaia's Toby Hemenway who is keener on sheet mulching...I'm working on all fronts here so combining the ideas from all 3 books!


Neven

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2015, 01:52:07 PM »
Thanks for those titles, Clare. I've added them to the next-book-buying-binge list.
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Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2019, 07:18:07 PM »
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2015, 07:52:07 AM »

Oh, that's why I didn't find this thread when I searched for "The End of Ice" and "The Unlivable Earth" (two books I borrowed from my library). The thread is several years old. Well, I am sure there have been books on AGW published since Nov 2, 2015, so I'll bump the thread.

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2019, 08:29:51 AM »
While in Redwood National Park several weeks ago, I picked up The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed by John Vaillant, and The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston.

The Wild Trees focused on a few individuals who dedicated their lives to finding the world's tallest living organisms within the Redwood State and National Parks. Quite an interesting read.

The Golden Spruce gives a history of the native people of Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte islands ~70 miles off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. However, the story also focuses on a man, Grant Hadwin, who felled the famous golden Sitka spruce tree.

Hadwin wrote several environmental manifestos (which I painstakingly attempted to find, and was mostly unsuccessful), regarding how people cared for a single organism -- the Golden Spruce -- because it was different, but those same people were completely indifferent to the mass destruction of the old growth forests around them.

Below is one of Hadwin's published letters:

Quote
Re: The Falling of Your "Pet Plant" On January 20 and January 21, 1997.

I put the falling cuts, into a tree, known as the Golden Spruce, near Port Clements, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. The tree is one, of two known Sitka Spruce, I believe, with an unusual colour pigmentation, which apparently causes a slightly golden hue. This tree is situated in a small "island" of old-growth forest, in a vast clear-cut (more or less), known as Haida Gwaii, by The Haida Aboriginal People. The next storm, in Haida Gwaii (if not before) will probably cause this +1000 year old plant, to fall into or near, the Yakoun River.

I don't care much for "freaks" whether they teach in university classrooms, sit in corporate boardrooms, perform in the circus or are put on display, as examples of old growth forest conservation or demonstration forests. I didn't enjoy butchering this magnificent old plant, but you apparently need a message and wake-up call, that even a university trained professional should be able to understand.

I draw your attention, to the Yukon news, of December 11, 1996 and the Daily News, in Prince Rupert, of January 7, 1997. (Next to the article on the Queen Charlotte City garbage dump and the murderer and the pedophile story). Perception is everything, I'm told. I really didn't have much trouble, crossing a rain swollen Yakoun River, at midnight, with a chainsaw and other equipment. Swimming in the Yakoun River, for thirteen minutes at -30 degrees Centigrade, is more challenging. It was challenging, however, to fall a +2 metre diameter Golden, at night, with a 25 inch chainsaw bar and leave this large plant, in a temporary vertical position.

I mean no disrespect, to most of the Haida People, by my actions or to the natural environment, of Haida Gwaii. I do however; mean this action to be an expression, of my rage and hatred, towards university trained professionals and their extreme supports, whose ideas, ethics, denials, part truths, attitudes etc. appear to be responsible for most of the abominations towards amateur life, on this planet.

Unfortunately, institutional professionals appear to be insane, in varying degrees, perhaps due in part to economically and psychologically abusive training methods. Please find enclosed, some of the last known photographs, of the Golden Spruce (unless you hurry), before the next wind storm.

Yours Truly
Grant Hadwin


I honestly was not sure where to put this. I have difficulty articulating my thoughts on this matter. Maybe the whole of humanity would wake up to the destruction of the natural world if many of our favorites were put on display like Hadwin did to the Golden spruce.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Sambuccu

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2019, 01:25:48 PM »
John Jeavons method :



For small an medium scale action :



For those who really are interested in Permaculture, and want a serious method of design :



For those interested in self sufficiency :



For those interested in global economic challenges :




etienne

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2019, 05:11:39 PM »
There is a new book that just came out for the french reading people. "Vivre avec la terre", Actes Sud, written by Mr and Mrs Herve-Gruyer. They manage a permaculture farm in
Bec Hellouin, Normandy. They also have published some videos.

crandles

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2019, 05:23:10 PM »
Contemporary Climate Change Debates
A Student Primer

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429446252

has just come out. No idea if it is a worthwhile read. (Possibly rather expensive at $31.49 at WHSmith) Xmas present list item  ;)

Contents
Quote
Introduction: Why and how to debate climate change -Mike Hulme
1. Is climate change the most important challenge of our times? -Sarah Cornell and Aarti Gupta
PART I: What do we need to know?
2. Is the concept of ‘tipping point’ helpful for describing and communicating possible climate futures? - Michel Crucifix and James Annan
3. Should individual extreme weather events be attributed to human agency? - Friederike E.L. Otto and Greg Lusk
4. Does climate change drive violence, conflict and human migration? - David D. Zhang and Qing Pei; Christiane Fröhlich and Tobias Ide
5. Can the social cost of carbon be calculated? - Reyer Gerlagh and Roweno Heijmans; Kozo Torasan Mayumi
PART II: What should we do?
6. Are carbon markets the best way to address climate change? -Misato Sato and Timothy Laing; Mike Hulme
7. Should future investments in energy technology be limited exclusively to renewables? - Jennie C. Stephens and Gregory Nemet
8. Is it necessary to research solar climate engineering as a possible backstop technology? - Jane C.S. Long and Rose Cairns
PART III: On what grounds should we base our actions?
9. Is emphasising consensus in climate science helpful for policymaking? - John Cook and Warren Pearce
10. Do rich people rather than rich countries bear the greatest responsibility for climate change? - Paul G. Harris and Kenneth Shockley
11. Is climate change a human rights violation? - Catriona McKinnon and Marie-Catherine Petersmann
PART IV: Who should be the agents of change?
12. Does successful emissions reduction lie in the hands of non-state rather than state actors? - Liliana B. Andronova and Kim Coetzee
13. Is legal adjudication essential for enforcing ambitious climate change policies? - Eloise Scotford; Marjan Peeters and Ellen Vos
14. Does the ‘Chinese model’ of environmental governance demonstrate to the world how to govern the climate? - Tianbao Qin and Meng Zhang; Lei Liu and Pu Wang
15. Are social media making constructive climate policymaking harder? - Mike S. Schäfer and Peter North

sidd

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HapHazard

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2019, 01:06:24 PM »
A collection. Oldie but a goodie. Still gleaning info from it, personally.
If I call you out but go no further, the reason is Brandolini's law.

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #13 on: May 12, 2020, 10:59:00 AM »
I have started reading The Authoritarians by Bob Altemeyer. It is only chapter one of a book published in 2006, and wow did he call it.

Quote
We would expect authoritarian followers especially to submit to corrupt authorities in their lives: to believe them when there is little reason to do so, to trust them when huge grounds for suspicion exist, and to hold them blameless when they do something wrong.

The book is available free online from Altemeyer himself: https://www.theauthoritarians.org/options-for-getting-the-book/
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Neven

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #14 on: May 12, 2020, 01:41:06 PM »
I've read the book a couple of years ago (via Sou's blog), and what struck me at the time is that the authoritarianism works both ways. Somehow, I expected that it was mostly applicable to people leaning right-wing because of a conservative mindset. But it can apply to left-leaning people as well.

Quote
We would expect authoritarian followers especially to submit to corrupt authorities in their lives: to believe them when there is little reason to do so, to trust them when huge grounds for suspicion exist, and to hold them blameless when they do something wrong.

This is what Trump and GOP voters do. But the same can be said for people voting Blue, no matter who.

I'll have to re-read that book some day. Lots of fascinating stuff in it.
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Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #15 on: May 13, 2020, 05:11:43 AM »
Somehow, I expected that it was mostly applicable to people leaning right-wing because of a conservative mindset. But it can apply to left-leaning people as well.

Correct, Altemeyer and others have pointed out that the desire for authoritarian subjugation/the mindset which is more likely to accept authoritarianism is not unique to the political right. It is however, as you yourself stated (and Altemeyer, and Innuendo Studios, and others have stated), mostly applicable to the political right. It does exist on the political left, but to a much lesser degree, especially in today's political climate.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #16 on: August 16, 2020, 04:11:01 AM »
Just finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Relevance abounds.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

etienne

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #17 on: August 16, 2020, 08:08:11 PM »
My wife just bought Eight Master Lessons of Nature written by Gary Ferguson. It's a good book, but she took the German version. I will probabely  order it in English.

Very good link provided by Sidd about Indian farming.

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #18 on: October 05, 2020, 03:33:19 PM »
Just finished Endgame Volume I by Derrick Jensen. A masterful compendium of the problem of civilization: that any creature that degrades its land base cannot live in that space sustainably, let alone forever.

Much of Jensen’s writing I found to be striking and profound, interspersed by uncomfortable and raw moments. He prefaces every chapter with a quote from some famous author/philosopher/etc. I found these to be compelling preludes and looked forward to finishing chapters so I could read the next introduction.

Volume II is apparently about how to take down civilization. But first, The Overstory by Richard Powers.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #19 on: February 09, 2021, 05:00:21 AM »
Read The Carbon Club by Marian Wilkinson. A brief history of how industry in Australia has successfully stoked doubt using the American model regarding climate change, fostering inaction on this crisis for decades.
Good book. Long and dense however.

Read White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo. A book I think all white people should read. Especially some of the posters on this forum with more questionable intent.

Read The Dog Fence: A Journey Across the Heart of Australia by James Woodford. One mans 4wd trip from the South Australian coast to Queensland. Interesting enough. Further piqued my interest in aboriginal books and stories.

Currently reading Tip of the Iceberg: My 3000 Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier by Mark Adams. Adams follows in the wake of the 1899 Harriman expedition to Nome, Alaska. So far so good.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2021, 05:12:49 AM by Ktb »
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Juan C. García

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #20 on: February 09, 2021, 05:33:13 AM »
On this Forum, I think that "A Farewell to Ice" by Peter Wadhams, should be a must.
Which is the best answer to Sep-2012 ASI lost (compared to 1979-2000)?
50% [NSIDC Extent] or
73% [PIOMAS Volume]

Volume is harder to measure than extent, but 3-dimensional space is real, 2D's hide ~50% thickness gone.
-> IPCC/NSIDC trends [based on extent] underestimate the real speed of ASI lost.

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #21 on: February 09, 2021, 05:43:17 AM »
Read that back in 2016 right when it came out. Before I joined the forum, was just a lurker at that point. But yes I agree.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #22 on: March 06, 2021, 01:38:11 PM »
Finished Tip of the Iceberg.

Started and finished Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Most Americans have a vague understanding of the atrocities perpetrated upon the indigenous people of the land they now call home, but many believe it had been a righteous fight of manifest destiny against the hordes of savages. This book took an emotional toll on me with each page. Nothing compared to what the natives of North America went through.

I seem to remember at least one poster on ASIF complaining of the indigenous peoples laziness and their propensity to drink on another sub forum here. Read this book and open your eyes to the attempted wholesale extinction of clan after clan.

Quote
And if the readers of this book should ever chance to see the poverty, the hopelessness, and the squalor of a modern Indian reservation, they may find it possible to truly understand the reasons why.
- Dee Brown

Read it and have your prejudices countered and your animosity assuaged.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

sidd

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #23 on: March 07, 2021, 12:23:16 AM »
Yes, that book should be required reading for american history. I visited Wounded Knee some years ago and posted a comment in this forum:

https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1482.msg119075.html#msg119075

sidd

kassy

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #24 on: March 07, 2021, 05:02:41 PM »
PSA: song are not books.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #25 on: March 08, 2021, 02:11:08 AM »
Heartfelt post sidd. What a crushing read.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

ballan

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #26 on: March 08, 2021, 11:18:08 AM »
Limits to growth (the 30 year update) whilst nearly 20 years old now, remains the best and most informative book i have read so far on the current ecological predicament of mankind. Required reading for anyone interested in the logistics of overshoot and collapse, no doubt.
"A state of life that calls for another way of living"

oren

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #27 on: March 08, 2021, 02:19:18 PM »
Welcome, Ballan.

Indeed I concur, a must-read.

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #28 on: July 02, 2021, 09:54:27 AM »
Started and Finished Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

Some strong, compelling arguments intertwined with some weak ones. The book definitely lets you know it was written in another time. Occasionally felt a bit jarring to read. Overall would recommend.

The age of -cides must come to an end. That much remains true to this day.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #29 on: August 06, 2021, 06:38:12 AM »
Started and finished Harriet A. Washington's A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind.

Incredible book. I had previously taken an environmental ethics course in undergrad a few years ago and had some background to the topic but this gave me a much more complete understanding.
Everything, absolutely everything in the United States ties in to racism.

From another thread:
I say it's Consumerism rather than Capitalism which is the problem, and that's down to individuals.

Big Oil has adopted that playbook - especially ExxonMobil. It's a variation on part of the Tobacco playbook - if people hadn't wanted to smoke we would not have made cigarettes and people would not have died of lung cancer. So if people didn't want to drive we would not be producing oil.

Has anybody never been persuaded to do something agianst their will from peer pressure?
Is the ziillions of dollars spent on marketing a waste of money?

Now behavioural scientists have shown that AI can be used to influence people's thinking and decisions. Soon AI will be an integral part of marketing, including the marketing of beliefs.

To make the decisions identified above already requires the average person to set himself against the society he or she ives in, and it will get worse as even Governments are wedded to ever-increasing GDP.

Consumerism is the result, not the cause of the crisis we face, and Capitalism made it happen.

ps: Marx/Leninism claimed that dialectical materialism in a planned economy would ensure the people had an ever-increasing supply of goods. It failed, most people under communism consumed far less per capita than us in the West.

Funnily enough, I thought the playbook of fomenting doubt was created by big tobacco. This book indicates doubt was used by an industry nearly 40 years before big tobacco adopted it. Lead. Big lead. The lead industry used the same tactics used today to ensure that laws were not passed banning lead from housing as early as the 1920s. The Lead Industries Association managed to lobby against banning lead and reduce that to simply warnings against lead. Which were not publicly widespread.
Internal memos from lead producers indicated they knew lead was poisonous and banned women and children from working in close proximity to lead in their factories. Externally they continued to promote the use of lead in the home and gasoline.
« Last Edit: August 06, 2021, 07:40:43 AM by Ktb »
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Sebastian Jones

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #30 on: August 08, 2021, 06:55:07 AM »
Hi KTB,
Silent Spring is perhaps THE seminal environmental book of our age.
It certainly changed my life- I first read it while in nursing school, and realised that healing the planet is even more vital than healing humans.
I just re-read the introduction, the fable for our time.
She was such a great writer.

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #31 on: August 11, 2021, 03:51:52 AM »
Hey Sebastian Jones,

I know I’m in the minority when I say this but I really did not enjoy her writing style. I found the book a slog to get through even though it’s covering a topic I find extremely interesting and important. I felt she regularly detracted from her own arguments at the last minute by going “and also think of the economics!!! Money money money.”

While that may be a motivating factor for some I felt it hindered every point she made.

Still, I recognize the book as one of, if not the most, important environmental book of all time.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #32 on: September 20, 2021, 01:52:52 PM »
Read Dr. Randy Olson’s Don’t Be Such A Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style 2nd edition.

He describes how scientists are terrible at communicating effectively to the masses and discusses a formula he came up with to strengthen narrative.
He notes famous scientists of the recent past and today who have deep narrative intuition (Carl Sagan, Michael Crichton, NdGT).

The 2nd edition came after the election of Trump and dissects Trump from the view of narrative. Olson’s take? Trump gets narrative at a level that no normal politicians match.

I enjoyed the book but he never quite got to the HOW to develop this narrative; HOW to train your brain to use his ABT formula (and, but, therefore). This was the most frustrating part of an otherwise good read.

So I am left searching for more books on story telling, narrative development, and science communication.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

longwalks1

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #33 on: September 23, 2021, 05:17:55 AM »
Dated, time and place jumps around a bit, but still quite a tome about the damn dams with US Bureau of Reclamation  and the destruction they have wrought (and what still might come).  Originally from 1985, political analysis and hydrology and geology of insane government policies still quite trenchant  about these wounds in our mother the Earth.

Quote
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
by Marc Reisner
Rating details ·  9,314 ratings  ·  827 reviews
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthl ...more

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56140.Cadillac_Desert?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=tyrY2TECQV&rank=1

It was recommended by he who must not be named. 

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #34 on: October 18, 2021, 09:39:35 AM »
Finished Fire Country by Victor Steffenson. Very fascinating book on indigenous land management techniques. Obviously with a heavy focus on Aboriginal burning practices.  Very good read. We must start to restore Country the world over, and that starts with listening to traditional owners.

Finished Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson. Interesting book about the crisis facing insects. Broken into 5 sections: Why Insects Matter; Insect Declines; Causes of Insect Declines; Where Are We Headed, and; What Can We Do?
Goulson is an entomologist from the UK. His writing contains a mixture from his academic life and long love of insects.
The weakest part by far was section 4. He changed from scientific narrative to fictional prose, diving into a dystopian future for several pages. In section 5 he notes the necessity for large systemic changes. I will not hold my breath for any of his changes wishlist.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #35 on: October 20, 2021, 07:59:15 AM »
Finished Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788 3rd edition by Bruce Elder.

Incredibly sad book. Elder was inspired to write this book after reading Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee which I have reviewed above.
The last page in this book struck an almost identical tone (bolding my own):

Quote
We, the invaders, took all that away. We destroyed it. We took the land as if it was our own. We destroyed the native fruit-bearing trees to create pastures for cattle and sheep. We killed native wildlife so that it would not compete for the pastures. We replaced ecology with aggressive nineteenth-century exploitative capitalism. We built roads over sacred sites. We denied the land its spirituality. We killed off Aboriginal people with guns and poison and disease. We refused, through ignorance and arrogance, to see any tribal differentiation in those Aboriginal people who survived our insidious, long-term holocaust. Those Aboriginal people who survived were herded into reserves or ‘allowed’ to live in humpies on the fringes of towns. We took away their reason to exist and when, in their despair, they took to the bottle or simply threw up their hands in hopelessness and gave up life, we had the arrogance to accuse them of drunkenness and laziness.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2021, 08:43:50 AM by Ktb »
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #36 on: January 27, 2022, 12:29:25 AM »
I would strongly encourage anybody interested in indigenous thinking or sustainability to read the First Knowledges series edited by Margo Neale.

The first book in the series Songlines: The Power and Promise is co-authored by Neale and Lynne Kelly. Neale is an expert on indigenous history, while Kelly is an expert on mnemonic devices and memory. In Songlines they tackle many myths of aboriginal society, one of the most egregious being that Aboriginal people were lucky to survive in Australia.

Book 2, Design: Building on Country discusses incorporating indigenous design into modern architecture. More than just at the superficial level. Co-author Alison Page is world renowned for her culturally appropriate architectural services, while Paul Memmot is the Director of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre at The University of Queensland. Both authors discuss the critical need for indigenous people to be involved at every level of the project. One striking factoid presented noted that many Aboriginal people would rather pull extension cords into traditional shelters/homes/humpies/gunyah instead of live in government housing as government housing is unable to provide the necessary warmth in cold months, coolness in hot months, or appropriate social structure spacing required of Aboriginal society.

Another painful note was that aboriginal people have the worst hospital outcomes and are most likely to leave hospitals early against medical advice. Page partially attributes this to the design of modern hospitals going against much or all of aboriginal architecture and notes huge success when she was asked to work with Barkandji elders in Wilcannia.

Book 3, Country: Future Fire, Future Farming is co-authored by Bill Gammage (of The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia) and Bruce Pascoe (of Dark Emu fame). Pascoe discusses aboriginal plants and farming techniques as potential saviours of modern poor water management practices, invasive species, and Aboriginal poverty. Gammage tackles fire vs no-fire, he notes both were conscious decisions made by the Aboriginal people across this continent.
« Last Edit: January 27, 2022, 12:39:14 AM by Ktb »
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

kassy

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #37 on: January 27, 2022, 02:12:04 PM »
Thanks! I picked up The Memory Code (by Lynne Kelly) last year after it showed as a suggestion for people who bought Dark Emu. Fascinating read. 
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

kassy

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #38 on: October 30, 2022, 03:44:12 PM »
Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees Jared Farmer Basic (2022)

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03393-1

Have not read it but this looks interesting.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.


Ktb

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #40 on: November 11, 2022, 05:51:06 AM »
Book 4 of the first knowledges series is entitled Astronomy: Sky Country. Indigenous knowledge of the night sky is extensive and complex. Light pollution is damaging Sky Country. Satellites are the latest form of colonialism.

Book 5 is Plants: Past, Present and Future. Have not read this one yet
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

El Cid

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #41 on: November 11, 2022, 10:08:27 AM »
This is a very good one, one of my favourites of late: Fred Pearce: The New Wild

https://www.amazon.com/New-Wild-Invasive-Species-Salvation/dp/0807039551



It's about invasive species appearing in ecosystems. It turns out that nothing is constant in Nature, all plants were "invasive" at some point,( eg. oaks in Europe a couple thousand years ago invaded and destroyed the pine/birch ecosystemin a few decades), and most of the time "invasives" actually help the ecosystem to heal

"In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey across six continents to rediscover what conservation in the twenty-first century should be about. Pearce explores ecosystems from remote Pacific islands to the United Kingdom, from San Francisco Bay to the Great Lakes, as he digs into questionable estimates of the cost of invader species and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature. Pearce acknowledges that there are horror stories about alien species disrupting ecosystems, but most of the time, the tens of thousands of introduced species usually swiftly die out or settle down and become model eco-citizens. The case for keeping out alien species, he finds, looks increasingly flawed"

Sebastian Jones

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #42 on: November 12, 2022, 06:07:37 AM »
This is a very good one, one of my favourites of late: Fred Pearce: The New Wild

https://www.amazon.com/New-Wild-Invasive-Species-Salvation/dp/0807039551



It's about invasive species appearing in ecosystems. It turns out that nothing is constant in Nature, all plants were "invasive" at some point,( eg. oaks in Europe a couple thousand years ago invaded and destroyed the pine/birch ecosystemin a few decades), and most of the time "invasives" actually help the ecosystem to heal

"In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey across six continents to rediscover what conservation in the twenty-first century should be about. Pearce explores ecosystems from remote Pacific islands to the United Kingdom, from San Francisco Bay to the Great Lakes, as he digs into questionable estimates of the cost of invader species and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature. Pearce acknowledges that there are horror stories about alien species disrupting ecosystems, but most of the time, the tens of thousands of introduced species usually swiftly die out or settle down and become model eco-citizens. The case for keeping out alien species, he finds, looks increasingly flawed"

I'll look it out- I'm currently re-reading a similar book the really changed me from a  anti-invasive warrior to something much more mild mannered and philosophical. I still go on weed pulls most year, but mostly for social reasons. 'Where do Camels belong' Ken Thompson. Greystone Books

El Cid

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #43 on: November 12, 2022, 08:23:14 AM »
Thanks Sebastian, bought it, will read it during winter!

etienne

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #44 on: April 11, 2023, 10:20:19 AM »
I found this review of the book by Dougald Hine "At Work in the Ruins" interesting.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2023-03-13/we-are-all-modern-now/

Quote
The difference between the Israeli hen and the indigenous Palestinian hen is that the first cannot survive, grow, or produce eggs without special shots, a special mixture of food, specific temperatures, and a specific schedule; it requires some kind of ‘scientific and rational’ planning and constant support from outside… In short, if this ‘technological’ hen is taken out of its ‘artificial and ideological’ environment and put into the real environment, it will have difficulty surviving (p149).

There, I also found a link to the Dark Mountain manifesto written by Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine which is about the end of our civilisation,

https://dark-mountain.net/about/manifesto/

Here, I would quote to parts :
Quote
The myth of progress is founded on the myth of nature. The first tells us that we are destined for greatness; the second tells us that greatness is cost-free. Each is intimately bound up with the other. Both tell us that we are apart from the world; that we began grunting in the primeval swamps, as a humble part of something called ‘nature’, which we have now triumphantly subdued. The very fact that we have a word for ‘nature’ is evidence that we do not regard ourselves as part of it. Indeed, our separation from it is a myth integral to the triumph of our civilisation. We are, we tell ourselves, the only species ever to have attacked nature and won. In this, our unique glory is contained.

And the 3 first points of the conclusion:
Quote
THE EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF UNCIVILISATION

‘We must unhumanise our views a little, and become confident
As the rock and ocean that we were made from.’

     
1    We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it.
2    We reject the faith which holds that the converging crises of our times can be reduced to a set of ‘problems’ in need of technological or political ‘solutions’.
3    We believe that the roots of these crises lie in the stories we have been telling ourselves. We intend to challenge the stories which underpin our civilisation: the myth of progress, the myth of human centrality, and the myth of our separation from ‘nature’. These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths.

kiwichick16

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Re: Informative & Useful Books
« Reply #45 on: July 17, 2023, 11:11:31 AM »