Preface. My goal since college has been to read as much as I could across as many fields as possible for a Big Picture View and understand the world as it really is rather than how I’d like it to be.  At first it was a bit like learning Santa didn’t exist, but then I got used to the world not being how I wanted it to be, and delighted instead of  upset to find the world worked differently than I’d thought. All this reading has made my life richer and more interesting, as my wonder at the complexity of nature and the universe continues to grow.  And how did I read so many books?  I read as I walked 10 miles round-trip every day to work.   More booklists

Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com  Author of Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy; When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, Barriers to Making Algal Biofuels, & “Crunch! Whole Grain Artisan Chips and Crackers”.  Women in ecology  Podcasts: WGBH, Jore, Planet: Critical, Crazy Town, Collapse Chronicles, Derrick Jensen, Practical Prepping, Kunstler 253 &278, Peak Prosperity,  Index of best energyskeptic posts

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Flora & Fauna

• RM Sapolsky. A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
• S Montgomery. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness 
• L Braitman. Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves
• L Margonelli. Underbug: an obsessive tale of termites and technology
• T Winegard. The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator
• S Simard. Finding the Mother Tree
• B Natterson-Horowitz. Wildhood: The Astounding Connections between Human and Animal Adolescents
• L Cooke. The Truth About Animals Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife  
• M Sheldrake. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
• DA Sibley. What It’s Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing–What Birds Are Doing, and Why
• J Sterba. Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds
• S McCarthy. Becoming a Tiger: How baby animals learn to live in the wild
• J Burger. The Parrot Who Owns Me: The Story of a Relationship
• J Tresl. Who Ever Heard Of A Horse In The House
• B Krause. Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the origins of music in the world’s wild places
• C Foster. Being a beast. Adventures across the species divide.
• J Sterba. Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds
• T Grandin. Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals  
• C Safina. Beyond words: What animals think and feel.
• DG Haskell. The forest unseen. A year’s watch in nature
• C Safina. Eye of the Albatross. Views of the Endangered Sea
• C Combes. The Art of Being a Parasite
• J Vaillant. The golden spruce: A true story of myth, madness, and greed
• B Kilham.  In the company of bears: what black bears have taught me about intelligence and intuition
• D Wolfe. Tales from the Underground: A Natural History of Subterranean
• C Tudge. The Bird: A natural history of who birds are, where they came from, & how they live
• M Derr.  A Dog’s History of America
• S Ellis. The Man who lives with wolves
• C Zimmer. Parasite Rex. Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures
• B Heinrich. Mind of the Raven. Investigations & adventures with Wolf-birds.
• J Vaillant. The tiger: a true story of vengeance and survival
• C Warren. What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs 
• N Jans. A Wolf Called Romeo

Science 

• R Conniff.  The Natural History of the Rich: A Field Guide
• B Bryson. The Body: A guide for occupants
• B Bryson. A short history of nearly everything
• EO Wilson. Consilience. The unity of knowledge. 
• A Zadra. When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep
• J McPhee. The Control of Nature.
• DG Haskell. The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature    
• A Weisman. Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?
• C Slobodchikoff. Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals
• D Bodanis. The Secret House.
• A Wulf. The invention of nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
• EO Wilson. The meaning of human existence
• J Hemming. Naturalists in Paradise: Wallace, Bates and Spruce in the Amazon
• M Roach. Stiff. The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.
• M Roach. Gulp. Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.
• M Roach.  Packing for Mars. The Curious Science of Life in the Void.
• N Jablonski. Skin, A Natural History
• J Smith. Nature Noir A Park Ranger’s Patrol in the Sierra
• C Mooney. The Republican Brain. The Science of why they Deny Science–and Reality
• J Gould. Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence
• M Novacek. The biodiversity crisis: Losing what counts.
• P Ward. A new history of life: the radical new discoveries about the origins & evolution of life
• C Urbigkit. Shepherds of Coyote rocks: public lands, private herds & the natural world
• E Bailey. The sound of a wild snail eating
• R Conniff. The species seekers: heroes, fools, & the mad pursuit of life on earth
• T Flannery. The Future Eaters: An ecological history of the Australian lands & People
• OR Pagan. Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins: A Trip Through the World of Animal Intoxication
• B Heinrich. The Snoring Bird: My Family’s Journey Through a Century of Biology     
• M Williams. Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis   
• JF Mount. California Rivers & Streams: The Conflict between Fluvial Process & Land Use.
• R Carson. 1962. Silent Spring.  As relevant today as it was 60 years ago
• JB Buhs. The Fire Ant Wars: Nature, Science, & Public Policy in 20th-Century America
• A Zadra. When Brains Dream. Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep
• S Hawking. A brief history of time.
• GA Bradshaw. Carnivore Minds: Who These Fearsome Animals Really Are
• V Smil. Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities
• V Smil. How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going
• M Altenried. The digital factory: the Human labor of Automation
• J Waldman. Rust: The Longest War 

Evolution

• D Gaeber. The Dawn of Everything: A new history of humanity
• L Cooke. Bitch: On the female of the species
• JC Scott. Against the Grain: A deep history of the earliest states
• R Wrangham. The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution
• HA Garcia. Sex, Power, and Partisanship: How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide
• P Ward. Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe
• EO Wilson. The Social Conquest of Earth
• C. Darwin. On the origin of species & the descent of man.
• P. Corning. Nature’s Magic. Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind
• G. Miller. The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature
• R. Wrangham. Catching Fire: How cooking made us human
• M. Zuk. Paleofantasy: what evolution really tells us about sex, diet, and how we live
• G. Cochran. The 10,000 Year Explosion. How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution
• SB Hrdy. Mothers and Others
• J Weiner. Beak of the Finch. A story of evolution in our time. 1994
• M Ridley. The origins of virtue: human instincts and the evolution of cooperation
• D Barash. Myth of Monogamy. Fidelity and infidelity in animals and people
• M Tomasello. Becoming Human.

Critical Thinking

• K Andersen. Fantasyland. How America went haywire. A 500-year history
• A Friedemann. Book Review of Grain Brain: Extraordinary claim not backed up by evidence
• N Oreskes. Merchants of doubt. How a handful of scientists obscured the truth
• C Sagan. The Demon-Haunted World:  Science as a Candle in the Dark
• S Singh. Trick or treatment.  The undeniable facts about alternative medicine.
• C Mooney.  The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science- and Reality
• S Woloshin. Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics
  
• D Levitan. Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science
• T Nichols. The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters 
• J Garvey. The Persuaders: the hidden industry that wants to change your mind
• T Sharot. The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain  
• C Mooney. Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future
• B Brotherton. Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories
• N Postman. Amusing Ourselves to Death
• R Moynihan. Selling Sickness.
• . Salerno. Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless
• D Dorner. The Logic of Failure
• D Levitan. Not a scientist: how politicians mistake, misrepresent, and utterly mangle science
• N Capaldi. The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking.
• R Cialdini. Influence: The Art of Persuasion
• M Shermer. Why People Believe Weird Things. Pseudoscience, superstition
• M Shermer. The Science of Good & Evil. Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and follow the golden rule
• T Nichols. The death of expertise: The campaign against established knowledge & why it matters
• JJ Romm. Language intelligence: lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
• D Kahneman. Thinking, Fast and Slow
•  

Health

• J Barry. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
• L Garrett. Betrayal of Trust. The collapse of global health
• M Moss.  Salt, sugar, fat. How the food giants hooked us.
• R George. Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood
• D Kessler. The end of overeating: Taking control of the insatiable American appetite
• M Goozner. The $800 Million Pill. The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs
• S. Glantz. Tobacco War.
• J Bennett. Unhealthy Charities: Hazardous to Your Health and Wealth
• M Nestle. How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health
• E Whitney, et al. Nutrition for Health and Health Care
• G Reynolds. The first 20 minutes. Surprising science reveals how we can exercise better, train smarter, live longer
• B Ehrenreich. Natural causes: An epidemic of wellness, the certainty of dying, and killing ourselves to live
• R George. Nine pints: A journey through the money, medicine, and mysteries of blood
• R Carson. Silent Spring.

Resource Allocation     

• D. Landes. 1998. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor          
• Jared Diamond. 2017. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human 
• B. Ehrenreich. 2010. Nickeled and dimed: On (not) getting by in America
• Susan George. 1994. Faith and Credit: The World Bank’s secular empire. 
• M. Naim. 2016. Illicit.  How smugglers, traffickers, and copycats are hijacking the global economy

Climate Change    

• S. R. Weart. 2004. The Discovery of Global Warming           
• J. D. Cox. 2005. Climate Crash: Abrupt Climate Change And What It Means For Our Future      
• Brian Fagan. 2000. The little ice age: how climate made history 1300 – 1850          
• Brian Fagan. 2004. The long summer. How climate changed civilization     
• J. Friedrichs. The future is not what it used to be. Climate change & energy scarcity
• National Research council. 2002. Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises

Fire

• S. J. Pyne. 1997. Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire      
• S. J. Pyne. 1991. Burning Bush, A Fire History of Australia              
• M. Taylor. 2001. Jumping Fire.  A Smoke Jumper’s memoir of fighting wildfire
• G. L. Simon. Flame and fortune in the American west. Urban development, environmental change, and the great Oakland hills fire