Green Group discussion

I have tidied up the forum bookshelf so books on particular topics should be more findable.
Let's bring the list of titles more up to date.

If you would like to recommend a recent book *which you have read* to be placed on the Group Bookshelf, please post the details here!
Ideally:
Say if it is fiction or non fiction.
Place a link from the add book/author link on top of the comment box as you write. If you link the title and cover both, great.
The book must be relevant to the Green Group of course.

Any Moderator can add the book to the shelf.

Mods - please categorise the book on one or more sub-shelves, such as ecology, gardening, eco-thriller.

I have just enjoyed Eager and added it to the bookshelf.
Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter


Great book about beavers and ecology.

Just read and reviewed an excellent book to inspire and aid activism, in small ways or large.
The author Stephanie Feldstein is a Green Group member.

The Animal Lover's Guide to Changing the World: Practical Advice and Everyday Actions for a More Sustainable, Humane, and Compassionate Planet


My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Fantastic thriller set on Kodiak Island. Our heroine is a research biologist.
Murder Over Kodiak

Just finished a really excellent short fiction anthology featuring climate fiction by some renowned writers: Margaret Atwood, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Silverberg, Nancy Kress, Gregory Benford, and many others. Quite a variety of styles, lengths, and areas of focus, but all tying back in some way to climate change and its impact on our world. Highly recommended!

Loosed upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction

Sounds like a worthy addition to the shelf! I'll keep an eye out for the book.

Author Deanna Raybourn
has recommended a book in her newsletter.

"P.S. I am HUGELY excited to recommend THE RAVENMASTER: My Life With The Ravens At The Tower of London by Chris Skaife. It's a perfect October read—because RAVENS—and it is an absolute delight! The last time I was in London, I was lucky enough to get a private tour of the Tower thanks to Chris, and he told loads of amazing stories about his experience as the keeper of Her Majesty's favorite corvids. I am so pleased he has written them down! Highly rec'd."

The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

This is going on the shelf.

The most intelligent thriller I've read all year.
No Place for Wolverines

I suggest that we can recommend books for the Goodreads Choice awards, in appropriate categories.
I've nominated:
No Place for Wolverines
Dorothy Brooke and the Fight to Save Cairo's Lost War Horses
Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

We Build Our Homes: Small Stories of Incredible Animal Architects

Here's a nice gift you could give to a young reader.

Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed off the Coast of Vietnam


I'm adding this book... while it is not specifically about nature study, the account of deep sea work helps us understand how the sea bed was opened for exploration and exploitation.

by Jennifer Skiff

Is poetry okay? Denise Levertov’s The Life Around Us is a small collection of nature poems, many with ecological themes.

Sounds good to me, Susan!

Hi all! Hoping this read stirs the imagination and gets our young people to take steps towards healing the planet. -Tai

Author JT ELLISON
has recommended to me:

"WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens
There’s a reason this book has been burning up the bestseller lists. It’s lovely. So atmospheric, so gorgeously written. An environmental mysterious love story that will break your heart and keep you guessing, it has all the lushness of the marsh at its center. Go forth and read it now, because the movie is sure to be a massive hit."

Where the Crawdads Sing

I read an interesting, practical book about manufacturing and materials and how they can be made more sustainable, called Material Value by Julia Goldstein. She sent me the book for review, and I read it and reviewed it while on vacation recently. I'd like to see more books like this that are practical and not hyperbolic. https://klallendoerfer.wordpress.com/...

Thanks Karen, that's a great recommendation. Going on the shelf this minute.

I’m didn’t see the “book reads” books on the bookshelf, but I didn’t look at the entire bookshelf. You’ve got some great books listed.

Here are a few of my favorites, some of which are probably already on the bookshelf.

Nonfiction:
We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer by Will McCallum
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves by Farley Mowat
Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World by Bill Nye
Hope is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds by Christopher Cokinos
The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson
Spring After Spring: How Rachel Carson Inspired the Environmental Movement by Stephanie Roth Sisson

Fiction:
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Candice 🐥

These look good!
Some will be on the list but some may not.
A nice little task for one of the Mods over Christmas, maybe.

Always glad of recommendations.

One of the books on my list is now available for a goodreads giveaway. Enter by December 16th for a chance to win a copy of We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer.

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Candice

Unfortunately only people in America can enter those now. But good luck to all.

Clare, I had forgotten about that. That’s a bummer. I almost never win, but it’s fun to enter.

Candice

We used to be able to enter and I actually did win books from Irish / UK publishers who could target Irish readers only. Of course I reviewed the books after reading, so everyone won.

Here is an article from The Guardian about two books addressing The Green New Deal. I haven’t read them, but they sound perfect for this group.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

Thanks, look interesting.

For Fiction I would add these
New York 2140
by Kim Stanley Robinson
and
Antarctica
by Kim Stanley Robinson

I have both of those here on the TBR list.... just waiting for (me to have time to read them or) someone to recommend them to the bookshelf! Thanks Herman. Great choices.
New York 2140

Antarctica

Rewild Yourself: 23 Spellbinding Ways to Make Nature More Visible or Rewild Yourself: Making Nature More Visible in our Lives.

Two editions of the same great book. Twenty-three ways to get more in touch with the nature around us. Written for the British audience, but great for everyone!

Candice 🦉

Candice, all the books whose titles you placed here are on our shelf now.
Keep them coming!

Thanks, Clare.

I just finished No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg and it definitely belongs on the shelf. It would also make a good group read.

Candice

Thank you!

I have placed Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of a Common Fate

on the shelf - see my review, but it won't be available until March.

I’m currently reading Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Douglas W. Tallamy. It definitely qualifies for the library.

I just finished On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal byNaomi Klein and was happy to see it on the shelf already. Wow, what a powerful book!

Candice

I just finished Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change: How to Understand and Respond to Climate Science Deniers by John Cook. It was clear, thorough and fun to read. The author uses science and cartoons to debunk climate change denial myths. Highly recommended.

Candice

I just finished Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer by Peter P. Marra. He discusses challenges like extinction and disease, while backing up everything with science.

Candice

Thanks, Candice. I'll check the shelf and add any new titles.

Teri Fink tells me about her upcoming work Teri Fink



"The Clovis Dig is a multi-cultural mystery. Orchardist Claire Courtney is struggling to make a living when strange rocks are unearthed beneath her apple trees. She calls in the archaeologists—Native American rookie Joe Running and renowned expert Spencer Grant. The objects are identified as ancient artifacts belonging to the Clovis People.

Will the discovery bring Claire the money she so desperately needs, or risk her home and livelihood handed down through generations? When the dig is underway the local Tribes turn out in protest, claiming the artifacts as their own. When the archaeologists begin to clash, Claire doesn’t know who to trust.

Everything comes to a standstill when the excavators exhume a shocking find, and an investigation of a different kind begins. The Clovis Dig, will be published by Evolved Publishing in spring/summer 2020."

Seems like this might suit eco-fiction. Here is an article by Teri on Writing And Wellness.
http://writingandwellness.com/2020/05...

On Ocean Boulevard


This is a lovely summer read about three generations who live in beach houses and work to preserve nesting turtles.
Plastic cleanups feature largely in this book, the latest in a series.
The author Mary Alice Monroe

is a keen environmentalist and beach turtle worker.

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant

The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony

They look good!

When Birds Are Near: Dispatches from Contemporary Writers

Nature Beyond Solitude: Notes from the Field


Both recommended by me.

I've just reviewed and added Happiness Is Green


A visitor to French Guyana gains a new appreciation for biodiversity.

Not for me, please!: I choose to act green

Lovely little book for kids. See my review.

Candice recommended a book to me:
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

and this looks great so I've added it to the Bookshelf too. Thanks!

Another great review for the above book:


http://jemimapett.com/blog/2020/10/31...

I earlier read Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things and just finished reading the "sequel": The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability--Designing for Abundance. I recommend both of these highly. They present a very different take on sustainability: i.e., not shooting for "less bad" solutions, closed-loop systems, or "net-zero" approaches but instead redesigning our systems to actually generate positive results; improving things rather than just mitigating damage.

I find these authors' visions provide a welcome breath of optimism at a time when I, at least, really need that.

Good choice, Brian.
I have just finished In Search of Mycotopia: Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms

and added it.

I would like to recommend a book for the Bookshelf.
Upgrading Earth: It Was Never Meant to Be Saved, It Was Always Meant to Be Upgraded!

It is a book that seeks to answer the question is there a practical purpose of earth? Does one exist? Where is it found if it does exist. What does this mean then for humanity and the future of the planet. It covers a wide spectrum of topical area's such as science, religion, philosophy, faith, technology, purpose, law, business with the goal of bringing us hope that for anything to have a purpose, there must be a plan for it to fulfil. So what is the plan for planet earth?

Non-Fiction, with categories of geo_politics, natural_history, popular-science, practical, social-philosophy. These are what I would put its classification under.
Thanks