Natural Resources Books

Salt: A World History

Mark Kurlansky

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Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Early Civilization
Subjects -> History -> World -> General
Subjects -> Science -> Earth Sciences -> Environmental Science

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 105 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Prepare to be A"salt"ed :-) 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is a relatively light look at how SALT has played a major roll in shaping our world and even the very language we use. The author has deeply researched the subject, compiling a very quick and fun read. While some of the historical ties might be overstated in parts, the roll of SALT really is undeniably important to both human survival and our culture.

One unexpected benefit of reading this book is that you can be the only "expert" on SALT around almost any table, a great way to fill those awkward long silences at company gatherings :-) I also recommend Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World for the same reasons.

Recommended!

Editorial Review:

Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World, here turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Kurlansky's kaleidoscopic history is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

Smithsonian Handbooks: Rocks & Minerals (Smithsonian Handbooks)

Chris Pellant

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Reference

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Smithsonian Handbook of Rocks and Minerals combines 600 vivid full--color photos with descriptions of more than 500 specimens. This authoritative and systematic photographic approach, with words never separated from pictures, marks a new generation of identification guides. Each entry combines a precise description with annotated photographs to highlight the chief characteristics of the rock or mineral and distinguishing features. Color--coded bands provide a clear, at--a--glance facts for quick reference. In addition, each mineral entry features an illustration showing the crystal system to which the mineral belongs. Designed for beginners and experienced collectors alike, the Smithsonian Handbook of Rocks and Minerals explains what rocks or minerals are, how they are classified, and how to start a collection. To help in the initial stages of rock identification, a clear visual key illustrates the differences between igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, then guides the reader to the correct rock entry. A concise glossary provides instant understanding of technical and scientific terms

The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability

James Gustave Speth

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Economics -> Sustainable Development
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Economics -> Theory

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

How serious are the threats to our environment? Here is one measure of the problem: if we continue to do exactly what we are doing, with no growth in the human population or the world economy, the world in the latter part of this century will be unfit to live in. Of course human activities are not holding at current levels—they are accelerating, dramatically—and so, too, is the pace of climate disruption, biotic impoverishment, and toxification. In this book Gus Speth, author of Red Sky at Morning and a widely respected environmentalist, begins with the observation that the environmental community has grown in strength and sophistication, but the environment has continued to decline, to the point that we are now at the edge of catastrophe.

Speth contends that this situation is a severe indictment of the economic and political system we call modern capitalism. Our vital task is now to change the operating instructions for today’s destructive world economy before it is too late. The book is about how to do that.

(20080129)

The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience

Rob Hopkins

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Economics -> Sustainable Development
Subjects -> Science -> Nature & Ecology -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

We live in an oil-dependent world, arriving at this level of dependency in a very short space of time by treating petroleum as if it were in infinite supply. Most of us avoid thinking about what happens when oil runs out (or becomes prohibitively expensive), but The Transition Handbook shows how the inevitable and profound changes ahead can have a positive outcome. These changes can lead to the rebirth of local communities that will grow more of their own food, generate their own power, and build their own houses using local materials. They can also encourage the development of local currencies to keep money in the local area.

There are now over 30 “transition towns” in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with more joining as the idea takes off. They provide valuable experience and lessons-learned for those of us on this side of the Atlantic. With little proactive thinking at the governmental level, communities are taking matters into their own hands and acting locally. If your town is not a transition town, this upbeat guide offers you the tools for starting the process.

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition

Marc Reisner

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Real Estate -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 94 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

this is what i'd been missing? 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Cadillac Desert is a plodding book that spends more time making sideways remarks about its characters than establishing it's own narrative. Plagued by numerous typographical errors, it reads in fits and starts. While its message of government excess and because-we-can justification for modifying the natural landscape is surely worthwhile, if repetitive, the fact of the matter is that two generations of farmers, ranchers and urbanites in the American West looked to the Bureau of Reclamation as the only organization suited to develop their water resources. The dated material is noticeable at times--who but a civil engineer now knows of the Teton Dam failure? why the concern over the Central Arizona Project that has operated for nearly two decades?--and the treatment of the material is done with an eye toward stirring the reader's emotions more than informing them. Donald Worster's Rivers of Empire deals with much the same material in a more thorough and even-handed, though academic, manner.

Editorial Review:

The definitive history of water resources in the American West, and a very illuminating lesson in the political economy of limited resources anywhere. Highly recommended!

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century

Alex Steffen

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Environment -> Ecology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Worldchanging is packed with information, resources, reviews, and ideas that give readers access to the tools they need to build a better future. Written by a diverse collaborative of innovators, Worldchanging demonstrates that the means for making a difference lie all around us.

This team of top-notch writers, brought together by Worldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen, includes Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity, Geekcore founder Ethan Zuckerman, and sustainable food expert Anne Lappé, among many others.

Each chapter offers practical answers to important questions, such as: Why does buying locally produced food make sense? What steps can we take to influence our workplace toward sustainability? How can we travel, live, work, and learn in world-changing ways? How, in short, can we participate in building a better future locally and globally?

Worldchanging proves that a life that is sustainably prosperous, thoughtful and democratic, dynamic and peaceful, is not just possible, it’s here.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals (National Audubon Society Field Guides)

NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY

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Subjects -> Science -> Earth Sciences -> Geology -> General
Subjects -> Science -> Earth Sciences -> Geology -> Petrology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not What I Expected 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I was really excited to buy this book, but it wasn't as great as I was expecting. The pictures are deceiving to me. I can't really use this book to identify rocks in my collection.

Fantastic reference book!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

We are avid rockhounds and have been looking for a book to help identify some of what we find. This book had great photos and descriptions. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone.

Rock Identification 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The National Audubon Field Guides are all great and the clear pictures make rock and mineral identification much easier.

Editorial Review:

Perfect for mountain climbers and hikers, this valuable reference covers more rocks and minerals in North America than any other available guide. 794 full-color photographs depict all the important rocks, gems, and minerals -- in many variations of color and crystal form -- and the natural environments in which they occur; written descriptions provide information on field marks, similar rocks and minerals, environment, areas of occurrence, and derivation of names. Includes a guide to mineral collecting and a list of rock-forming minerals

Gemstones (Smithsonian Handbooks)

Cally Hall

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good for real gems, but... 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I'm a new beader, and while this is a beautiful book, many of the stones I buy are not listed when I look them up in the color-code index. My hopes were that when I forgot what the stone was called, or wanted more info to tell my customers, I could find it. There are so many color variations and so many semi-precious gemstones being made into beads, it may be impossible to have a total reference book. It is a great source for those gems listed, and it may be more geared toward rockhounds.

Great Reference Tool 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I Guess I'm part Crow; Shiney, Sparkley things definetly attract my attention, while the human side of me wants to know what they are, where they come from, and how they are formed. This book actually appeals to both sides. The color plates are very eye appealing, so my crow self is happy and my human self has plenty of tables, charts, and descriptives to satisfy it's inquisitive nature.
While this will not be the only Gem Reference book in my library, it is very much worth reading over and over again.
Highly Recommend *****

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy

Michael T. Klare

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Politics -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Politics -> International -> Relations

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the author of the now-classic Resource Wars, an indispensable account of how the world’s diminishing sources of energy are radically changing the international balance of power

Recently, an unprecedented Chinese attempt to acquire the major American energy firm Unocal was blocked by Congress amidst hysterical warnings of a Communist threat. But the political grandstanding missed a larger point: the takeover bid was a harbinger of a new structure of world power, based not on market forces or on arms and armies but on the possession of vital natural resources.

Surveying the energy-driven dynamic that is reconfiguring the international landscape, Michael Klare, the preeminent expert on resource geopolitics, forecasts a future of surprising new alliances and explosive danger. World leaders are now facing the stark recognition that all materials vital for the functioning of modern industrial societies (not just oil and natural gas but uranium, coal, copper, and others) are finite and being depleted at an ever-accelerating rate. As a result, governments rather than corporations are increasingly spearheading the pursuit of resources. In a radically altered world— where Russia is transformed from battered Cold War loser to arrogant broker of Eurasian energy, and the United States is forced to compete with the emerging “Chindia” juggernaut—the only route to survival on a shrinking planet, Klare shows, lies through international cooperation.

When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century

Fred Pearce

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Conservation -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this groundbreaking book, veteran science correspondent Fred Pearce travels to more than thirty countries to examine the current state of crucial water sources. Deftly weaving together the complicated scientific, economic, and historic dimensions of the world water crisis, he provides our most complete portrait yet of this growing danger and its ramifications for us all.

"A strong—and scary—case that a worldwide water shortage is the most fearful looming environmental crisis. With a drumbeat of facts both horrific (thousands of wells in India and Bangladesh are poisoned by fluoride and arsenic) and fascinating (it takes 20 tons of water to make one pound of coffee), the former New Scientist news editor documents a 'kind of cataclysm' already affecting many of the world's great rivers."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Oil we can replace. Water we can't—which is why this book is both so ominous and so important."
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

"An enriching and farsighted work."
—Jai Singh, San Francisco Chronicle

"Pearce cogently presents the alarming ways in which this ecological emergency is affecting population centers, human health, food production, wildlife habitats, and species viability. Having crisscrossed the globe to research the economic, scientific, cultural, and political causes and ramifications of this under publicized tragedy, Pearce's powerful imagery, penetrating analyses, and passionate advocacy make this required reading for environmental proponents and civic leaders everywhere."
—Booklist

"If you want to quickly get up to date on climate change and its consequences, I recommend With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change. If you can read only one book on climate change, this is it."
—Lester Brown, president, Earth Policy Institute

". . . perhaps it is time for you to spend some time with Fred Pearce and his wonderful When the Rivers Run Dry."
—Daily Kos, July Review

Fred Pearce has been writing about water issues for over twenty years. A former news editor at New Scientist and currently its environment and development consultant, he has also written for Audubon, Popular Science, Time, the Boston Globe, and Natural History. His books include With Speed and Violence, Turning Up the Heat, and Deep Jungle.