We have over 20 interviews on climate change, recommending books on every angle of the problem. On energy, we have Chris Goodall, author and renewable technology expert, choosing his best books on energy transitions and Jerry McNerney, US congressman and energy expert, choosing his best books on clean energy and Juliet Davenport, CEO of Good Energy, the UK’s only 100% renewable electricity supplier her best on renewable energy. Journalist and Author Bob Johnstone talks about solar power.
Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and founder of the Foundation for Climate Justice, chooses her best books on climate justice and Jonathon Porritt, founder of the UK’s Forum for the Future, talks about saving the world. Guardian journalist and eco-campaigner George Monbiot provides his essential reading list.
We have a number of eminent scientists discussing climate change. Kate Marvel, of Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science, talks about climate change and uncertainty. Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard, chooses her best books on the politics of climate change. Roger Pielke Jr, professor of environmental studies at the university of Colorado, chooses his best books on climate change innovation and Adam Maloof, assistant professor of geology at Princeton, discusses earth history. John Shepherd is a professorial research fellow in earth system science at the University of Southampton. He chooses his best books on science and climate change.
James Bradley chooses his best climate change novels and Dan Bloom chooses his best Cli-Fi books.
The Best Books for Long-Term Thinking, recommended by Roman Krznaric
We would all love our economic and political systems to be less short-termist in approach, but how do we set about encouraging a more long-term ethos? Cultural thinker Roman Krznaric, author of The Good Ancestor, recommends five books to get us thinking about the long term, up to ten millennia in the future.
Books on the Deep Future, recommended by David Farrier
What trace of our lives will we leave, and what stories might they tell about us? In Footprints, David Farrier explores how our generation will be remembered in the traces it leaves behind in myths, stories… and the fossil record. Here he talks to Caspar Henderson about books to help reflect on ‘the deep future.’
The Best Climate Books of 2019, recommended by Sarah Dry
In an age when we all need to work together to slow down climate change, which books are the most effective in spurring us to action? Historian of science Sarah Dry, author of Waters of the World, recommends some of the best and most important climate books of 2019.
-
1
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
by Amitav Ghosh -
2
Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization
by Roy Scranton -
3
Love in the Anthropocene
by Bonnie Nadzam & Dale Jamieson -
4
The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets since the Depression
by Angus Burgin -
5
The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy
by Michael Mann & Tom Toles
The best books on The Politics of Climate Change, recommended by Naomi Oreskes
The best books on The Politics of Climate Change, recommended by Naomi Oreskes
‘We’re on a path that is going to lead to tremendous destruction and yet most of us are going about our lives as if nothing particularly special is happening.’ The science of climate change is incontrovertible but deniers persist and political and economic solutions continue to be – systematically – frustrated. Time is running out, says Naomi Oreskes
The best books on Radical Environmentalism, recommended by Daegan Miller
The shining core of a radical environmentalism is when we open up our circle of concern to include things beyond trees or animals or water to people of all kinds, says the writer and landscape historian Daegan Miller. Here he selects five of the best books that evoke the spirit of the movement.
The Best Climate Change Novels, recommended by James Bradley
The best fiction allows us to hold ideas in our heads about time and space and causality and connection that are difficult to articulate in other ways, argues the Australian author James Bradley. It helps its readers engage with dangers and possibilities that are at the very edge of imagination
The best books on Climate Change and Uncertainty, recommended by Kate Marvel
‘When we talk about climate change, we sometimes assume people will be swayed by one more graph, one more coherent argument. But that’s not how people work. More facts don’t change minds, and deeply held views don’t always dictate behaviour.’ How, then, to grapple with a future that ‘might be weirder than we realise’? Kate Marvel, Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University and NASA, recommends an essential reading list for those ready to confront climate change and the uncertainties it brings
-
1
Energy and Civilization: a History
by Vaclav Smil -
2
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
by Daniel Yergin -
3
Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air
by David J C MacKay -
4
Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry
by Travis Bradford -
5
The Planet Remade
by Oliver Morton
The best books on Energy Transitions, recommended by Chris Goodall
The best books on Energy Transitions, recommended by Chris Goodall
The switch to sources of energy other than oil and gas is now well under way, but how long will it be before we can rely on them for the bulk of the world’s power—if ever? Renewable energy expert Chris Goodall gives us a thought-provoking reading list to think about both past and future ‘energy transitions.’
The Best Cli-Fi Books, recommended by Dan Bloom
Fiction that explores issues of climate change is growing at an unprecedented rate today, says the journalist who coined the phrase ‘cli-fi’, Dan Bloom. Here, he picks the five best books of the field, and introduces us to a globally important, underexplored literary genre
-
1
Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, nature and climate change
by Elizabeth Kolbert -
2
When The Rivers Run Dry: Journeys into the heart of the world's water crisis
by Fred Pearce -
3
Last Chance to See
by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine -
4
The End of Nature
by Bill McKibben -
5
Our Dying Planet: An ecologist's view of the crisis we face
by Peter Sale
The best books on The Anthropocene, recommended by Gaia Vince
The best books on The Anthropocene, recommended by Gaia Vince
In 2015 Gaia Vince became the first woman to win the Royal Society’s science book of the year prize for her book, Adventures in the Anthropocene. She spent two years on the road investigating how communities across the world are coping with climate change. Here, she shares the five best books on climate change and the Anthropocene – the geological epoch of man.
The Best Books for Growing up in the Anthropocene, recommended by Caspar Henderson
Welcome to life in the Anthropocene, a new epoch in the history of life where the impact of humanity on the Earth system is so great, we need a new term for it. Author and journalist Caspar Henderson offers a rich reading list to help ourselves and our children grow up in the Anthropocene.
The best books on Uncivilisation, recommended by Paul Kingsnorth
Paul Kingsnorth, co-founder of the Dark Mountain project, urges the need for uncivilisation: the process of getting beyond our human assumptions, such as the myth of unfailing linear progress. It is about looking at humanity in the wider context of the whole planet, and the imminent ecological crisis.
-
1
The Limits to Growth
by Dennis L. Meadows, Donella H Meadows & Jorgen Randers -
2
Hubbert’s Peak
by Kenneth S Deffeyes -
3
Winning the Oil Endgame
by Amory B Lovins, E Kyle Datta, Jonathan G Koomey and Nathan J Glasgow & Odd-Even Bustnes -
4
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
by Michael Braungart and William McDonough -
5
Wind Power
by Paul Gipe
The best books on Clean Energy, recommended by Jerry McNerney
The best books on Earth History, recommended by Adam Maloof
Just as no one can study political science without a basic understanding of human history, or study a modern animal without a basic understanding of evolution, so no one can understand climate change without understanding the Earth’s history, argues the Princeton geology professor.