FEBRUARY 26, 2006
Titles
of books can be very revealing about the bias of the author, but maybe even more revealing about the one who reads them.
Some of the great libraries of friends such as Thomas Berry, Tom Hayden, John Seeley, and Charlton Heston are as varied as the men themselves, but each is filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of books from a variety of time periods and subjects. I have visited each of their libraries and would give up a week's vacation to camp out in any one of them. I am going to list 12 books from my office library.
- Call For a Revolution in Agriculture by Wes Jackson
- Clear-cut - The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry printed by the Sierra Club
- National Organic Directory printed by the Organic Research Foundation
- The End of Nature by Bill McGibben
- The Enemy of Nature by Joel Kovel
- Sustainable Cities
- Earth Prayers
- Blueprint for a Green Planet
- Soils or Spoils by David Hall
- Restoring the Earth by Kenny Ausebel
- In the Rainforest by Catherine Caulfield
- Replenish the Earth by Lewis G. Regenstein
- Earth in the Balance by Al Gore
There are many more books and another day I might focus on another 12. Looking at my personal library is something I enjoy doing. Reading the titles of the books out loud is an important exercise reinforcing my commitments. I like reading and reading books that inspire, educate, and prod me are my favorites. A good book challenging me to be a more caring and concerned citizen is worth looking at now and then. Your library is a treasure.
Take out a book and send it to someone you like.
The one book that sent my head spinning and my feet walking I read in 1988 and it was Thomas Berry's Dream of the Earth. Today my dream for the Earth is vastly different than the reality I experience, but with your efforts combined with those of millions of others we may indeed create a world that is sustainable and livable for all creatures.
--Peter