The Starship and the Canoe
by Kenneth Brower

David Brower's son, Kenneth authors this compelling dual biography. Freeman Dyson, world-renowned astrophysicist, dreams of exploring the heavens and has designed an inexpensive spaceship to take him there. George Dyson, a brilliant dropout, lives in a tree in coastal British Columbia and is designing a giant seagoing canoe. Both men are intensely, passionately dedicated to their visions. Kenneth Brower explores the relationship of this odd father-son duo, whose goals could hardly be more different yet whose approaches are inevitably alike, with insight and sensitivity.

Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson

Silent Spring, released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work.

Maybe One: A Case for Smaller Families
by Bill McKibben

The father of a single child himself, McKibben maintains that bringing one, and no more than one, child into this world will hurt neither your family nor our nation -- indeed, it can be an optimistic step toward the future. Maybe One is not just an environmental argument but a highly personal and philosophical one. McKibben cites new and extensive research about the developmental strengths of only children; he finds that single kids are not spoiled, weird, selfish, or asocial, but pretty much the same as everyone else.

McKibben recognizes that the transition to a stable population size won't be easy or pain-free but ultimately is inevitable. Maybe One provides the basis for provocative, powerful thought and discussion that will influence our thinking for decades to come.

In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World
by Henry David Thoreau - Hardcover
Eliot Porter (photographer)

A stunning presentation of one of America's leading photographers and artistic pioneers, this is Eliot Porter's interpretation of the works of Henry Thoreauin a paperback edition of one of the most famous and bestselling Sierra Club Exhibit Format Books (edited by David Brower, of course).

Encounters With the Archdruid
by John A. McPhee

Describes three backcountry journeys taken in the late '60s by McPhee with 'archdruid' David Brower, Founder of Earth Island Institute, and three of Brower's antagonists: Charles Park, a mineral engineer; Charles Fraser, a resort developer, and Floyd Dominy, a builder of massive dams.

Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability
by Paul Hawken

A revolutionary program of restorative economics explains how businesses can change their methods and use their power and social responsibility to reconstruct and repair Earth's social, environmental, and commercial problems.

Ecological Literacy : Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World
by David W. Orr

Orr has plenty to say about how the educational system can play a key role in ensuring that future generations better understand how to live in harmony with the earth.

A Sand County Almanac: With Essays on Conservation
by Aldo Leopold
Michael Sewell (photographer)

First published in 1949 and praised in The New York Times Book Review as "a trenchant book, full of vigor and bite," Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land.

With this spectacularly illustrated gift edition, a new generation of readers can walk beside one of America's most respected naturalists as he conveys the beauty of a marsh before sunrise or the wealth of history to be found in an ancient oak. Introduction by Kenneth Brower.

"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot."
--Aldo Leopold