Written while his body succumbed to fatal illness, May leaves us his legacy—the discovery of our soul through nature. In this book we see the power of wilderness, its place in our minds and souls, and an appreciation for improving our spirituality and mental health.

A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons in Simplicity, Service and Common Sense, by Robert Lawrence Smith (Doubleday Direct)

Thought-provoking and inspiring, this little gem of a book offers wisdom about living in the Light for both Quakers and Quakers at heart.

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Washington D.C., by Paul Elliot (Menasha Ridge Press)

Better Off, by Eric Brende (Harper Perennial)

This memoir explores the experiences of a newlywed couple’s summer living in a Mennonite-like community. Narrated with a great sense of humor and amazing insight, this story takes readers on a journey through community dynamics and basic living strategies, as the couple learns about marriage itself.

Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, by Lester R. Brown  (Norton)

Following detailed descriptions of pending disasters, such as worldwide oil shortages and clean water issues, the book offers road maps for using and distributing resources (including education and health care), thus restoring the planet’s own health, with the tall order of eliminating starvation and institutionalized poverty. The author is president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit, multidisciplinary, research organization based in Washington, D.C.

Power Down: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World, by Richard Heinberg (New Society Publishers)

Heinberg begins with a look at the world’s addiction to cheap oil then explores four potential scenarios for its response to rising energy demands. Cooperation, conservation, and sharing—at the community and wider level—appear to be more viable than cutthroat competition for remaining resources.

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart (North Point Press)

A journey through the process of product design, this book discusses the efficacy of conceiving of products as “nourishment” for something else at the end of their useful lives. Products can easily be designed to re-entering the water or soil, able to be consumed by soil microorganisms or other animals. Or, they can provide “technical nutrients” by continually circulating within closed-loop industrial cycles, rather than being tossed out or recycled.

A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems, 1979-1997, by Wendell Berry (Counterpoint)

Widely known professor, author, and farmer, Wendell Berry has restored a worn-out farm to a producer of abundant life, while keeping Sabbath by wailing in the nearby woods and writing in his hand-built cabin. His poetry, essays, and prose eloquently speak of reverence for the natural world and humanity’s place in it. One verse from a meditation on new trees growing in a cut-over, abandoned woodland:

Patient as stars, they build in air
Tier after tier a timbered choir,
Stout beams upholding weightless grace
Of song, a blessing on this place.

McKibben’s journey introduces readers to various people in the region who each demonstrate a unique strategy for living with the earth. This short book is a treatise on land stewardship, featuring insights on preserving wilderness and practicing sustainable forestry and agriculture.

 

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