Culture Art & Media The Treehugger Reading List A running list of books our staff has reviewed and loved By Margaret Badore Margaret Badore Facebook Twitter Senior Editor Columbia University Sarah Lawrence College Maggie Badore is an environmental reporter based in New York City. She started at Treehugger in 2013 and is now the Senior Commerce Editor. Learn about our editorial process Updated April 20, 2021 Share Twitter Pinterest Email Culture History Travel Sustainable Fashion Art & Media Holidays Community Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links. Are you looking to learn more about sustainable living or climate change? Do you want an engrossing read about nature or design? The Treehugger team is always on the lookout for interesting books, both new and classic, that can help us better understand the environmental challenges we face and proposals for how to solve them. Here you’ll find a regularly updated list of books that have been reviewed by our staff. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit Courtesy of Walmart Buy on Walmart Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “Knight’s life is the bizarre yet fascinating subject of Michael Finkel’s latest book, “The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit” (Knopf, 2017). The book opens with Knight’s dramatic capture one late winter night in 2013 after police and local residents ramped up their search for the elusive “North Pond hermit.” Knight was caught in the act of raiding a summer camp pantry and tossed in jail for seven months before his fate was decided.” Read the Full Review A Children's Bible Amazon Buy on Walmart Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “What hit me hardest was the anger, bordering on disgust, that those children felt at their parents' complacency, lethargy, and ineptitude. Those kids had no choice but to forge onward, doing what they should never have had to do, while the parents chose the easy road out.” Read the Full Review Adventures in Opting Out: A Field Guide to Living an Intentional Life Courtesy of Barnes and Noble Buy on Amazon Buy on Barnesandnoble.com Buy on Bookshop.org “Have you ever felt like you just want to live life a bit differently from everyone around you? Maybe you self-identify as a "black sheep" in your family or friend circle and wish you knew someone else who felt the same way, so you could talk about the awkwardness of trying to fit into (or finding a way to exit) the path that everyone else appears to follow so willingly. If you can relate to any of these feelings—and who doesn't at some point in life?—then Cait Flanders' latest book is for you.” Read the Full Review The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis via Amazon Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “A new book hopes to pull people back from the brink of defeatism and put them on track toward constructive climate activism. "The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis" (Knopf, 2020) was written by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, architects and lead negotiators of the 2015 Paris Agreement. This follow-up book is a sort of layperson's version of the official agreement that 194 countries signed and most have ratified.” Read the Full Review 101 Ways To Go Zero Waste Amazon Buy on Amazon Buy on Barnesandnoble.com Buy on Bookshop.org “What's appealing about a book, as opposed to perusing a blog or a collection of informative Instagram posts, is that it pulls together important information into a single place and makes it easily accessible to readers. By reading the book cover to cover, you come away with knowledge that would take much longer to amass if doing piecemeal research.” Read the Full Review The New Climate War New Climate War Buy on Amazon Buy on Barnesandnoble.com Buy on Bookshop.org "Climate scientist Michael Mann is most famous for his hockey stick, which he used in 1998 to graphically present the rise in planetary temperatures over the centuries. He immediately came under attack by powerful forces that had a vested interest in denying climate change, and he has been dropping the gloves and using that hockey stick to crosscheck the opposition ever since. But climate denial is a harder sell than it was 20 years ago, and the hockey net is a moving target; instead of denial, the fossil fuel companies and the governments on their payroll are ragging the puck, in 'a multipronged offensive based on deception, distraction, and delay.' That's the subject of his latest book." Read the Full Review All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis Courtesy of Walmart Buy on Walmart Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist and policy expert from Brooklyn, and Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson, an author and teacher from Atlanta, the book is a beautiful assemblage of 41 reflections on the climate fight, written by an all-female group of scientists, journalists, lawyers, politicians, activists, innovators and more.” Read the Full Review The Waste Makers Courtesy of Walmart Buy on Walmart Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “A reader recommended that I look at Vance Packard's The Waste Makers. Written in 1960, it followed Packard's hugely successful The Hidden Persuaders, which described how the advertising industry manipulates consumers to induce the desire for products. It was not his most popular book, but it may well be his most prescient.” Goodbye Phone, Hello World Courtesy of Chronicle Books Buy on Walmart Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “It's not a philosophical treatise on the evils of technology, but a fairly short, succinct, and practical guide on how actually to live without a smartphone—namely, all the wonderful, amazing things you can do when you're not throwing away four hours per day (the American average) on a screen doing mostly useless things. It's upbeat, positive, and proactive.” Read the Full Review The Art of Frugal Hedonism Courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org Buy on Chelseagreen.com “The book is based on the premise that frugality should not feel like deprivation. In fact, when you decouple pleasure from spending money, you tap into an endless world of fun and entertainment that vastly improves your quality of life while allowing your savings to grow.” Read the Full Review Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale Courtesy of Walmart Buy on Walmart Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “Business journalist Adam Minter got thinking about this while cleaning out his deceased mother's home. Seeking reassurance that his mother's donated items would get used and not destroyed, Minter embarked on a journey that resulted in his latest book. After traveling extensively around the U.S., Mexico, Ghana, Malaysia, and Japan in search of answers, he found it to be a remarkably murky industry, with most governments lacking data on anything secondhand beyond cars, despite the crucial role that secondhand goods play in clothing, furnishing, and educating people worldwide.” Read the Full Review Putting on the Dog: The Animal Origins of What We Wear Courtesy of Amazon Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “Kwasny is an award-winning writer and poet at the University of Montana, and her book is a fascinating and highly readable dive into the world of animal-based clothing production. She traveled from Mexico to Denmark to Japan, and lots of places in between, talking to growers, farmers, manufacturers, and artisans to learn about their work and shed light on processes that the general public tends to know little about.” Read the Full Review The Less Waste No Fuss Kitchen Courtesy of Amazon Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org Buy on Urban Outfitters "The Less Waste No Fuss Kitchen has minimal philosophizing (well, none, in fact) and is more of a step-by-step guide for individuals wanting to change the way they buy and handle food on a daily basis. It contains a brief overview at the beginning about why food waste and plastic packaging are such serious problems and how each of us can make a difference by changing personal habits.” Read the Full Review The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment Courtesy of Amazon Buy on Amazon Buy on Abebooks.com Buy on Bookshop.org “I have been reading the 1969 edition, and the message seemed as fresh as ever: We can't just throw technology and energy at a building anymore. The design for energy performance and comfort are inseparable from the architecture.” Read the Full Review 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week Courtesy of Walmart Buy on Walmart Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org “I was immediately hooked. I realized it was different from the other books I'd read and better suited to my own life as a busy working mother of three young kids. Instead of assuming that I should be able to go without technology for a prolonged period of time or weed it out of my life completely, Shlain's approach is refreshingly manageable.” Read the Full Review The 10 Best Garden Planning Books of 2021