A list of books relevant to ecology, mind, and systems.
(NOTE: Some links to book sources are for different editions or printings than listed here.)
By Author and By Topic:
BY AUTHOR:
A
- Abraham, R. (1994). Chaos, Gaia, Eros: A Chaos pioneer uncovers the three great streams of history. San Francisco: Harper.
- Albert, A. (Ed.). (1995). Chaos and society. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
- Ashby, W. R. (1956/1971). An introduction to cybernetics. London, UK: Chapman & Hall and University Paperbacks.
B
- Barabási, A.-L. (2010). Bursts: The hidden pattern behind everything we do. New York: Dutton.
- Barlow, C. (Ed.). (1991/1997). From Gaia to selfish genes: Selected writings in the life sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Bateson, G. (1972/2000). Steps to an ecology of mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Bateson, G. (1979/2002). Mind and nature: A necessary unity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
- Bateson, G. (1936/1958). Naven (2nd ed.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Bateson, G. (Donaldson, R. E. Ed.). (1991). Sacred unity: Further steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book/Harper Collins.
- Bateson, G., & Bateson, M. C. (1987). Angels fear: Towards an epistemology of the sacred. New York: Macmillan.
- Bateson, M. C. (1994). Peripheral visions: Learning along the way. New York: Harper Collins.
- Bateson, M. C. (1984). With a daughter's eye: A memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. New York: William Morrow and Company.
- Booth Sweeney, L., & Meadows, D. (1995). The systems thinking playbook: Exercises to stretch and build learning and systems thinking capabilities. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
- Buchanan, M. (2002). Nexus: Small worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
C
- Capra, F. (1982). The turning point: Science, society, and the rising culture. New York: Bantam Books.
- Capra, F. (1996). The web of life: A new scientific understanding of living systems. NY: Anchor/Doubleday.
- Casti, J. L. (1994). Complexification: Explaining a paradoxical world through the science of surprise. New York: Harper Collins.
- Catton, W. (1980). Overshoot. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
- "A groundbreaking study of human overshoot, researched and written in the 1970s, as a new ecological awareness emerged. Here is an Excerpt from Overshoot: on industrialism, collapse, and carrying capacity; and an Interview from 2008." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Coward, L. A. (1990). Pattern thinking. New York: Praeger.
D
- Daly, H. (1977/1991). Steady-state economics. Washington, DC: Island Press.
- "A good introduction to the fundamentals of ecological economics, with references to other important books. Daly is at the University of Maryland, a former World Bank Senior Economist; and co-founder of Ecological Economics journal." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Darwin, C. (Barrett, P. H., trans. & annotated by). (1974). Metaphysics, materialism, and the evolution of mind: Early writing of Charles Darwin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Davis, B., & Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching, and research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Devall, B., & Sessions, G. (1985). Deep ecology. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs M. Smith/Peregrine Smith Books.
F
- Ferris, T. (1992). The mind’s sky: Human intelligence in a cosmic context. New York: Bantam Books.
G
- Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1971). The entropy law and the economic process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- "Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen… a pioneeer of ecological economics, the Romanian economist formulated “Bioeconomics,” exposing errors in conventional economic theory. Georgescu-Roegen made an important distinction between resources on the one hand and capital, labour, and technologies on the other. His use of biophysical laws – particularly the laws of thermodynamics – in economic theory revolutionized economics." (comments by Rex Weyler — his summary of Georgescu-Roegen's work is available at Deep Green: Entropy and Ecology)
- Glendinning, C. (2002). Off the map: An expedition deep into empire and the global economy. Gabriola Island, British Columbia: New Society Publishers.
- Gleick, J. (1987). Chaos: Making a new science. New York: Penguin.
- Goleman, D., & Thurman, R. A. F. (Eds.). (1991). Mind science: An East - West dialogue. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
- Greenstein, G. (1988). The symbiotic universe: Life and the cosmos in unity. New York: Quill/William Morrow.
H
- Harries-Jones, P. (2002). A recursive vision: Ecological understanding and Gregory Bateson. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
- Heims, S. J. (1991). The cybernetics group. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Hofstadter, D. R. (1979). Gödel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid. New York: Vintage Books.
K
- Kaufman, S. (1995). At home in the universe: The search for laws of self-organization and complexity. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Kelso, J. A. S., & Engstrøm, D. A. (2006). The complementary nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
L
- Lovelock, J. (1988). The ages of Gaia: A biography of our living Earth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
M
- Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (Paolucci, R. Trans.).(1998). The tree of knowledge: The biological roots of human understanding (revised ed.). Boston: Shambhala.
- Maybury-Lewis, D. (1992). Millennium: Tribal wisdom in the modern world. New York: Viking. (Also, 10 part BBC, CTV, & PBS collaborative TV series with same name)
- Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
- Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. (1972/1977). Limits to growth. New York: New American Library.
- Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., & Randers, J. (2004). Limits to growth: The 30-year update. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
- "Donella Meadows served as lead author for Limits to Growth (1972); she earned her doctorate in biophysics from Harvard; her work, ahead of its time, demonstrates the ecological consequence of classical economic theory." (comments by Rex Weyler)
N
- Naess, A. (1993). Ecology, community and lifestyle: Outline of an ecosophy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- "Ecology starts with natural systems; humanity remains embedded in nature; personal and social psychology exist within a nature system. Naess introduced 'Deep Ecology' in response to academic 'opitimal use' conservation, and other strains of superficial environmentalism. Naess emphasized the personal experience and personal connection to nature; he pointed out that our notion of the 'self' had to include our natural context. Here is my obituary, memorial: 'The Living Mountain, Arne Naess 1912-2009,' Deep Green, 2009." (comments by Rex Weyler)
O
- Odum, E. P. (1993). Ecology and our endangered life-support systems (2nd ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
- Odum, E. P. (1997). Ecology: A bridge between science and society. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
- Odum, H. T. (2007). Environment, power, and society for the twenty-first century: The hierarchy of energy. New York: Columbia University Press.
- "Pioneer of energy analysis and thermodynamcs in ecology and economics." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Odum, H. T. (1994). Ecological and general systems: An introduction to systems ecology. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado.
- Odum, H. T., & Odum, E. C. (2001). A prosperous Way Down: Policies and principles. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado.
P
- Prigogine, I., & Stengers, I.(1984). Order out of chaos: Man's new dialogue with nature. New York: Bantam.
R
- Rees, W. (1996). Our ecological footprint. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia.
- William Rees, originator of “Ecological Footprint Analysis," which is now used worldwide for economic planning. (comments by Rex Welyer)
- Ruesch, J., & Bateson, G. (1951/2008). Communication: The social matrix of psychiatry. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
S
- Sessions, G. (1995). Deep ecology for the twenty-first century. Boston: Shambhala.
T
- Tainter, J. A. (1990). The collapse of complex societies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- "Why there are limits to technical fixes and technological complexity, and how these limits to complexity lead to social collapse." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Thompson, W. I. (Ed.). (1987). Gaia a way of knowing: Political implications of the new biology. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Press.
V
- Volk, T. (1995). Metapatterns: Across space, time, and mind. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Volk, T. (1998). Gaia's body: Toward a physiology of Earth. New York: Copernicus/Springer-Verlag.
- Volk, T. (2010). CO2 rising: The world's greatest environmental challenge.. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
W
- Waldrop, M. (1992). Complexity: The emerging science at the edge of order and chaos. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- Weinberg, G. M. (2001/1975). An introduction to general systems thinking (Silver Anniversary Edition). New York: Dorset House Publishing.
- Wiener, N. (1948/1989). Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Weyler, R. (2004). Greenpeace: How a group of ecologists, journalists, and visionaries changed the world. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.
- Wilber, K. (1996). A brief history of everything. Boston: Shambhala Publications.
- Wilden, A. (1972/1980). System and structure: Essays in communication and exchange. New York: Tavistock Publications.
- Wilder, C., & Weakland, J. H. (eds.). (1981). Rigor & imagination: Essays from the legacy of Gregory Bateson. New York: Praeger.
BY TOPIC:
Anthropology, Culture, Society
- Bateson, M. C. (1994). Peripheral visions: Learning along the way. New York: Harper Collins.
- Maybury-Lewis, D. (1992). Millennium: Tribal wisdom in the modern world. New York: Viking. (Also, 10 part BBC, CTV, & PBS collaborative TV series with same name)
- Tainter, J. A. (1990). The collapse of complex societies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- "Why there are limits to technical fixes and technological complexity, and how these limits to complexity lead to social collapse." (comments by Rex Weyler)
Bateson: By and About Gregory Bateson
- Bateson, G. (1972/2000). Steps to an ecology of mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Bateson, G. (1979/2002). Mind and nature: A necessary unity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
- Bateson, G. (1936/1958). Naven (2nd ed.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Bateson, G. (Donaldson, R. E. Ed.). (1991). Sacred unity: Further steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book/Harper Collins.
- Bateson, G., & Bateson, M. C. (1987). Angels fear: Towards an epistemology of the sacred. New York: Macmillan.* Bateson, M. C. (1984). With a daughter's eye: A memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. New York: William Morrow and Company.
- Harries-Jones, P. (2002). A recursive vision: Ecological understanding and Gregory Bateson. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
- Ruesch, J., & Bateson, G. (1951/2008). Communication: The social matrix of psychiatry. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
- Wilder, C., & Weakland, J. H. (eds.). (1981). Rigor & imagination: Essays from the legacy of Gregory Bateson. New York: Praeger.
Chaos and Complexity Theories
- Abraham, R. (1994). Chaos, Gaia, Eros: A Chaos pioneer uncovers the three great streams of history. San Francisco: Harper.
- Albert, A. (Ed.). (1995). Chaos and society. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
- Capra, F. (1982). The turning point: Science, society, and the rising culture. New York: Bantam Books.
- Capra, F. (1996). The web of life: A new scientific understanding of living systems. NY: Anchor/Doubleday.
- Casti, J. L. (1994). Complexification: Explaining a paradoxical world through the science of surprise. New York: Harper Collins.
- Davis, B., & Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching, and research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Gleick, J. (1987). Chaos: Making a new science. New York: Penguin.
- Kaufman, S. (1995). At home in the universe: The search for laws of self-organization and complexity. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Kelso, J. A. S., & Engstrøm, D. A. (2006). The complementary nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Lovelock, J. (1988). The ages of Gaia: A biography of our living Earth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
- Prigogine, I., & Stengers, I.(1984). Order out of chaos: Man's new dialogue with nature. New York: Bantam.
- Thompson, W. I. (Ed.). (1987). Gaia a way of knowing: Political implications of the new biology. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Press.
- Volk, T. (1998). Gaia's body: Toward a physiology of Earth. New York: Copernicus/Springer-Verlag.
- Waldrop, M. (1992). Complexity: The emerging science at the edge of order and chaos. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Cybernetics and Systems
- Ashby, W. R. (1956/1971). An introduction to cybernetics. London, UK: Chapman & Hall and University Paperbacks.
- Heims, S. J. (1991). The cybernetics group. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Wiener, N. (1948/1989). Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Wilden, A. (1972/1980). System and structure: Essays in communication and exchange. New York: Tavistock Publications.
Ecology and Related Transdisciplinary Topics
- Barlow, C. (Ed.). (1991/1997). From Gaia to selfish genes: Selected writings in the life sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Catton, W. (1980). Overshoot. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
- "A groundbreaking study of human overshoot, researched and written in the 1970s, as a new ecological awareness emerged. Here is an Excerpt from Overshoot: on industrialism, collapse, and carrying capacity; and an Interview from 2008." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Devall, B., & Sessions, G. (1985). Deep ecology. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs M. Smith/Peregrine Smith Books.
- Lovelock, J. (1988). The ages of Gaia: A biography of our living Earth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
- Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. (1972/1977). Limits to growth. New York: New American Library.
- Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., & Randers, J. (2004). Limits to growth: The 30-year update. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
- "Donella Meadows served as lead author for Limits to Growth (1972); she earned her doctorate in biophysics from Harvard; her work, ahead of its time, demonstrates the ecological consequence of classical economic theory." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Naess, A. (1993). Ecology, community and lifestyle: Outline of an ecosophy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- "Ecology starts with natural systems; humanity remains embedded in nature; personal and social psychology exist within a nature system. Naess introduced 'Deep Ecology' in response to academic 'opitimal use' conservation, and other strains of superficial environmentalism. Naess emphasized the personal experience and personal connection to nature; he pointed out that our notion of the 'self' had to include our natural context. Here is my obituary, memorial: 'The Living Mountain, Arne Naess 1912-2009,' Deep Green, 2009." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Odum, E. P. (1993). Ecology and our endangered life-support systems (2nd ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
- Odum, E. P. (1997). Ecology: A bridge between science and society. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
- Odum, H. T. (2007). Environment, power, and society for the twenty-first century: The hierarchy of energy. New York: Columbia University Press.
- "Pioneer of energy analysis and thermodynamcs in ecology and economics." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Odum, H. T. (1994). Ecological and general systems: An introduction to systems ecology. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado.
- Odum, H. T., & Odum, E. C. (2001). A prosperous Way Down: Policies and principles. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado.
- Rees, W. (1996). Our ecological footprint. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia.
- William Rees, originator of “Ecological Footprint Analysis," which is now used worldwide for economic planning. (comments by Rex Welyer)
- Sessions, G. (1995). Deep ecology for the twenty-first century. Boston: Shambhala.
- Thompson, W. I. (Ed.). (1987). Gaia a way of knowing: Political implications of the new biology. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Press.
- Volk, T. (1998). Gaia's body: Toward a physiology of Earth. New York: Copernicus/Springer-Verlag.
- Weyler, R. (2004). Greenpeace: How a group of ecologists, journalists, and visionaries changed the world. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.
Economics
- Daly, H. (1977/1991). Steady-state economics. Washington, DC: Island Press.
- "A good introduction to the fundamentals of ecological economics, with references to other important books. Daly is at the University of Maryland, a former World Bank Senior Economist; and co-founder of Ecological Economics journal." (comments by Rex Weyler)
- Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1971). The entropy law and the economic process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- "Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen… a pioneeer of ecological economics, the Romanian economist formulated “Bioeconomics,” exposing errors in conventional economic theory. Georgescu-Roegen made an important distinction between resources on the one hand and capital, labour, and technologies on the other. His use of biophysical laws – particularly the laws of thermodynamics – in economic theory revolutionized economics." (comments by Rex Weyler — his summary of Georgescu-Roegen's work is available at Deep Green: Entropy and Ecology)
- Glendinning, C. (2002). Off the map: An expedition deep into empire and the global economy. Gabriola Island, British Columbia: New Society Publishers.
Patterns and Pattern Thinking
- Barabási, A.-L. (2010). Bursts: The hidden pattern behind everything we do. New York: Dutton.
- Buchanan, M. (2002). Nexus: Small worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
- Coward, L. A. (1990). Pattern thinking. New York: Praeger.
- Volk, T. (1995). Metapatterns: Across space, time, and mind. New York: Columbia University Press.
Philosophy, Psychology, and Mind Sciences
- Darwin, C. (Barrett, P. H., trans. & annotated by). (1974). Metaphysics, materialism, and the evolution of mind: Early writing of Charles Darwin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Ferris, T. (1992). The mind’s sky: Human intelligence in a cosmic context. New York: Bantam Books.
- Goleman, D., & Thurman, R. A. F. (Eds.). (1991). Mind science: An East - West dialogue. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
- Greenstein, G. (1988). The symbiotic universe: Life and the cosmos in unity. New York: Quill/William Morrow.
- Hofstadter, D. R. (1979). Gödel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid. New York: Vintage Books.
- Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (Paolucci, R. Trans.).(1998). The tree of knowledge: The biological roots of human understanding (revised ed.). Boston: Shambhala.
- Ruesch, J., & Bateson, G. (1951/2008). Communication: The social matrix of psychiatry. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
- Wilber, K. (1996). A brief history of everything. Boston: Shambhala Publications.
Systems Thinking
- Booth Sweeney, L., & Meadows, D. (1995). The systems thinking playbook: Exercises to stretch and build learning and systems thinking capabilities. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
- Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
- Weinberg, G. M. (2001/1975). An introduction to general systems thinking (Silver Anniversary Edition). New York: Dorset House Publishing.
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