books by Island Press

books by Island Press

books:

Island Press

Diagnosis: Mercury: Money, Politics, and Poison

Jane M. Hightower

Island Press, 2008

Disappointing
I've heard all about mercury on the news -- mercury in dental fillings, mercury in fish, mercury in light bulbs, mercury in high school chemistry labs. So I bought this book thinking it would be an intriguing read that might help me put it all into context. But what I ...

Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town's Toxic Legacy

Nancy A. Nichols

Island Press, 2008

Amazing
Nancy writes an amazing environmental memoir. It combines the rigorous research of a journalist with the touching honesty of a woman. This makes a great read for all: the scientist, the humanist, and the regular bloke like me.

Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications

Herman E. Daly, Joshua Farley

Island Press, 2003

At last what we needed
Here at last is a book that sees ecological economics not as a branch of economics or a school of economics but as a broader and deeper system of ideas that includes the sound elements of conventional economics. Herman Daly, the Grand Old Man of the steady state ...

Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices
Peter Newman, Isabella Jennings

Island Press, 2008

Modern city dwellers are largely detached from the environmental effects of their daily lives. The sources of the water they drink, the food they eat, and the energy they consume are all but invisible, often coming from other continents, and their waste ends up in places beyond their city boundaries. Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems shows ...

Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors, Second Edition

J. William Thompson, Kim Sorvig

Island Press, 2007

One of the most comprehensive books on sustainable landscape construction
Time has changed. A few years ago, few people knew about sustainable design and construction, green buildings or LEED. Today, sustainable design and construction has gone mainstream. How do we know? We actually have clients asking us to design a LEED certified building ...

The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment

Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich

Island Press, 2008

A great introduction to the environmental dilemma
Paul and Anne Ehrlich have done an incredible job assembling a coherent look at one of the world's biggest issues: the relationship between humanity and the natural environment. "The Dominant Animal" puts humanity into frame, connecting our species' immense ...

The Unnatural History of the Sea

Callum Roberts

Island Press, 2007

Disappearing act
The problem with the oceans is that you can't see what's going on down there. Foresters can count trees, birdwatchers have "life lists", but fishery managers can only weigh a catch and guesstimate the numbers. That's the fish that are landed - those and other life ...

The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream

Christopher B. Leinberger

Island Press, 2007

Urbanism, meet Realism
Written from a perspective that most urban critiques fail to provide, this book grounds the reader in the real estate, demographic and policy realities that have shaped the American built environment into what we see today. Leinberger knows this stuff cold, both as a ...

Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a C World

Brian Walker, David Salt

Island Press, 2006

Gem of Useful Education
This is a gem of an educational book. Mixing case studies with elaborating chapters on key concepts, it's as a good a volume as I have found for teaching undergraduates, graduates, and practitioners (farmers, factory managers, investors) the core ideas needed to ...

The Green Building Revolution

Jerry Yudelson

Island Press, 2007

Great resource of information on green building
I have read nearly half of this book and can't put it down. It is full of valuable information that is easily digested. It really drives home the value of green building, economically, socially and environmentally. It also provides a view how green building is ...

The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization

Thomas Homer-Dixon

Island Press, 2008

Reflecting in the fog
The key question in this book is raised in the very middle: "Why don't we face reality?" A major reason is that we are groping in a fog to learn what that reality is. Homer-Dixon likens our society to a driver careering along a country road in a dense fog. We can ...

Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy

Jay Inslee, Bracken Hendricks

Island Press, 2007

The Four Horsemen of the Energy Apocalypse
Congressman Jay Inslee puts forth his view toward a solution to fuel prices and climate change. The field is rather crowded right now for books on this topic. Inslee approaches the angle of the economy and jobs more fully than his competitors. He remains more ...

Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping And The Fate Of America's Fresh Waters

Robert Jerome Glennon

Island Press, 2004

The biggest pump wins!
If we say "Glennon covers all the ground" in a book about water, will the reader be confused? Let's take the risk, since that is precisely what the author does in this excellent study. From the ways in which water collects or flows on the land's surface to the ...

Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed

Alan Rabinowitz

Island Press, 2007

Awesome account of getting stuff done in Burma
While there has been a lot of criticism of Alan Rabinowitz's efforts in Myanmar, this book should put them to rest. Rabinowitz makes clear his desire to incorporate local stakeholders in the Hukawng Tiger Reserve and give them a surprisingly open voice in an otherwise ...

Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect

David W. Orr

Island Press, 2004

a great book in all respects
first off, as promised by the reseller, the book was in great condition. as for the contents of the book, it's a fantastic read if you are interested in the root of the sustainability movement. that is to say the foundations and meaning of our educational system ...