BOOK OF THE MONTH

Each month, The Ocean Project will highlight a book focused on our blue planet or environmental sustainability. Books for all age groups will be covered, non-fiction and fiction, prose and poetry. If you have a suggestion, please let us know.

2010

Beyond Ecophobia

September

Beyond Ecophobia:
Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education

by David Sobel


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Consideration of the need for children to embrace nature to benefit their development.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you consider the advantages gained through a healthy relationship with the natural world.
Menhaden

August

The Most Important Fish in the Sea:
Menhaden and America

by H. Bruce Franklin


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Interconnections between components of the food web and fish consumption.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you consider complexities in the food web on which we rely for nourishment.
Entanglements

July

Entanglements:
The Intertwined Fates of Whales and Fishermen

by Tora Johnson


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Interconnections among those who depend on the ocean for survival.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you consider complexities among ocean life and human actions.
Ray Troll Art

June

Rapture of the Deep: The Art of Ray Troll
by Ray Troll


  • Art book
  • Subject: Zany, irreverent, and often surreal art.
  • Synopsis: This book provides you a unique way to celebrate the ocean before, during, and after World Oceans Day on June 8th.
On Guerilla Gardening

May

On Guerrilla Gardening:
A Handbook for Gardening without Boundaries

by Richard Reynolds


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Seeing the full potential for gardens in your community.
  • Synopsis: This book provides you an extensive discussion of gardens and the opportunity for them to improve community health.
Community Guide

April

A Community Guide to Environmental Health
by Jeff Conant and Pam Fadem


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Working towards community health.
  • Synopsis: This book provides you an extensive checklist of concerns and solutions to issues to consider for creating or maintaining community health.
Thousand-Mile Walk

March

Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
by John Muir


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Appreciation for nature as a pasttime.
  • Synopsis: This book should introduce you to more natural environments to inspire you to walk and explore your surroundings.
Fight Global Warming

February

Fight Global Warming Now:
The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community

by Bill McKibben


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Taking action against global warming.
  • Synopsis: This book presents the "Step It Up" community action case study for you to consider.
Outermost House

January

The Outermost House:
A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod

by Henry Beston


  • Non-fiction
  • Subject: Historical lives in ocean communities.
  • Synopsis: This book should introduce you to more natural times to inspire you to reconsider the ocean.

2009

Sense of Wonder

December

A Sense of Wonder
by Rachel Carson


  • Family friendly
  • Subject: Love for the outdoors.
  • Synopsis: This book should remind you of childhood memories that inspire you to get back to nature.
Low Carbon Diet

November

Low Carbon Diet:
A 30 day program to lose 5000 pounds

by David Gershon


  • Adult, Do-it-yourself
  • Subject: Practical primer on reducing personal carbon output.
  • Synopsis: This book should educate and give you a hopeful outlook on the power of one person to reduce carbon output.
Sea Change

October

Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
by Sylvia Earle


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: The life and insights of an ocean researcher.
  • Synopsis: This book should educate and give you a hopeful perspective on the power of one person's work on behalf of the world's ocean.
Sea of Slaughter

September

Sea of Slaughter
by Farley Mowat


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Historical perspective on the North Atlantic coast from Cape Cod up to Labrador.
  • Synopsis: This book should give you a historical basis for becoming more mindful on behalf of the world's ocean.
Planet Ocean

August

Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our World
by Deborah Cramer


  • Family Friendly, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Developing a personal, family, and community ethic for the ocean.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you appreciate and become more mindful on behalf of the world's ocean.
Planet Ocean

July

Soil Not Oil:
Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis

by Vendana Shiva


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Connecting critical issues from food security to peak oil to global warming.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you consider and adapt your food choices to be a better world citizen.
Planet Ocean

June

Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul:
Amazing Sea Stories and Wyland Artwork to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit

by Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, and Wyland


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Celebrating our world ocean through stories and pictures that inspire.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you see and re-connect with the wonders of our world ocean.
Planet Ocean

May

Planet Ocean:
Photo Stories from the 'Defending Our Oceans' Voyage

by Sara Holden


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Considering our ocean and its need for protection.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you see and connect with the work others have done to bring the plight of our world ocean into our awareness.
Souls in the Sea

April

Souls in the Sea:
Dolphins, Whales, and Human Destiny

by Scott Taylor


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Considering our large mammal cousins of the sea.
  • Synopsis: This book should help you see and investigate the lives of whales and dolphins as relevant to our consideration of the ocean and the environment.
At the Ends of the Earth

March

Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future
by Mark Hertsgaard


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Considering the effect of poverty on the environment
  • Synopsis: This book should help you better ponder the effect dire poverty has on the ocean and the environment.
At the Ends of the Earth

February

Trust Us We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future
by Sheldon Rampton


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Questioning independent science and reporting
  • Synopsis: This book should help you better consider the sources of information you turn to when trying to find truth regarding safe and dangerous phenomena in the environment.
At the Ends of the Earth

January

At the Ends of the Earth
by Kieran Mulvaney


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Plight of the water at our poles
  • Synopsis: This book should help you better consider the current beauty of our Arctic and Antarctic regions and how their water properties are changing over time.

2008

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

December

Last Child in the Woods:
Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

by Richard Louv


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Awareness of the Looming Nature-Deficit crisis
  • Synopsis: This book should help you better consider "the nature-deficit problem" and consider diverse efforts to confront it.
Confronting Consumption

November

Confronting Consumption
Edited by Thomas Princen, Michael F. Maniates and Ken Conca


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Conservation Through Mindful Consumption
  • Synopsis: This book should help you better conceptualize "the consumption problem" and consider diverse efforts to confront it.
The Great Gulf

October

The Great Gulf:
Fishermen, Scientists, and the Struggle to Revive the World's Greatest Fishery

by David Dobbs


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subjects: Fisherman/ Fish/ Northern Atlantic Ocean
  • Synopsis: This book should help you solidify your understanding of the fish crisis from many different stakeholder perspectives.
The Whale Warriors

September

The Whale Warriors:
The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals

by Peter Heller


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subjects: Whales/ Conservation/ Antarctic Ocean
  • Synopsis: This book may yet again give you an appreciation for the world's largest mammals and interest in their plight.
Two Garden Books

August

Edible Estates:
Attack on the Front Lawn

Edited by Fritz Haeg


  • All Ages, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Environmentally Sustainable Environment Decisions
  • Synopsis: Inspire yourself to get rid of all that water hungry lawn with pictures, letters, interviews from people who have made the switch regionally in the US.

 

Food Not Lawns:
How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community

by Heather Coburn Flores


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Environmentally Sustainable Environment Decisions
  • Synopsis: Read a deeper, darker manifesto discussing the reasons to replace your lawn with a food-producing garden now rather than later.
Reef

July

Hope's Edge:
The Next Diet for a Small Planet

by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Environmentally Sustainable Food Decisions
  • Synopsis: This book may change the way you look at the world and how you eat, motivating you to smarter personal action when you make your food choices.
Reef

June

Reef
by Scubazoo


  • All Ages, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Marine Conservation and Ocean Photography
  • Synopsis: This book powerfully demonstrates the beauty and diversity of reefs found around the world while helping to educate us about this year’s World Ocean Day theme: "helping our climate – helping our ocean" with a focus on coral reefs.
The Edge of the Sea

May

From Eco-Cities to Living Machines:
Principles of Ecological Design

by John Todd and Nancy Todd


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Ecological Design
  • Synopsis: John and Nancy lay out the precepts of ecological design and map out how we can apply them to re-design our communities and economies into healthy sustainable systems.
The Edge of the Sea

April

The Edge of the Sea
by Rachel Carson


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Coastal ecosystems
  • Synopsis: Carson explores rocky shores, sandy beaches, and coral reefs, leading us into unknown worlds to catch the evanescent beauty of a tide pool and tell the story of a grain of sand.
How to Live Well Without Owning a Car

March

How to Live Well Without Owning a Car
by Chris Balish


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Green Living / transportation
  • Synopsis: The first practical, accessible, and sensible guide to living in North America without owning a car.
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming

February

Blessed Unrest:
How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming

by Paul Hawken


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: Environmental / Social activism
  • Synopsis: A leading environmentalist and social activist's examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change.
  • Watch the video
Ignition: What You Can Do To Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement

January

Ignition: What You Can Do To Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement
Edited by Jonathan Isham and Sissel Waage


  • Adult, Non-fiction
  • Subject: climate change advocacy
  • Synopsis: For anyone who feels compelled to do more about climate change than change their light bulbs or occasionally carpool, Ignition is an essential guide.

2007

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

December

Deep Economy:
The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
:
by Bill McKibben

Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound

November

Cape Wind:
Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound
:
by Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb

The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish Green Living

October

The Lazy Environmentalist:
Your Guide to Easy, Stylish Green Living
:
by Josh Dorfman

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash

September

Garbage Land:
On the Secret Trail of Trash

by Elizabeth Royte

Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish

August

Hooked:
Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish

by G. Bruce Knecht

Gaia Girls Way of Water

July

Gaia Girls:
Way of Water

by Lee Welles

Kon-Tiki

June

Kon-Tiki
by Thor Heyerdahl

Swimming in Circles

May

Swimming in Circles:
Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans

by Paul Molyneaux

The Monkey Wrench Gang

April

The Monkey Wrench Gang
by Edward Abbey

Silent Spring

March

Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson

Ocean Life A to Z

February

Ocean Life From A to Z
by Cynthia Stierle and Annie Crawley

Cradle to Cradle

January

The National Geographic
Atlas of the Ocean: The Deep Frontiers

By Sylvia Earle

 

2006

Cradle to Cradle

December

Island of the Aunts
By Eva Ibbotson

Cradle to Cradle

November

Creating a Climate for Change:
Communicating Climate Change
and Facilitating Social Change

Edited by Susanne C. Moser and Lisa Dilling

Cradle to Cradle

October

Cradle to Cradle:
Remaking the Way We Make Things

by Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart

Grayson

September

Grayson
by Lynne Cox

Ocean's End

August

Ocean's End
by Colin Woodward

Voyage of the Turtle

July

Voyage of the Turtle:
In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur

by Carl Safina

Values at Sea

June

Values at Sea:
Ethics for the Marine Environment

by Dorinda G. Dallmeyer

May

Striper Wars:
An American Fish Story

by Dick Russell

April

The Big Oyster:
History on the Half Shell

by Mark Kurlansky

Our Stolen Future

March

Our Stolen Future
by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski,
and John Peterson Myers

An Unreasonable Woman

February

An Unreasonable Woman
by Diane Wilson

Paddle to the Sea

January

Paddle To The Sea
by Holling Clancy Holling