Eco-books

Are you one of those who reads much more in summer than the rest of the year? Because we are!

If you can’t make your mind when trying to come up with your new book, and if you want to give a try to those books that deal with “ecology” subjects, here you have couple of proposals:

State of Fear (Michael Crichton)

One of the creators of techno-political-thrillers, Crichton brings another entertaining story here. Using a very accessible language, he offers lots of data about environment issues: from the life form of Native Americans to the depth of the ice layer in Antarctica, amongst so many others.

There are some assassinations, trials and mysteries as well, of course! It’s an easy read so we have no problem recommending it. On top of that, when it came out there was some big controversy, since the data it provided about climate change was not what lots of people expected…

And if you don’t like these kind of stories, we recommend to take a look at the “author’s opinion” at the end of the book. It’s not as light as the rest of the book, but lots of info here…

No Impact Man (Colin Beavan)

A one-year experiment: try to live in New York (actually, in Manhattan) without creating any kind of environmental impact. Fair enough, it happens in the US, but most of the situations described can be applied to our day-to-day basics: would you be able to get rid of paper or live with no electricity?

It deals with lots of different subjects, such as the true meaning of ecological meat. Very interesting and, on top of that, properly written. It even has a small mystery! Even if you’re used to only read fiction, give this one a try!

(I particularly like the subtitle of the movie: can you save the world without driving your family crazy?)

Úselo y tírelo (Eduardo Galeano)

Uruguayan Galeano used to create masterpieces when it came to relating facts, to analyse historical situations, to tell global events from a very easy perspective. This book, written as a short essay or a long article, analyses the roots of our consumerism and shows in a very easy way where can it take us. It’s short and easy, at least compared to some other works of this great author, and it can teach us lots! This is a must for everyone with a real compromise with environmental issues.

The hardest thing about this book, maybe, is to find the book: there are not that many copies left around!

Animal Man #15 (Grant Morrison)

This time we’re bringing a comic book. Grant Morrison, before he became famous in some other more popular titles, took this curious character and made an ecologist out of him. He’s got lots of good stories, but the one we’re mentioning here relates a real and cruel “tradition” taking place in the Faroe islands, Denmark. There’re some not-very-nice dolphin killings, but they’re told from a special point of view.

If you don’t like comic books, you can read more about this here (Spanish).

Un viejo que leía historias de amor (Luis Sepúlveda)

This book might not be considered “ecologist”; that depends on the reader (well, it always does really). We have the story here of this man who lives in the jungle, with almost no contact with the external world, eta we get to know what he can imagine from his readings.

A slow, poetic pace transmits a lifestyle that might be about to disappear. And if you like something different… there’s a movie as well!

Goddess (Garth Ennis)

This comic book was sold as “ecologist”, but to be honest there’s more of eco-terrorism than anything. Garth Ennis, writer, is pretty well known in the comic universe, and soon will be famous outside of it: his run on Preacher is going to be transformed into a TV series.

The story itself doesn’t have anything special, but if you’re looking for action and some pretty drawings, all of it covered with an “eco” touch, this is your book.