Books like The Omnivore's Dilemma

01

In Defense of Food

Michael Pollan · Health

In Defense of Food opens with seven words that amount to a quiet provocation: Eat food.

A kindred health read.

02

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson · Science

Silent Spring, published in 1962, is Rachel Carson's investigation of the effects of synthetic pesticides — particularly DDT and related organochlorines — on birds, fish, insects, and the broader ecological web.

Both dig into ecology.

03

80/20 Running

Matt Fitzgerald · Health

80/20 Running is Matt Fitzgerald's evidence-based argument that the most common mistake recreational runners make is training too hard, too often.

A kindred health read.

04

Eating Animals

Jonathan Safran Foer · Health

Eating Animals began as a project to understand what food Foer would feed his newborn son.

A kindred health read.

05

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Atul Gawande · Health

Being Mortal is Atul Gawande's investigation into why modern medicine is so bad at helping people die well.

A kindred health read.

06

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

William McDonough & Michael Braungart · Science

Cradle to Cradle is William McDonough and Michael Braungart's argument that the conventional approach to environmentalism — reducing, reusing, recycling, being "less bad" — is insufficient and in some ways misleading.

Shares ecology and sustainability with The Omnivore's Dilemma.

07

The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World

Amanda Little · Science

The Fate of Food is Amanda Little's reporting on how food production is being reshaped by climate change and by the technologies that farmers, scientists, and food companies are deploying to respond.

Shares food systems and sustainability with The Omnivore's Dilemma.

08

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Charles C. Mann · History

Charles Mann's 1491 sets out to correct a widespread misconception: that the Americas before Columbus were a mostly empty wilderness populated by small, isolated bands of hunter-gatherers living in gentle harmony with an untouched nature.

Both dig into ecology.

09

Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning

Timothy Snyder · History

Black Earth is Timothy Snyder's reinterpretation of the Holocaust that places it in an ecological and political framework rather than a strictly ideological one.

Both dig into ecology.

10

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

Merlin Sheldrake · Science

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist who has spent his career studying fungi, and Entangled Life is his account of what fungi are, what they do, and why most people who think they know something about the natural world understand almost nothing about this kingdom of life.

Both dig into ecology.

11

Happy City

Charles Montgomery · Science

Happy City is Charles Montgomery's investigation into the relationship between the design of cities and the psychological well-being of their inhabitants.

Both dig into sustainability.

12

Spillover

David Quammen · Science

Spillover is David Quammen's exhaustive investigation into zoonotic disease — illness that jumps from animals to humans — and the ecological and evolutionary logic behind why such spillover events happen.

Both dig into ecology.