11 books like Crochet Coral Reef

By Margaret Wertheim, Christine Wertheim,

Here are 11 books that Crochet Coral Reef fans have personally recommended if you like Crochet Coral Reef. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of History of Shit

Lindsay Kelley Author Of After Eating: Metabolizing the Arts

From my list on metabolism and digestion in the arts.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an artist and writer who works with food and eating. I find inspiration for my practice in my own body processes and in caring for and advocating for my friends and family. When my grandfather lost the ability to swallow, I began to understand the fragility and vulnerability of our gastrointestinal systems. After many years of teaching, making, and writing about food art, I started to wonder about what happens after eating. The books on this list join me in arguing for digestion, metabolism, and defecation as vital cultural processes. These authors have changed how I relate to food, guts, and my body.

Lindsay's book list on metabolism and digestion in the arts

Lindsay Kelley Why did Lindsay love this book?

Laporte’s poetic and sweeping tour of turds made me realize how flushing my toilet produces and reinscribes cultural norms. Read the history behind our collective fascination with “sewer stories,” whether it’s London’s immense blobs of underground fat or urban legends about deadly crocodiles or mutant goldfish. 

I love how this book has inspired and influenced contemporary metabolic artists. In 2017, Kathy High and Guy Schaffer created a mixed media project “committed to re-imaging and re-inserting feminist and queer stories into our histories of medicine and science” and called their work History of Shit as an homage to Laporte. I am moved by how High and Schaffer continue Laporte’s work within what might have been his natural lifespan had we not lost him and countless artists and philosophers to the AIDS pandemic.

By Dominique Laporte, Nadia Benabid (translator), Rodolphe el-Khoury (translator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked History of Shit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A brilliant account of the politics of shit. It will leave you speechless."

Written in Paris after the heady days of student revolt in May 1968 and before the devastation of the AIDS epidemic, History of Shit is emblematic of a wild and adventurous strain of 1970s' theoretical writing that attempted to marry theory, politics, sexuality, pleasure, experimentation, and humor. Radically redefining dialectical thought and post-Marxist politics, it takes an important—and irreverent—position alongside the works of such postmodern thinkers as Foucault, Deleuze, Guattari, and Lyotard. Laporte's eccentric style and ironic sensibility combine in an inquiry that is provocative, humorous, and…


Book cover of Salt Fish Girl

Lindsay Kelley Author Of After Eating: Metabolizing the Arts

From my list on metabolism and digestion in the arts.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an artist and writer who works with food and eating. I find inspiration for my practice in my own body processes and in caring for and advocating for my friends and family. When my grandfather lost the ability to swallow, I began to understand the fragility and vulnerability of our gastrointestinal systems. After many years of teaching, making, and writing about food art, I started to wonder about what happens after eating. The books on this list join me in arguing for digestion, metabolism, and defecation as vital cultural processes. These authors have changed how I relate to food, guts, and my body.

Lindsay's book list on metabolism and digestion in the arts

Lindsay Kelley Why did Lindsay love this book?

I was enthralled by this book. I didn’t want to leave its strange but familiar world. Lai slipstreams between a near-future dystopia and ancient origin stories.

This book made me question the common assumption that eating and reproduction are unrelated processes. I started wondering if I carried the smells of my mother’s diet on my skin like Lai’s protagonist, who smells like durian fruit.

When I finished this book, I knew I would read it several more times, and I have!

By Larissa Lai,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Salt Fish Girl as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Salt Fish Girl is the mesmerizing tale of an ageless female character who shifts shape and form through time and place. Told in the beguiling voice of a narrator who is fish, snake, girl, and woman - all of whom must struggle against adversity for survival - the novel is set alternately in nineteenth-century China and in a futuristic Pacific Northwest.

At turns whimsical and wry, Salt Fish Girl intertwines the story of Nu Wa, the shape-shifter, and that of Miranda, a troubled young girl living in the walled city of Serendipity circa 2044. Miranda is haunted by traces of…


Book cover of by Alison Knowles: A Retrospective (1960-2022)

Lindsay Kelley Author Of After Eating: Metabolizing the Arts

From my list on metabolism and digestion in the arts.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an artist and writer who works with food and eating. I find inspiration for my practice in my own body processes and in caring for and advocating for my friends and family. When my grandfather lost the ability to swallow, I began to understand the fragility and vulnerability of our gastrointestinal systems. After many years of teaching, making, and writing about food art, I started to wonder about what happens after eating. The books on this list join me in arguing for digestion, metabolism, and defecation as vital cultural processes. These authors have changed how I relate to food, guts, and my body.

Lindsay's book list on metabolism and digestion in the arts

Lindsay Kelley Why did Lindsay love this book?

Alison Knowles made many of my favorite food works. I’m constantly inspired by her practice and how she reminds us that food is an environment.

This must be one of the best catalogues I’ve read, and part of that has to do with the beauty of the book itself. Each unique cover is a makeready press sheet, and the smart essays complement a real sense of the exhibition, including a comprehensive timeline. 

By Karen Moss (editor), Lucia Fabio (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked by Alison Knowles as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first survey of the Fluxus cofounder's prolific avant-garde output, from eight-foot-tall books to make-a-salad performances

The American artist Alison Knowles' (born 1933) groundbreaking experiments-from painting and printmaking to sculpture and installation, sound works, poetry and artist's books-have influenced art and artists for more than 50 years but remain relatively unknown among mainstream audiences. The first comprehensive volume on the artist, By Alison Knowles: A Retrospective presents more than 200 objects that span the entire breadth of her career, from her intermedia works of the 1960s to forms of participatory and relational art in the 2000s.
The accompanying catalog features…


Book cover of Consuming Ocean Island: Stories of People and Phosphate from Banaba

Lindsay Kelley Author Of After Eating: Metabolizing the Arts

From my list on metabolism and digestion in the arts.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an artist and writer who works with food and eating. I find inspiration for my practice in my own body processes and in caring for and advocating for my friends and family. When my grandfather lost the ability to swallow, I began to understand the fragility and vulnerability of our gastrointestinal systems. After many years of teaching, making, and writing about food art, I started to wonder about what happens after eating. The books on this list join me in arguing for digestion, metabolism, and defecation as vital cultural processes. These authors have changed how I relate to food, guts, and my body.

Lindsay's book list on metabolism and digestion in the arts

Lindsay Kelley Why did Lindsay love this book?

I love books that are themselves artworks. Artist’s books take this on in all kinds of fabulous ways, but when writing for academic audiences, making a book that is also art can be challenging. Teaiwa’s book pulls it off.

This book accompanies a touring art exhibition, Project Banaba (I am grateful to have seen it at the Bishop Museum in Hawai’i last year). Together, the book and exhibition communicate deep impulses that inspire many artists: mourning, loss, exile, family, and justice.

My favorite chapter is a photo essay, “Remix: Our Sea of Phosphate.” Staying close to materials, in this case, phosphate, asks writers and readers to connect to how injustices and struggles manifest, I am grateful to Teaiwa for extending her writing into the world in creative ways. 

By Katerina Martina Teaiwa,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Consuming Ocean Island as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Consuming Ocean Island tells the story of the land and people of Banaba, a small Pacific island, which, from 1900 to 1980, was heavily mined for phosphate, an essential ingredient in fertilizer. As mining stripped away the island's surface, the land was rendered uninhabitable, and the indigenous Banabans were relocated to Rabi Island in Fiji. Katerina Martina Teaiwa tells the story of this human and ecological calamity by weaving together memories, records, and images from displaced islanders, colonial administrators, and employees of the mining company. Her compelling narrative reminds us of what is at stake whenever the interests of industrial…


Book cover of Metabolic Regulation: A Human Perspective

Roy Taylor Author Of Life Without Diabetes: The Definitive Guide to Understanding and Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

From my list on type 2 diabetes: making sense of muddled advice.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since childhood, I’ve wanted to find out how things work. The human body is an amazing combination of mind and body. As Professor of Medicine and Metabolism at Newcastle University, I’ve been fortunate to be able to find out what goes wrong to cause type 2 diabetes. It was not the complex mystery believed by other experts, but just one simple process. A little too much fat inside the liver caused insulin not to work properly, and an overspill of fat prevented enough insulin to be made. Growing a wild idea into a proven NHS programme involves sleepless nights, disbelief of colleagues, gratitude of patients, and hugely enjoyable team-working. 

Roy's book list on type 2 diabetes: making sense of muddled advice

Roy Taylor Why did Roy love this book?

Where can you get reliable information on how the body works? Online sites are notoriously unreliable. Most textbooks are unreadable. But here is a book that explains clearly how the body uses food for fuel. This book is not an ‘easy read,’ so don’t curl up with it expecting instant enlightenment. However, if you want to learn the beautiful details of how your body works, go for it. The chapter on "Integration of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism in normal daily life" conveys an understanding of how food handling works, and just looking at the diagrams and graphs will take you a long way. And simply reading the "Key learning points" at the start of each chapter will introduce you to the magic of metabolism. 

By Keith N. Frayn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Metabolic Regulation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Metabolic Regulation looks in detail at how molecules, cells and tissues operate collectively in human health and disease, using an approach that has become known as 'integrative physiology'. Since the publication of the first edition of this extremely well received book, the understanding of how metabolism is regulated has developed substantially in several ways, for example with the discovery of the hormone leptin, and also in the continuing advances in the understanding of gene expression. Full details of these and other new advances are included in this fully updated edition. Carefully laid out with relevant and clearly explained examples, and…


Book cover of Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Stay Healthy, and Lose Weight

John B. Arden Author Of Rewire Your Brain 2.0: Five Healthy Factors to a Better Life

From my list on life-style health.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have lectured in 30 countries and all US States. Previously, I was the Director of Training in Mental Health for Kaiser Permanente in the Northern California region. In this capacity, I oversaw training programs in 24 medical centers where over 150 postdoctoral residents and interns are trained each year, the largest mental health training program in the US.  I am the author of 15 books (translated into over 20 languages). The second edition of my book, Rewire Your Brain 2.0, came out last year. My book, Mind-Brain-Gene: Toward the Integration of Psychotherapy, encompasses the fields of psychoneuroimmunology, Epigenetics, Neuroscience, Nutritional Neuroscience, and psychotherapy research.    

John's book list on life-style health

John B. Arden Why did John love this book?

This timely book reveals how many of the food fads are not based on coherent and sensible science.

One of the hot fads that the book reveals does not make historical sense is the so-called paleo diet, which is based on the no-carb diet. Actually, our ancestors, who were all hunter-gatherers, did not eat primarily meat and avoid carbohydrates. In fact, these ancestors ate complex carbohydrates. The point that the author raises is that complex carbs are critical for metabolism.  

By Herman Pontzer,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Burn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Pontzer's findings have huge implications for our attitudes to exercise, diet and public health' Mark Webster, Sunday Times

A myth-busting tour of the body's hidden foundations from a pioneering evolutionary biologist

'Public health strategies stubbornly cling to the simplistic armchair engineer's view of metabolism, hurting efforts to combat obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and the other diseases that are most likely to kill us'

Herman Pontzer's ground-breaking research has revealed how, contrary to received wisdom, exercise does not increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level.…


Book cover of The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

Wendy Speake Author Of The 40-Day Sugar Fast: Where Physical Detox Meets Spiritual Transformation

From my list on overcoming food addiction with faith.

Why am I passionate about this?

Before becoming an author, my career was as an actress in Hollywood. I stepped off of the stage and onto the page in 2016 and have never looked back. Telling stories about real life has allowed me to not only entertain but also encourage my literary audience. After writing parenting books I transitioned into devotionals and Bible studies for Christian women.

Wendy's book list on overcoming food addiction with faith

Wendy Speake Why did Wendy love this book?

The Daniel Plan is far more than a diet plan. It is an appetizing approach to achieving a healthy lifestyle by optimizing the five key essentials of faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends. Unlike the thousands of other books on the market, this book is not about a new diet, guilt-driven gym sessions, or shame-driven fasts. Your path to holistic health begins here, as Pastor Rick Warren and fitness and medical experts Dr. Daniel Amen and Dr. Mark Hyman guide you to incorporate healthy choices into your current lifestyle.

The concepts in this book will encourage you to deepen your relationship with God and develop a community of supportive friends who will encourage you to make smart food and fitness choices each and every day.

By Rick Warren, Daniel G. Amen, Mark Hyman

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Daniel Plan as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The Daniel Plan is far more than a diet plan. It is an appetizing approach to achieving a healthy lifestyle by optimizing the five key essentials of faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends.

Unlike the thousands of other books on the market, this book is not about a new diet, guilt-driven gym sessions, or shame-driven fasts. Your path to holistic health begins here, as Pastor Rick Warren and fitness and medical experts Dr. Daniel Amen and Dr. Mark Hyman guide you to incorporate healthy choices into your current lifestyle.

The concepts in this book will encourage…


Book cover of Crochet Cute Critters: 26 Easy Amigurumi Patterns

Amy Latta Author Of Hand Lettering for Laughter: Gorgeous Art with a Hilarious Twist

From my list on for artists and creatives.

Why am I passionate about this?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been an artist at heart. As a child, I loved to draw and to make all kinds of crafts with my mother. Now, I make a living creating and teaching art. From presenting at conferences and workshops around the country to doing segments on lifestyle shows like Hallmark Home & Family, Good Day PA, Great Day Live Tampa, and more, my favorite things to do are those that allow me to share crafty projects. I have also written five hand lettering books and a guided journal, all with the hope of helping others to discover, explore, and express their own creativity. 

Amy's book list on for artists and creatives

Amy Latta Why did Amy love this book?

Sarah is a master at creating adorable and very do-able crochet patterns! This book walks you through the steps of crocheting 26 adorable amigurumi animals, including a cat, a giraffe, an elephant, a hippo, a fox, a lamb, a jellyfish, and more. Whether you’re new to crochet or just looking for some cute patterns, this book has something for you.

By Sarah Zimmerman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Crochet Cute Critters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Make cute and cuddly animals with easy crochet

Create a colorful collection of pillowy plush critters with the magic of crochet! Crochet Cute Critters is packed with simple patterns for creating adorable animals from alligators to zebras. The easy-to-make designs are perfect for beginning crocheters as well as advanced enthusiasts of amigurumi―the art of crocheting stuffed toys. Stitch, detail, and stuff each character to bring these huggable friends to life. Keep them as desk or bookshelf buddies, or gift them to a critter-loving kid!

Beginner-friendly materials―The crochet patterns whip up quickly using a standard hook and common worsted weight yarn,…


Book cover of A Stitch to Die For

Syrl Kazlo Author Of Kibbles and Death

From my list on mysteries to cozy up with on a cold night.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the author of the cozy mystery series Samantha Davies Mysteries. Before beginning to write my series, I read hundreds of cozies and loved each one, especially those featuring a small-town setting, an amateur sleuth, and a dog. Since I live in a small upstate New York town, am married to a retired state trooper, and am the mom to a lovable dachshund, what better than to feature all this in a cozy mystery series. So, the Samantha Davies Mystery series was born.

Syrl's book list on mysteries to cozy up with on a cold night

Syrl Kazlo Why did Syrl love this book?

Like the main character in this series, I'm a big crafter, and I love how the crafts are woven into the books.

I love the quirky characters. They are laugh-out-loud funny, another favorite in the books that I love.

They may be murder mysteries, but they don't weigh me down.

By Lois Winston,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Stitch to Die For as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ever since her husband died and left her in debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan, magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack has stumbled across one dead body after another—but always in work-related settings. When a killer targets the elderly nasty neighbor who lives across the street from her, murder strikes too close to home. Couple that with a series of unsettling events days before Halloween, and Anastasia begins to wonder if someone is sending her a deadly message.Knitting and crochet projects included.


Book cover of Craftivism: The Art Of Craft And Activism

Katy Bevan Author Of Intelligent Hands: Why making is a skill for life

From my list on craft and why making is important.

Why am I passionate about this?

My whole life has been about the power of making. I’m a writer and educator specialising in craft. Previously, I worked at the Crafts Council in London, and now I write for craft magazines with a particular interest in the connective nature of craft in communities and the relationship between craft and wellbeing. I’m also a parent to a learning-disabled adult, so understand learning differences (and care). I recently started Quickthorn Books to showcase more makers. I run workshops in darning, crochet, knitting, and, most recently, making rag rugs. I’m proud to be a trustee of Heritage Crafts, and I can usually be found knitting in the corner.

Katy's book list on craft and why making is important

Katy Bevan Why did Katy love this book?

Betsy is known as the Godmother of craftivism, and we had the pleasure of interviewing her for our book. She shows that in a world in which we can feel increasingly powerless, small acts of creativity can give us agency and make us feel like we have a voice. Her work with affirmations and collecting the stories of others continues online.

By Betsy Greer (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Craftivism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Craftivism is a worldwide movement that operates at the intersection where craft and activism meet; Craftivism the book is full of inspiration for crafters who want to create works that add to the greater good. With interviews and profiles of craftivists who are changing the world with their art, and through examples that range from community embroidery projects, stitching in prisons, revolutionary ceramics, AIDS activism, yarn bombing, and crafts that facilitate personal growth, Craftivism provides imaginative examples of how crafters can be creative and altruistic at the same time.

Artists profiled in the book are from the United States, Canada,…


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