100 books like Dark Emu

By Bruce Pascoe,

Here are 100 books that Dark Emu fans have personally recommended if you like Dark Emu. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization

Lewis H. Ziska Author Of Greenhouse Planet: How Rising CO2 Changes Plants and Life as We Know It

From my list on climate and plants, from forests to farms.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been fascinated with plants. Their shapes, their colors, their beauty, even the plants that are known to be harmful to humans (poison ivy, puncture vine) had appeal to me. Plants are, by far, the most prolific, the biggest, the oldest, the most complex of organisms. And yet, as a pre-med student, classes on botany were never recommended. Sad. These books delve into the complexity, the wonder of plants, and how they interact with humans. From the sheer poetic pronouncements of Michael Pollan to the straightforward prose of Richard Manning, here is a chance to see the breadth and depth; our rewards and struggles with the plant kingdom.  

Lewis' book list on climate and plants, from forests to farms

Lewis H. Ziska Why did Lewis love this book?

Against the Grain is a one-of-a-kind book. Unlike many hagiographies of agriculture gives a more realistic interpretation of how agriculture came to be; the costs associated with its adoption, and the hold it has over all humankind. It gives insight into that cost through an economic and environmental lens. After you read this book, you will look at what is at the end of your fork very, very differently.

By Richard Manning,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In this provocative, wide-ranging book, Against the Grain, Richard Manning offers a dramatically revisionist view of recent human evolution, beginning with the vast increase in brain size that set us apart from our primate relatives and brought an accompanying increase in our need for nourishment. For 290,000 years, we managed to meet that need as hunter-gatherers, a state in which Manning believes we were at our most human: at our smartest, strongest, most sensually alive. But our reliance on food made a secure supply deeply attractive, and eventually we embarked upon the agricultural experiment that has been the history of…


Book cover of The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game

David Sobel Author Of Wild Play: Parenting Adventures in the Great Outdoors

From my list on bonding your children with nature.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1972, I started an early childhood center in the Monadnock Region in New Hampshire. The focus was on child-centered education, with an emphasis on working with children outdoors. I've spent the last 50 years continuing to connect children with nature in schools, nature centers, national parks, museums, and in families. I taught graduate courses in developmental psychology, cognitive development, place-based education and have done hundreds of professional development workshops for early childhood and elementary school teachers. As a father, I focused on connecting my own children with nature. My son is a ski coach and runs an ecotourism kayaking business. My daughter is a theater director and writes grants for an environmental non-profit. 

David's book list on bonding your children with nature

David Sobel Why did David love this book?

The course I took from Paul Shepard in college was one of the most thought-provoking courses I ever experienced. Find an image of the original cover of the book and you'll see what I mean—it's a strange synthesis of a post-modern bow hunter emerging from his paleo ancestor. Shepard contends that the key to understanding human happiness is recognizing that we are genetically hunters and gatherers living in a post-modern age. Reclaiming our hunting and gathering impulses will help us lead fuller lives. He does a fascinating job, in this book, of describing what hunting and gathering culture childhoods looked like and then suggesting how we should parent our children with these old genetic impulses in mind. 

By Paul Shepard,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In what may be his boldest and most controversial book, Paul Shepard presents an account of human behavior and ecology in light of our past. In it, he contends that agriculture is responsible for our ecological decline and looks to the hunting and gathering lifestyle as a model more closely in tune with our essential nature. Shepard advocates affirming the profound and beautiful nature of the hunter and gatherer, redefining agriculture and combining technology with hunting and gathering to recover a livable environment and peaceful society.


Book cover of Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

Fernanda Pirie Author Of The Rule of Laws: A 4,000-Year Quest to Order the World

From my list on making us rethink global history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm an anthropologist on a mission to discover how people have used, and abused, law over the past 4,000 years. After a decade in a wig and gown at the London Bar, I headed back to university to pursue a long-standing interest in Tibetan culture. I spent two years living with remote villagers and nomads, freezing over dung fires, herding yaks, and learning about traditional legal practices. Now, based at the University of Oxford, I’ve turned to legal history, comparing ancient Tibetan texts with examples from all over the world. The Rule of Laws brings a long sweep of legal history and its fascinating diversity to a wide audience.

Fernanda's book list on making us rethink global history

Fernanda Pirie Why did Fernanda love this book?

Scott takes us through the evidence of the earliest hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies and asks why anyone ever allowed rulers to amass power and centralize control of resources. The evidence is that farmers flourished for centuries without letting anyone lord it over them. Why, then, does agriculture seem to have led to the rise of the state? Readable and compelling, Scott's latest book makes a really convincing case against the benefits, and inevitability, of the state.

By James C. Scott,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Against the Grain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An Economist Best History Book 2017

"History as it should be written."-Barry Cunliffe, Guardian

"Scott hits the nail squarely on the head by exposing the staggering price our ancestors paid for civilization and political order."-Walter Scheidel, Financial Times

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains, and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical…


Book cover of The Emergence of Agriculture

Guy Crosby Ph.D Author Of Cook, Taste, Learn: How the Evolution of Science Transformed the Art of Cooking

From my list on history and future of agriculture, food, and cooking.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since childhood I've been fascinated with the beauty of organic molecules. I pursued this passion in graduate school at Brown University and through a postdoctoral position at Stanford University. My professional career began at a startup pharmaceutical company in California, which evolved into research positions in agriculture and food ingredients. After 30 years I retired as a vice-president of research and development for a food ingredients company. I developed a passion for food and cooking and subsequently acquired a position as the science editor for America’s Test Kitchen, which I held for over 12 years. Today at the age of 80 I still write and publish scientific papers and books about food, cooking, and nutrition.

Guy's book list on history and future of agriculture, food, and cooking

Guy Crosby Ph.D Why did Guy love this book?

Another beautifully illustrated book that traces the evolution of agriculture in seven different regions of the world starting approximately 10,000 years ago. Many anthropologists believe the evolution of agriculture was the single greatest technological development of all time as it transformed early humans from hunter-gathers to settled societies resulting in an explosion of the human population.

By Bruce D. Smith,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In this text, the archaeologist, Bruce Smith, explores the initial emergence and early expansion of agriculture and the transformations in human society that made it possible. He charts the course of the agricultural revolution as it occurred in the Middle East, Europe, China, Africa and the Americas, showing how basic archaeological methods and modern technologies, such as plant analysis, radiocarbon dating and DNA sampling are used to investigate this event. Although in the agricultural mind, the agricultural revolution is often seen as a one-step transition from hunter-gatherer societies to farming ones, Smith shows how truly varied the patterns of animal…


Book cover of Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, a New Earth

Courtney White Author Of Grass, Soil, Hope: A Journey Through Carbon Country

From my list on and for learning about regenerative agriculture.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an author and former environmental activist who dropped out of the ‘conflict industry’ in 1997 to start the Quivira Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a radical center among ranchers, environmentalists, scientists, and others around practices that improve resilience in working landscapes. For two decades, I worked on the front lines of collaborative conservation and regenerative agriculture, sharing innovative, land-based solutions to food, water, and climate challenges. I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Courtney's book list on and for learning about regenerative agriculture

Courtney White Why did Courtney love this book?

In this book, Australian farmer Charles Massey takes a ‘big picture’ view of regenerative agriculture. It’s full of personal stories but it also goes deep into the history of industrial agriculture, the damage it continues to do, and how we can heal the planet. Massey lays out an inspiring vision for a new agriculture and the vital connections between our soil and our health. It’s a story of how a grassroots revolution can help turn climate change around and build healthy communities, pivoting on our relationship with growing and consuming food. 

By Charles Massy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Call of the Reed Warbler as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Part lyrical nature writing, part storytelling, part solid scientific evidence, part scholarly research, part memoir, the book is an elegant manifesto, an urgent call to stop trashing the Earth and start healing it. the Guardian

Perfect for readers of Wilding, Dirt to Soil and English Pastoral!

Call of the Reed Warbler is a clarion call for the global transformation of agriculture, and an in-depth look at the visionary farmers who are revolutionising the way we grow, eat, and think about food.

Using his personal experience as a touchstone, starting as a chemical-dependent farmer with dead soils, he recounts his journey…


Book cover of The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming

Benjamin Selwyn Author Of The Struggle for Development

From my list on the world on international development.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a political economist interested in development which I’ve been studying, researching, and writing about since my undergraduate days in the early 1990s.

Benjamin's book list on the world on international development

Benjamin Selwyn Why did Benjamin love this book?

This short (190-page) book shows how the global food system is intrinsically connected to world region’s diverse developmental trajectories, covering the colonial era to the green revolution to the contemporary corporate-dominated food system.

Historically, agriculture has been subordinated ever more tightly to capitalist imperatives of profit – based upon increased, faster, and cheaper production. Agriculture has been transformed from a ‘closed loop system’, where soil fertility was renewed based upon locally-available resources (such as animal manure), to a through-flow system dependent upon external inputs.

This shift raised yields for a while, but at the cost of soil exhaustion and the accumulation of power and resources in the hands of agrochemical companies at the expense of the small farmer sector.

Weis suggests that we need to consider new ways of producing our food, which would also establish new forms of world development. 

By Tony Weis,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The Global Food Economy examines the human and ecological cost of what we eat.

The current food economy is characterized by immense contradictions. Surplus 'food mountains', bountiful supermarkets, and rising levels of obesity stand in stark contrast to widespread hunger and malnutrition. Transnational companies dominate the market in food and benefit from subsidies, whilst farmers in developing countries remain impoverished. Food miles, mounting toxicity and the 'ecological hoofprint' of livestock mean that the global food economy rests on increasingly shaky environmental foundations.

This book looks at how such a system came about, and how it is being enforced by the…


Book cover of Welsh Food Stories

Helen Fulton Author Of The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature

From my list on Wales and Welsh culture.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was lucky enough to be introduced to medieval Welsh literature when I was an undergraduate, and the Welsh language mesmerised me. It is so unlike any other language that I had come across and translating texts from Welsh into English was as absorbing as code-cracking. My apprenticeship as a scholar was long and hard and I soon realised that my particular contribution was to make Welsh literature accessible to non-Welsh speakers, not simply through translations, but by aligning the Welsh tradition with the wider literary cultures of Europe. I want Wales and its two literatures to take their place as two of the great literatures of Europe.

Helen's book list on Wales and Welsh culture

Helen Fulton Why did Helen love this book?

I’m not particularly a foodie, but this book was an eye-opener.

Carwyn Graves takes us on a historical and topographical journey around Wales uncovering one of its best-kept secrets, its traditional and inventive cuisine. I discovered that there is definitely more to Welsh cooking than the famous Welsh rarebit or even the ubiquitous Welsh cakes (enjoyable though they are).

The book is structured around key foods from the Welsh menu, including Bara/Bread, Caws/Cheese, and Cig Oen/Lamb. The emphasis is on fresh natural foods, though the final chapter on Sglodion/Chips rather gives the game away.

By Carwyn Graves,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Welsh Food Stories explores more than two thousand years of history to discover the rich but forgotten heritage of Welsh foods - from oysters to cider, salted butter to salt-marsh lamb. Despite centuries of industry, ancient traditions have survived in pockets across the country among farmers, bakers, fisherfolk, brewers and growers who are taking Welsh food back to its roots, and trailblazing truly sustainable foods as they do so.

In this important book, author Carwyn Graves travels Wales to uncover the country's traditional foods and meet the people making them today. There are the owners of a local Carmarthenshire chip…


Book cover of Feeding Cahokia: Early Agriculture in the North American Heartland

C. Thomas Shay Author Of Under Prairie Skies: The Plants and Native Peoples of the Northern Plains

From my list on honoring our precious prairies.

Why am I passionate about this?

My first true prairie encounter was during a class trip to Waubun Prairie in northern Minnesota. Such a wide sweep of verdant grassland splashed with beautiful color—I was instantly smitten! After years as a professional anthropologist and educator, I wrote Under Prairie Skies to celebrate the prairie and share the region’s early ethnobotanical history. I was pleased that several reviewers called the book “a love story.” My list of recommendations includes some which inspired me on that journey. It is an honor to highlight such superb communicators who share my love for the prairie.

C.'s book list on honoring our precious prairies

C. Thomas Shay Why did C. love this book?

Cahokia is the most famous archaeological site in North America! Centuries ago, the place was a thriving urban center spread over two thousand acres of rich Mississippi bottomland with more than eighty earthen mounds and an estimated population of 15,000. Somehow, after 1400 ACE, Cahokia declined, leaving both mystery and controversy about its rise and fall.

This book considers how that population fed itself. It is a masterful synthesis of ancient agricultural research, offering fresh perspectives on ancient life in America’s heartland. I especially liked the inclusion of such things as the spiritual significance of a number of stone carvings. 

By Gayle J. Fritz,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An authoritative and thoroughly accessible overview of farming and food practices at Cahokia.

Agriculture is rightly emphasized as the center of the economy in most studies of Cahokian society, but the focus is often predominantly on corn. This farming economy is typically framed in terms of ruling elites living in mound centers who demanded tribute and a mass surplus to be hoarded or distributed as they saw fit. Farmers are cast as commoners who grew enough surplus corn to provide for the elites.

Feeding Cahokia: Early Agriculture in the North American Heartland presents evidence to demonstrate that the emphasis on…


Book cover of Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources

C. Thomas Shay Author Of Under Prairie Skies: The Plants and Native Peoples of the Northern Plains

From my list on honoring our precious prairies.

Why am I passionate about this?

My first true prairie encounter was during a class trip to Waubun Prairie in northern Minnesota. Such a wide sweep of verdant grassland splashed with beautiful color—I was instantly smitten! After years as a professional anthropologist and educator, I wrote Under Prairie Skies to celebrate the prairie and share the region’s early ethnobotanical history. I was pleased that several reviewers called the book “a love story.” My list of recommendations includes some which inspired me on that journey. It is an honor to highlight such superb communicators who share my love for the prairie.

C.'s book list on honoring our precious prairies

C. Thomas Shay Why did C. love this book?

I recall avidly skimming the text in the library soon after it came out. So many new ideas! I was especially excited with its presentation of the Indigenous management of plant habitats by the judicious use of fire.

From the Preface: “I hope that greater understanding of the stewardship legacy left us by California Indians will foster a paradigm shift in our thinking about the state’s past—particularly with regard to wildland fire.” Slowly, researchers across the Great Plains have begun to understand the complex relationship between climate, litter buildup, and human activity, and this book helped that understanding take root.

By M. Kat Anderson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today - that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvelously detailed and beautifully written, Tending the Wild is an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of…


Book cover of A Year on Our Farm: How the Countryside Made Me

Kate Wells Author Of Murder on the Farm

From my list on taking you into the world of farming.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have loved the Malvern Hills my whole life, first living on a sheep farm at their foot and then in my great-grandparents’ old house at the very top. As a teenager I fell for a farmer’s son (now my husband) and spent all my time on his Herefordshire farm. My upbringing firmly engrained a deep love of rural life into me, so it was natural it became integral to my writing. To write with authenticity about a way of life I am so passionate about, I immerse myself in farming research and keep my hand in on a local farm when it comes to busy times such as lambing.

Kate's book list on taking you into the world of farming

Kate Wells Why did Kate love this book?

This autobiography of perhaps one of Britain’s most loved television personalities is a sheer joy to read. 

I was initially drawn to it as I am a magpie for books about farming written by farmers and this element was a fantastic window into his experiences of growing up on the family sheep farm in Yorkshire, as well as his current role within that world. 

The joy of this book is that as well as being an ode to rural life and nature, it is also interwoven with plenty of extra layers as we find out more about his life in front of the camera and the many, often hilarious, always entertaining stories he shares.

By Matt Baker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Year on Our Farm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Escape into nature with Matt Baker's fascinating journey through nature's year and family life on the farm

Peppered with his hand drawn sketches and moments from his TV career throughout, this is a heartfelt and fascinating insight into Matt's life outside of our TV screens
_______

Matt Baker is at his happiest on the farm.

Away from the bright lights of hosting our favourite television programmes, Countryfile, The One Show, Blue Peter and many more, he is often in the company of his family, dogs, array of sheep, Mediterranean miniature donkeys and a whole host of wildlife in the farm's…


Book cover of Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization
Book cover of The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game
Book cover of Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

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