Fans pick 100 books like Our Final Warning

I loved the nuanced solutions Robinson proposes in this book to fix the biggest problems of today. Although the book wasn’t my favorite in terms of plot, I appreciated Robinson’s work in detailing realistic solutions that meaningfully address climate change. It provoked me to really scrutinize what we are and are not doing to tackle rising global temperatures. 

This is a miraculous book, an astonishing tour de force of clarity, insight, optimism, and fun. Yes, I’m calling an energy book fun. Transforming world energy–moving from fossil fuels to renewables and other climate-safe sources – is the biggest part of limiting climate change, but the field is littered with vague, confusing, and grandiose claims.

MacKay cuts through the nonsense and makes the numbers and charts sing, so they stick in your brain like a catchy melody. I don’t care that it was written mostly for the UK and in 2009. Nothing since is half as good, and the concepts and tools haven’t changed. You just need to remind yourself that solar, wind, and EVs have made huge gains since then, so the picture is somewhat more optimistic than MacKay paints.

Read this book. I mean it. You will feel empowered, and you will feel smarter.

It’s a fascinating book. The story takes place in 2024, and some themes seem prophetic: water shortages, soaring food prices, the resulting social chaos, and Mars exploration. There is also a president who promises to “make America great again” (the book was written in 1993). 

I liked the story, though it left a rather heavy impression on me. I couldn't put it down despite how grim it was. I was especially fascinated by its invented religion, though I’m more inclined to view it as a philosophy. It was refreshing, stimulating, and thought-provoking.

Through her dystopian vision, Octavia Butler explores the issues of inequality, poverty, slavery, politics, capitalism, religion, and human psychology. Her book is a great analysis of what human beings are capable of in crisis.

This is a lesser-known work of climate fiction compared to Ministry for the Future, but it is equally impressive in its erudition, realism, and gripping narrative trajectory. Markley has given us a chillingly realistic and affectively charged account of America’s likely near-term future.

I love the way he weaves together developments in climate, rightwing politics, and Artificial Intelligence to show how the American political landscape is likely to evolve over the next twenty to thirty years. While the climate crisis is the main storyline, Markley also shows us how big data and AI may converge to deliver unprecedented advances in the American surveillance state – while also potentially providing emancipatory tools for activists in unforeseen ways.

It is a long book, but hard to put down – and not recommended reading before bedtime!

I find reading this book like sitting with a wise friend who gently tells you you’re making a big mistake, but you can still fix it, and it can be OK.

Recent climate policy has gone off the rails with the idea of “net zero,” a sleight-of-hand that makes it look much easier: We don’t actually have to stop emitting; we can just offset emissions by removing them from the atmosphere later to pay back the debt. Yeah, right. This is true in theory but deeply problematic in practice: risky, and prone to error and deception. Some emissions can continue to be offset by removals to get to global net zero or net negative. But the current net-zero bandwagon, with everyone pretending their emissions can continue, is dangerous madness.

Buck brings her clear insight and ruthless honesty to this deeply confused area. She gently holds the popular delusions up for… show more.

You’re probably wondering, if we can’t do what Buck and MacKay point us to in time to avoid the world that Lynas paints, what then?

I have good news: we’re still not (quite) out of options. It looks possible to cool the Earth a degree or two within a few years by spraying a mist of reflective aerosols – sort of like your plant sprayer – in the upper atmosphere to scatter a percent or so of incoming sunlight. This approach, solar geoengineering, is a band-aid, not a cure for climate change. It doesn’t avoid the need to slash emissions, and it brings a bunch of new uncertainties and potential problems. But it can buy time and might be the only way to avoid Lynas’s world quickly.

Morton digs into these technologies, what we know and don’t know about them, and the controversies, with erudition and wit. I love his… show more.

This is mainly a book about our dark present, but it can also be read as a window into an even darker future.

What I loved most about it is how it illuminates the entanglements between violent practices of border policing, surveillance, and oppression around the globe – from the US-Mexico border to China’s AI police state in Xinjiang, the EU’s militarized policing of the Mediterranean, the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine, and other regimes of violence around the world.

The book shows how the intersections between climate change, capitalism, and violent logics of racism and militarized borders are giving rise to a globalized security apparatus that Besteman calls “militarized global apartheid.” But it also shows how movements for migrant justice can disrupt these trends and bring down the walls in order to create a more liveable future. 

Great Adaptations explores different adaptation strategies explored around the world, analysing which should be supported and which are to be avoided. This book also shows the various approaches between countries and global communities, all of whom face different environmental challenges. This book is written in short chapters, focusing on separate topics, meaning it is a great read to pick up and put down as and when you like. 

For people who are into the nitty-gritty, a book of climate-related trivia collected and edited by best-selling author Seth Godin. Where this book shines is in being a springboard for further ideas—from what you can do in your own life, to how you can contact and connect with others.

For instance, did you know: a] sheep's wool can be used for insulation? b] concrete is a huge producer of greenhouse gases, but there are new methods of concrete production that are greener? c] it takes 9 gallons of water to produce 1 cup of tea, and 39 gallons to produce 1 cup of coffee? d] electric bikes were invented in the 1890s?

I’ve known for a long time that scientific understanding of global warming has a long history, but I didn’t know very many of the details.

This book filled the gaps in my knowledge, and reminded me that while we still have a lot to learn, the basic science behind global warming has been known for more than a century. I also really appreciate the way this book describes some of the many efforts that have been undertaken to call attention to this issue – many dating back to decades before most people had ever heard of it.