100 books like The Ecology of Freedom

By Murray Bookchin,

Here are 100 books that The Ecology of Freedom fans have personally recommended if you like The Ecology of Freedom. 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 The Iron Dragon's Daughter

Dan Stout Author Of Titanshade

From my list on set in a modern fantasy world.

Why am I passionate about this?

Full disclosure: I am a fantasy world nerd! I treasure my visits to these imaginary places, and I love imagining how the world goes on after the last page. I’ve spent hours pondering what would happen in Narnia after the invention of the internal combustion engine, or in Middle Earth when populations reach levels requiring building codes and infrastructure planning. (I told you I was a nerd!) Advancing fantasy technologies creates new problems, new solutions, and new parallels to our own time. The books on this list redefine our assumptions of what a fantasy world is, and what stories they have to share.

Dan's book list on set in a modern fantasy world

Dan Stout Why did Dan love this book?

I’m a sucker for fantasy blended with industrial strife. In Michael Swanwick’s Jane, we see a character trapped in an industrialized fairy-world, forced to work in a factory building bio-mechanical dragons. The Iron Dragon’s Daughter blends biting social commentary with a thoughtful coming-of-age narrative, resulting in a powerful story that’s accumulated a stack of award wins and nominations. 

By Michael Swanwick,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Iron Dragon's Daughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named a NEW YORK TIMES notable book of 1994, THE IRON DRAGON'S DAUGHTER tells the heartrending story of a changeling child who is kidnapped to a realm of malls and machines and enslaved in a vast, infernal factory. Ultimately she escapes and attempts to educate herself about this alien world, while being tormented by visions of the life she was denied.


Book cover of Hard to Be a God

Shimon Edelman Author Of Life, Death, and Other Inconvenient Truths: A Realist's View of the Human Condition

From my list on the human condition and exploring it from different angles.

Why am I passionate about this?

In a sense, I have been working on the material for my book, Life, Death, and Other Inconvenient Truths, for my entire life. The 38 short chapters that comprise it span a range of topics: alphabetically, from ambition and anxiety, through love and mathematics, to war and youth. For whatever it is worth, I have had first-hand experience (in three languages, on three continents) learning, researching, teaching, enjoying, suffering, and fighting — in other words, living — all but one of them (the exception is one that technically cannot be lived through, but can still be pondered and written about). My five recommendations reflect this life-long interest in the human condition, which I am excited to share with you.

Shimon's book list on the human condition and exploring it from different angles

Shimon Edelman Why did Shimon love this book?

Can a society as mired in misery and oppression as ours be helped by a few well-intentioned “progressors” from another world? You land in secret, wielding godlike powers (remember Clarke’s Third Law: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic) and possessing a perfect understanding of sociology and historical dynamics, only to find how hard it is to be a god. What would you do?

By Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Olena Bormashenko (translator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hard to Be a God as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Anton is an undercover operative from future Earth, who travels to an alien world whose culture has not progressed beyond the Middle Ages. Although in possession of far more advanced knowledge than the society around him, he is forbidden to interfere with the natural progress of history. His place is to observe rather than interfere - but can he remain aloof in the face of so much cruelty and injustice ...?


Book cover of Dialectic of Enlightenment

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam Author Of Is Artificial Intelligence Racist? The Ethics of AI and the Future of Humanity

From my list on future technologies and the ethics of AI.

Why am I passionate about this?

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam is Professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies at SOAS University of London and Fellow of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. Among over a dozen honorary appointments all over the world, Adib-Moghaddam is the inaugural Director of the SOAS Centre for AI Futures.

Arshin's book list on future technologies and the ethics of AI

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam Why did Arshin love this book?

First published in 1947, this iconic book of the “Frankfurt School” could not be a study of AI and 21st-century technologies per see.

Instead it is a phantasmic explainer of how the mistakes of the past impinge on our humanity and the prospects for a better future. "What we had set out to do," Adorno and Horkheimer famously wrote in the Preface, "was nothing less than to explain why humanity, instead of entering a truly human state, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism."

With spectacular erudition, the authors clearly show how the terror regime of the Nazis was rooted in the nefarious legacies of enlightenment Europe and its obsession with racial purity. As such, Adorno and Horkheimer presaged why it is that our polluted history feeds into racist AI technologies: Bad data, Adorno and Horkheimer would agree, produces bad outcomes. 

By Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Edmund Jephcott (translator)

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Dialectic of Enlightenment as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dialectic of Enlightenment is undoubtedly the most influential publication of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Written during the Second World War and circulated privately, it appeared in a printed edition in Amsterdam in 1947. "What we had set out to do," the authors write in the Preface, "was nothing less than to explain why humanity, instead of entering a truly human state, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism."

Yet the work goes far beyond a mere critique of contemporary events. Historically remote developments, indeed, the birth of Western history and of subjectivity itself out of the struggle…


Book cover of Always Coming Home

Valerie Nieman Author Of In the Lonely Backwater

From my list on young women saving their own lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

Like my narrator Maggie, I was a child, then a teen wandering the woods and dreaming of a life. I’ve always hated those books/TV shows/films where women, especially young women, are helpless and reliant on a man to get them out of trouble. I gravitate toward stories where females figure out their own paths, not always to a happy ending. I’m still a wanderer today, mostly solo, from New York City to the vast Highlands of Scotland, and while the world can seem scary, I’m confident and free on my own. 

Valerie's book list on young women saving their own lives

Valerie Nieman Why did Valerie love this book?

This is an incredibly intricate book, braiding many strands together to tell the story of people who “might be going to have lived a long, long time from now in Northern California.” One thread tying it all together is Stone Telling, a young girl caught between her mother’s rich tribal life and the militaristic city life of the man who is her father. She tells him, “I am a woman, and make my own choices,” but learns that is not the case in the land of the Condors. Her story illuminates two of the many ways to be human. (I’m re-reading this now.)

By Ursula K. Le Guin,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An "ethnographic" novel that portrays life in California's Napa Valley as it might be a very long time from now, imagined not as a high tech future but as a time of people once again living close to the land.


Book cover of Nightcrawling

Lucy Jane Bledsoe Author Of Tell the Rest

From my list on not-the-same-old queer stories.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading queer fiction for, well, I guess about 50 years. First, brilliant novels by James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, and cheesy lesbian pulp novels. In the eighties, feminist presses and a wealth of new queer literature sprung into existence. It’s easier now to find great queer fiction, if you dig a little. My approach is to read widely, all kinds of authors, from all kinds of backgrounds. So the whole idea of a “best 5” is hard for me to get my mind around. I could have listed 25 more. Thank you for reading!

Lucy's book list on not-the-same-old queer stories

Lucy Jane Bledsoe Why did Lucy love this book?

I can’t resist a book set in Oakland, very near to where I live.

I also love a novel that tells deep truths, and Nightcrawling does that, showing the horrors of police abuse and the failures of the justice system. However, this book isn’t “trauma porn.” On every page, protagonist Kiara owns her story, drives her agency, makes the best choices she can in the moment, and loves with a huge heart.

The way she finds her way to queer love is organic and beautiful.

By Leila Mottley,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK • BOOKER PRIZE LONGLIST • A dazzling novel about a young Black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system. This debut of a blazingly original voice “bursts at the seams of every page and swallows you whole” (Tommy Orange, author of There There).

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, TIME, GOODREADS

Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called…


Book cover of Implementation: How Great Expectations in Washington Are Dashed in Oakland; Or, Why It's Amazing that Federal Programs Work at All, This Being a Saga of the Economic Development Administration as Told by Two Sympathetic Observers Who Seek to Build Morals on a Foundation of Ruined Hopes

Luke Fowler Author Of Democratic Policy Implementation in an Ambiguous World

From my list on how ideas are turned into actions.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m fascinated by the obsession that we as a society have with making policy, but not whether policy works, and how policy is treated as a magic bullet to the social problems that we all care about. But my experience is that it’s not ideas that solve problems; it’s action that solves problems. This fascination has led me to become a professor of public policy and administration, where I have read extensively about this issue for over a decade and written two books and over four dozen articles. My work focuses on how ideas are translated into actions and how those actions impact our communities.

Luke's book list on how ideas are turned into actions

Luke Fowler Why did Luke love this book?

I really love this book because it’s a pure case study of why things often go wrong at the street level.

While it’s set in the mid-60s, a lot of the social and political themes are still relevant, so it begs the question of how much government has changed in the last half-century.

I really like that the authors explore this case without being too heavy-handed in why things went wrong; they just try to tell the story and work through it along with the reader. And you got to love that title!

By Jeffrey L. Pressman, Aaron Wildavsky,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Three substantial new chapters and a new preface in this third edition explore and elaborate the relationship between the evaluation of programs and the study of their implementation. The authors suggest that tendencies to assimilate the two should be resisted. Evaluation should retain its enlightenment function while the study of implementation should strengthen its focus on learning.


Book cover of Millennium

James Papandrea Author Of From Star Wars to Superman: Christ Figures in Science Fiction and Superhero Films

From my list on thought-provoking time travel.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a lifelong fan of science fiction, and especially all things time travel. However, I do get annoyed by time travel stories where the time travel is never really explained or it’s just reduced to a magical vehicle for the story setting. I want my science fiction to ask the big questions of humanity. I have a PhD in history and theology, and in my research for my book From Star Wars to Superman, I combined a lifetime of enjoying science fiction and time travel with a career studying those big philosophical questions, and I’ve come to the conclusion that true sci-fi has to be thought-provoking.

James' book list on thought-provoking time travel

James Papandrea Why did James love this book?

Another time travel story that doesn’t stay within the “safe” realm.

The author dares to get into some interesting questions. If you like your sci-fi mixed with an element of mystery, this book is a great example of that. Anyone who liked The X-Files or Lost would love this book. 

By John Varley,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In the skies over Oakland, California, a DC-10 and a 747 are about to collide. But in the far distant future, a time travel team is preparing to snatch the passengers, leaving prefabricated smoking bodies behind for the rescue teams to find. And in Washington D.C., an air disaster investigator named Smith is about to get a phone call that will change his life...and end the world as we know it.


Book cover of The Mistress of Spices

Jennifer J. Chow Author Of Ill-Fated Fortune: A Magical Fortune Cookie Novel

From my list on books that combine food and magic.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a foodie at heart and grew up working in a family restaurant. I currently live in Los Angeles, where I’m delighted to have access to all sorts of edible goodies. As a writer, I insert food into my books, specifically in my culinary cozy mysteries, which have murder—and recipes! I also adore the idea of the fantastical; as a kid, I often created entire imaginary worlds during playtime. I’m happy to combine both loves in my newest series, the Magical Fortune Cookie books.  

Jennifer's book list on books that combine food and magic

Jennifer J. Chow Why did Jennifer love this book?

My friend recommended this book to me since I wanted to learn more about the Indian culture. I enjoyed discovering the different spices tied to each chapter.

In the beginning, there was a beautiful mythological backstory to becoming a Spice Mistress, which I found both inventive and fascinating. I also related to the emotional heart of Tilo, who flaunted the rules of her magic by helping those around her (including an exciting love interest).

By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A classic work of magical realism, this bestselling novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells the story of Tilo, a young woman from another time who has a gift for the mystical art of spices.

Now immortal, and living in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman, Tilo has set up shop in Oakland, California, where she administers curatives to her customers.  But when she's surprised by an unexpected romance with a handsome stranger, she must choose between everlasting life and the vicissitudes of modern society.  Spellbinding and hypnotizing, The Mistress of Spices is a tale of joy, sorrow,…


Book cover of Telegraph Avenue

Joan Gelfand Author Of Outside Voices: A Memoir of the Berkeley Revolution

From my list on 1970’s art & politics.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone who lived through the very interesting and tumultuous 1960s and 70s, I am fascinated by details of other’s experiences of the same time frame. I inhabited the early 70s fully, going to so many once-in-a-lifetime cultural events: poetry readings, music performances, avant-garde theater, and ‘be-ins’ or ‘happenings.’ With a Masters degree in Creative Writing, I have been an observer of culture and art for several decades. I am the author of three collections of poetry, a book of short fiction, a novel, and a book for writers. 

Joan's book list on 1970’s art & politics

Joan Gelfand Why did Joan love this book?

“Telegraph Avenue” captures both the seediness and joy of South Berkeley in the early 1970s. Peopled with compelling characters, this book gives readers a backstage look at the soul music, soul food, and soul of a neighborhood on the verge of change.

Home to simple, working-class folks, South Berkeley provided a safe haven for creative innovation and experimentation, as well as social change and community activists. 

By Michael Chabon,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

New York Times Bestseller

“A genuinely moving story about race and class, parenting and marriage. . . Chabon is inarguably one of the greatest prose stylists of all time." — Benjamin Percy, Esquire

New York Times bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon has transported readers to wonderful places: to New York City during the Golden Age of comic books (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay); to an imaginary Jewish homeland in Sitka, Alaska (The Yiddish Policemen’s Union); to discover The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Now he takes us to Telegraph Avenue in a big-hearted and exhilarating novel that explores the…


Book cover of Tomboy Bride: One Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West

Mark Mitten Author Of Sipping Whiskey in a Shallow Grave

From my list on the Old West from people who lived in the Old West.

Why am I passionate about this?

Born in Texas, raised in Colorado, I’ve always had one foot in the working cowboy world and the other in the Rocky Mountains. I’m a member of the Western Writers of America, and I’ve summited all 54 fourteen-thousand foot peaks in Colorado. For a number of years, I worked with horses at a therapeutic riding center, as a barn manager. After that, I worked as an equine veterinary assistant, driving around with the vet in a pickup truck to doctor horses. Following that, I pursued the arts. Over the years, I’ve recorded and performed western/folk music (find me on Bandcamp), acted in western films (check my YouTube channel), and written western novels (Sunbury Press/Milford House).

Mark's book list on the Old West from people who lived in the Old West

Mark Mitten Why did Mark love this book?

I’ve been to the Tomboy Mine. All that’s left of the camp are old foundations in a rocky basin above timberline, surrounded by high peaks, 3,000 feet above Telluride. The only gold left behind is in the rich hues of a Colorado sunset. While the Tomboy may be gone, it’s the same view Harriet Fish Backus saw every day. Life at a remote mountain mine was full of “mishaps and makeshifts,” and she kept a diary of daily events. Nothing she writes is a dull description, nor is it the soaring purple prose of Victorian-era romanticism. Her account of mining life in 1906, from a woman’s perspective, detailing daily routines, friendships, and fears, is invaluable as a western author, to create believable female characters in the Old West.

By Harriet Fish Backus,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A Colorado favorite, Tomboy Bride presents the first-hand account of a young pioneer woman and her life in a rough and tumble mining town of the Old West.


In 1906 at the age of twenty, Harriet Fish hopped on a train from Oakland, California, to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in search of a new life as the bride of assayer George Backus. Together, the couple ventured forth to discover mining town life at the turn of the twentieth century, adjusting to dizzying elevation heights of 11,500 feet and all the hardships that come with it: limited water, rationed…


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