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Craven Cravings - a list by kayzee

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About this list:

Sometimes I'm drawn to read about the things I most fear, like a kid watching a scary movie. Here's a list of hair-raising non-fiction. Craven is one of those words I never remember to use, though it's a good one. Craven - adj. Characterized by abject fear; cowardly.

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Prolific reader

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The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story

First to recommend

Description

The Ebola virus got loose in Reston, Virginia. And it was the kind that can be transmitted through the air, by sneezing or coughing. Fortunately for humanity, it only affected the poor monkeys brought over for research. A terrifying story of a near-miss.

Updated Jul 17, 2007

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Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues

First to recommend

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Thrills & chills from the world of microbes. Virus X refers to the as yet unseen virus which could wipe out mankind.

Updated Jul 18, 2007

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Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

First to recommend

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This is a fascinating account of what happens when people destroy their environment. Juxtaposes ancient extinct civilizations with modern ones.

Updated Jul 18, 2007

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Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning

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Next on my reading list. According to the reviews on Amazon, Monbiot proposes people be assigned "ice caps" - sort of like a system of carbon trading. The "cap" is the maximum allowable carbon discharge we each produce to keep the planet cool enough for us to survive. Monbiot has a daughter and would like to see her survive in a liveable world.

Updated Jul 18, 2007

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The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century

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The author speculates on the future of society when cheap oil runs out - which he thinks will be in the very near future. But we'll still have ThisNext, won't we?

Updated Jul 18, 2007

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The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies

First to recommend

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LATOC - Life after the oil crisis. Out of the 3 books I read on the subject, this is the most accessible and rational. "Beyond Oil" is by a geologist, also very good. And if you prefer thrills and chills, read "The Long Emergency."

Updated Apr 20, 2007

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Carbon Footprint -- Begone!

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Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community

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Long ago, wealthy landowners had lawns to prove that they were so well-off, they didn't have to devote all of their real estate to growing food. That translated into the lawn obsession of the middle class, who subconsciously are probably trying to prove the same point. This book advocates turning those lawns into food gardens again, this time as a deeply subversive act of guerilla gardening against the powers that be.
According to the "end of oil" books, we may be doing it out of necessity soon.
This book has a very positive tone, and encourages community activities such as seed sharing, with the emphasis on sharing.

Updated Jul 18, 2007

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Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series)

First to recommend

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So if the doomsayers are right, what's the fashionista to do who hasn't a clue about growing her own food? This book claims to be for the reader with no experience, and to require small inputs of time & water. Question, though. How do you grow tiramisu?

Updated Jul 18, 2007

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Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook

First to recommend

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At a cocktail party recently, I met a doctor who works on the forefront of avian flu. He said that the flu WILL hit, they don't know if it will be in 5 years or 20, but that he and a group of other doctors have a fully stocked retreat in the wilds of Canada where their families can wait it out. They estimate it will rage through the human population for 6 months.
The point being that while you're in hiding for 6 months, there aren't going to be any doctors to take care of you, and you're going to need to have some knowledge of what to do if you cut your finger or break your arm.
So you should either buy this book, or make sure you've got about 6 months worth or martini fixins. Wake me when it's over.

Updated Jul 18, 2007

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The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, Third Edition

First to recommend

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The average person in the US uses between 80 to 100 gallons of water per day -- flushing the toilet accounts for most of this. If water is going to be a scarce resource, then the ideas promoted in Humanure suddenly become - shall we say - palatable?

Updated Jul 18, 2007