The Greatest Books of All Time on Sustainability

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
1477 An Essay on the Principle of Population Thomas Robert Malthus 1798 British English
1686 The Lorax Dr. Seuss 1971 American English
1762 Small Is Beautiful E. F. Schumacher 1973 British English
2296 The Limits To Growth Donella H. Meadows 1972 American English
2371 The Man Who Planted Trees Jean Giono 1953 French French
2698 Cod Mark Kurlansky 1997 American English
2978 Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 American English
3495 Eating Animals Jonathan Safran Foer 2009 American English
4061 Serengeti Shall Not Die Bernhard Grzimek 1959 German German
4222 A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander 1977 American English
4496 The Unsettling of America Wendell Berry 1977 American English
4750 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
5478 The Ministry For the Future Kim Stanley Robinson 2020 American English
5612 The Mushroom At The End Of The World Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing 2015 American English
5935 The Turning Point Fritjof Capra 1982 American English
5981 Ecotopia Ernest Callenbach 1975 American English
6442 Eaarth Bill McKibben 2010 American English
6733 The Poverty of Power Barry Commoner 1976 American English
8639 Water Marq de Villiers 2000 Canadian English
9188 Happy City Charles Montgomery 2013 Canadian English
9188 The Water Will Come Jeff Goodell 2017 American English
9563 The Unnatural History Of The Sea Callum Roberts 2007 British English
10008 The End Of Nature Bill McKibben 1989 American English
10762 Before The Oil Ran Out Ian Jack 1987 British English
10883 Architecture For The Poor Hassan Fathy 1973 Egyptian English
10948 The World Without Us Alan Weisman 2007 American English
11411 Half Earth E. O. Wilson 2016 American English
11434 Field Notes From A Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006 American English
11502 The Nature Of Nature Enric Sala 2020 Spanish English
11811 Ecology, Community And Lifestyle Arne Naess 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
11923 Capitalism, Socialism, Ecology Andre Gorz 1991 French French
12399 Hot, Flat, And Crowded Thomas L. Friedman 2008 American English
12410 Populate And Perish George Haddad Unknown English
12450 The Weather Makers Tim Flannery 2005 Australian English
12707 The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 2006 British English
13702 Collapse Jared Diamond 2005 American English
13805 Global Warming John Theodore Houghton 1986 British English
14132 Energy Vaclav Smil 1999 Czech English
14212 Enriching The Earth Vaclav Smil 2001 Canadian English
14232 Under A White Sky Elizabeth Kolbert 2021 American English
14334 The Earth's Biosphere Vaclav Smil 2002 Czech English
14362 Energy At The Crossroads Vaclav Smil 2003 Canadian English
14410 The Man Who Fed The World Leon Hesser 2006 American English
14457 Energies Vaclav Smil 2008 Czech English
14457 Tomorrow's Table Pamela C. Ronald 2008 American English
14457 Global Catastrophes And Trends Vaclav Smil 2008 Czech English
14457 Sustainable Energy David J. C. Mackay 2008 British English
14519 Energy Transitions Vaclav Smil 2010 Czech English
14553 Reinventing Fire Amory Lovins 2011 American English
14553 World On The Edge Lester R. Brown 2011 American English
14553 Unlocking Energy Innovation Richard K. Lester 2011 American English
14553 The Quest Daniel Yergin 2011 American English
14598 Abundance Peter Diamandis 2012 American English
14598 Sustainable Materials Julian M. Allwood 2012 British English
14598 One Billion Hungry Gordon Conway 2012 British English
14629 Harvesting The Biosphere Vaclav Smil 2013 Czech English
14629 Should We Eat Meat? Vaclav Smil 2013 Czech English
14629 Making The Modern World Vaclav Smil 2013 Canadian English
14629 The Bet Paul Sabin 2013 American English
15559 Growth Vaclav Smil 2019 Canadian English
15608 How To Avoid A Climate Disaster Bill Gates 2021 American English
15897 Native Planters In Old Hawaii Elizabeth Hand, E. C. S. Handy 1940 American English
17117 Recollected Essays Wendell Berry 1981 American English
17117 Entropy Jeremy Rifkin, Ted Howard 1980 American English
17117 An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore 2006 American English
17117 No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference Greta Thunberg 2019 Swedish English
17117 Six Degrees Mark Lynas 2007 British English
17117 Adventures In The Anthropocene Gaia Vince 2014 British English
17117 Doughnut Economics Kate Raworth 2017 British English
17117 Suburban Nation Andres Duany, Jeff Speck, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk 2000 American English
17117 Wilding Isabella Tree 2018 British English
17117 Diet For A Small Planet Frances Moore Lappe 1971 American English
17117 How To Cool The Planet Jeff Goodell 2010 American English
17117 Earth Heroes Bruce Malnor, Carol Malnor 2009 American English
17117 How Buildings Learn Stewart Brand 1994 American English
17117 Critical Path R. Buckminster Fuller 1981 American English
17117 Design John Heskett 2005 British English
17117 The Encyclopedia Of Organic Gardening Marshall Bradley, Fern Bradley, Barbara Ellis 1978 American English
17117 For The Earth’s Sake David Brower 1991 American English
17117 The Climate Book Greta Thunberg 2022 Swedish English
17117 Drawdown Paul Hawken 2017 American English
17117 Not The End Of The World Hannah Ritchie 2024 Unknown English
17117 What If We Get It Right? Ayana Elizabeth Johnson 2024 Unknown English
17117 On Fire Naomi Klein 2019 Canadian English
17117 Scale Geoffrey B. West 2017 American English
17117 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
17117 All We Can Save Ayana Elizabeth Johnson 2020 Unknown English
17117 Let My People Go Surfing Carolyn Chouinard 2005 Unknown English
17117 Worn Sofi Thanhauser 2022 Unknown English
17117 Perfectly Good Food Irene Li, Margaret Li 2023 Unknown English
17117 Our Fragile Moment Michael Mann 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Nature Book Tom Comitta 2023 Unknown English
17117 A City On Mars Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith 2023 Unknown English
17117 The End Of Eden Adam Welz 2023 Unknown English
17117 Wasteland Oliver Franklin‑Wallis 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Earth Transformed Peter Frankopan 2023 British English
17117 Paved Paradise Henry Grabar 2023 Unknown English
17117 Carmageddon Daniel Knowles 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Devil’s Element Dan Egan 2023 Unknown English
17117 Material World Ed Conway 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Climate Crisis And The Global Green New Deal Noam Chomsky 2020 American English
17117 The Ohlone Way Phillip Margolin 1978 Unknown English
17117 The Ocean Of Life Callum Roberts 2012 British English
17117 Walkable City Rules Jeff Speck 2018 American English
17117 Why Women Grow Alice Vincent 2023 Unknown English
17117 Common Wealth Jeffrey D. Sachs 2008 American English
17117 Thinking In Systems Donella H. Meadows 2008 American English
17117 The New Climate War Michael Mann 2021 American English
17117 Supercharge Me Eric Lonergan, Corinne Sawers British English
17117 Natural Capital Dieter Helm 2015 British English
17117 The Big Fix Hal Harvey, Justin Gillis American English
17117 Sustainable Nation Douglas Farr 2018 American English
17117 Net Zero Dieter Helm 2021 British English