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
1763 Small Is Beautiful E. F. Schumacher 1973 British English
2297 The Limits To Growth Donella H. Meadows 1972 American English
2373 The Man Who Planted Trees Jean Giono 1953 French French
2699 Cod Mark Kurlansky 1997 American English
2980 Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 American English
3495 Eating Animals Jonathan Safran Foer 2009 American English
4062 Serengeti Shall Not Die Bernhard Grzimek 1959 German German
4223 A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander 1977 American English
4498 The Unsettling of America Wendell Berry 1977 American English
4752 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
5481 The Ministry For the Future Kim Stanley Robinson 2020 American English
5615 The Mushroom At The End Of The World Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing 2015 American English
5939 The Turning Point Fritjof Capra 1982 American English
5985 Ecotopia Ernest Callenbach 1975 American English
6445 Eaarth Bill McKibben 2010 American English
6734 The Poverty of Power Barry Commoner 1976 American English
8643 Water Marq de Villiers 2000 Canadian English
9192 Happy City Charles Montgomery 2013 Canadian English
9192 The Water Will Come Jeff Goodell 2017 American English
9568 The Unnatural History Of The Sea Callum Roberts 2007 British English
10013 The End Of Nature Bill McKibben 1989 American English
10769 Before The Oil Ran Out Ian Jack 1987 British English
10890 Architecture For The Poor Hassan Fathy 1973 Egyptian English
10955 The World Without Us Alan Weisman 2007 American English
11417 Half Earth E. O. Wilson 2016 American English
11440 Field Notes From A Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006 American English
11505 The Nature Of Nature Enric Sala 2020 Spanish English
11813 Ecology, Community And Lifestyle Arne Naess 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
11925 Capitalism, Socialism, Ecology Andre Gorz 1991 French French
12401 Hot, Flat, And Crowded Thomas L. Friedman 2008 American English
12412 Populate And Perish George Haddad Unknown English
12452 The Weather Makers Tim Flannery 2005 Australian English
12709 The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 2006 British English
13703 Collapse Jared Diamond 2005 American English
13806 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
14335 The Earth's Biosphere Vaclav Smil 2002 Czech English
14363 Energy At The Crossroads Vaclav Smil 2003 Canadian English
14411 The Man Who Fed The World Leon Hesser 2006 American English
14458 Energies Vaclav Smil 2008 Czech English
14458 Tomorrow's Table Pamela C. Ronald 2008 American English
14458 Global Catastrophes And Trends Vaclav Smil 2008 Czech English
14458 Sustainable Energy David J. C. Mackay 2008 British English
14520 Energy Transitions Vaclav Smil 2010 Czech English
14554 Reinventing Fire Amory Lovins 2011 American English
14554 World On The Edge Lester R. Brown 2011 American English
14554 Unlocking Energy Innovation Richard K. Lester 2011 American English
14554 The Quest Daniel Yergin 2011 American English
14599 Abundance Peter Diamandis 2012 American English
14599 Sustainable Materials Julian M. Allwood 2012 British English
14599 One Billion Hungry Gordon Conway 2012 British English
14630 Harvesting The Biosphere Vaclav Smil 2013 Czech English
14630 Should We Eat Meat? Vaclav Smil 2013 Czech English
14630 Making The Modern World Vaclav Smil 2013 Canadian English
14630 The Bet Paul Sabin 2013 American English
15567 Growth Vaclav Smil 2019 Canadian English
15616 How To Avoid A Climate Disaster Bill Gates 2021 American English
15916 Native Planters In Old Hawaii Elizabeth Hand, E. C. S. Handy 1940 American English
17163 Recollected Essays Wendell Berry 1981 American English
17163 Entropy Jeremy Rifkin, Ted Howard 1980 American English
17163 An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore 2006 American English
17163 No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference Greta Thunberg 2019 Swedish English
17163 Six Degrees Mark Lynas 2007 British English
17163 Adventures In The Anthropocene Gaia Vince 2014 British English
17163 Doughnut Economics Kate Raworth 2017 British English
17163 Suburban Nation Andres Duany, Jeff Speck, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk 2000 American English
17163 Wilding Isabella Tree 2018 British English
17163 Diet For A Small Planet Frances Moore Lappe 1971 American English
17163 How To Cool The Planet Jeff Goodell 2010 American English
17163 Earth Heroes Bruce Malnor, Carol Malnor 2009 American English
17163 How Buildings Learn Stewart Brand 1994 American English
17163 Critical Path R. Buckminster Fuller 1981 American English
17163 Design John Heskett 2005 British English
17163 The Encyclopedia Of Organic Gardening Marshall Bradley, Fern Bradley, Barbara Ellis 1978 American English
17163 For The Earth’s Sake David Brower 1991 American English
17163 The Climate Book Greta Thunberg 2022 Swedish English
17163 Drawdown Paul Hawken 2017 American English
17163 Not The End Of The World Hannah Ritchie 2024 Unknown English
17163 What If We Get It Right? Ayana Elizabeth Johnson 2024 Unknown English
17163 On Fire Naomi Klein 2019 Canadian English
17163 Scale Geoffrey B. West 2017 American English
17163 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
17163 All We Can Save Ayana Elizabeth Johnson 2020 Unknown English
17163 Let My People Go Surfing Carolyn Chouinard 2005 Unknown English
17163 Worn Sofi Thanhauser 2022 Unknown English
17163 Perfectly Good Food Irene Li, Margaret Li 2023 Unknown English
17163 Our Fragile Moment Michael Mann 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Nature Book Tom Comitta 2023 Unknown English
17163 A City On Mars Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith 2023 Unknown English
17163 The End Of Eden Adam Welz 2023 Unknown English
17163 Wasteland Oliver Franklin‑Wallis 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Earth Transformed Peter Frankopan 2023 British English
17163 Paved Paradise Henry Grabar 2023 Unknown English
17163 Carmageddon Daniel Knowles 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Devil’s Element Dan Egan 2023 Unknown English
17163 Material World Ed Conway 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Climate Crisis And The Global Green New Deal Noam Chomsky 2020 American English
17163 The Ohlone Way Phillip Margolin 1978 Unknown English
17163 The Ocean Of Life Callum Roberts 2012 British English
17163 Walkable City Rules Jeff Speck 2018 American English
17163 Why Women Grow Alice Vincent 2023 Unknown English
17163 Common Wealth Jeffrey D. Sachs 2008 American English
17163 Thinking In Systems Donella H. Meadows 2008 American English
17163 The New Climate War Michael Mann 2021 American English
17163 Supercharge Me Eric Lonergan, Corinne Sawers British English
17163 Natural Capital Dieter Helm 2015 British English
17163 The Big Fix Hal Harvey, Justin Gillis American English
17163 Sustainable Nation Douglas Farr 2018 American English
17163 Net Zero Dieter Helm 2021 British English