Susan’s Library

The books and videos in this list, for me, served as portals into a richer understanding and appreciation of how Life works and the wonder of it. They vary from scientific explorations of nature’s systems to the emotions of animals; the intelligence of fish to exquisite details of the life of one small snail. Enjoy!

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Books

A Plea for the Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion by Matthiew Ricard
Animal Talk by Penelope Smith
Beauty, the Invisible Embrace: Rediscovering the True Sources of Passion, Serenity, and Hope by John O’Donohue
Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis by David Loy
Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds, and Shape our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals by Linda Hogan, Deena Metzger, Brenda Peterson
Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature
Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell us About Ourselves by Frans De Waal
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Spiritual Intelligence by Dawson Church
The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society by Frans De Waal
The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Gives us a Better Life and a Greener World by J.B. Mackinnon
The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World’s Wild Places by Bernie Krause
The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate, Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben
The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are WE? Where are we going? by Duane Elgin
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey
To Speak for the Trees: My Life’s Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin
We are in the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth by Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth
Book cover for When I Was a Turkey by Joe Hutto
Wildlife as Property Owners: A New Conception of Animal Rights by Karen Bradshaw

Films

Microcosmos
My Life as a Turkey video thumbnail
My Octopus Teacher video thumbnail