Monday, June 15, 2009

What's the best green book to give your dad on Father's Day?

Father's Day is almost here (June 21st) and we are continuing a tradition we stated last year on Mother's Day and Father's Day, where we provide you with some ideas for green books that can also be great gifts for Father's Day.

As we did last year, we went over all the books reviewed and covered on our blog and chose ten books that we think will suit ten different types of dads we detailed below.

So check out the our list and we hope you find the right green book to your dad!


1. For t
he father who likes to cook

Does your father like to spend time in the kitchen? is he enjoying making a good meal from time to time? is he in charge of the unofficial menu at the house? if you answer Yes to even one question, then he'll be thrilled from this 386-page book!

Big Green Cookbook by Jackie Newgent, RD (Wiley), is like a hybrid … the “Prius” of cookbooks. And there’s something in it for everyone—whether a little green or already completely eco-conscientious. Chockablock with plant-based recipes, infor
mative sidebars, and useful tips with every recipe, Big Green Cookbook is a comprehensive climate-conscious cookbook that’s ideal for both culinary novices and experiences cooks. The book contains 200 simple and environmentally-friendly recipes for fresh, delicious, all-natural food, with a chapter for every season plus a year-round-recipes chapter.


This is a book for all the fathers who loves their urban life but have heard/seen/read Michael Pollan, are going steady to the local farmer's market, rushed to see Food Inc. and their big dream now is to grow their own food. The only problem is they don't really know where to start.

The Urban Homestead is the solution. It'
s a practical, hands-on book, full of step-by-step projects that will get you started homesteading immediately, whether you live in an apartment or a house.It is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics. Projects include: How to start seeds, how to compost with worms, how to grow food on a patio or balcony, how to preserve food and son on.

3. For t
he traveling father

Disappearing Destinations: 37 Places in Peril and What Can Be Done to Help Save Them

If your father likes to explore new places and cultures around the world, and only the thought about his next trip makes him happy, this is the right book for him.

Actually with this boo
k he better hurry up. This book is a beautiful and memorable look at some of the most gorgeous endangered places on the planet. Machu Picchu for example is a mesmerizing, ancient Incan city tucked away in the mountains of Peru, but it is rapidly being worn down by the thousands of feet treading across its stones. Glacier National Park is a destination long known for the stunning beauty of its ice floes, but in our lifetimes it will have no glaciers due to global warming.

These places - along with many others across the globe - are changing as we speak due to global warming
, environmental degradation, overuse, and natural causes. From the Boreal Forests in Finland to the Yangtze River Valley in China, this book is a treasure trove of geographic wonder, and a guide to these threatened destinations and what is being done to save them.

4. For the father who enjoys thrillers

Freezing Point

This is the perfect book for all the fathers who are thriller fans and
know a good thriller when they see one. Freezing Point a great thriller! No matter if you're interested in global warming (and we hope you do..) or not, if you're looking for an exciting thriller with an original plot, this is your book right here. It's not a coincidence that the author, Karen Dionne, was called "the new Michael Crichton".

Fascinating and action-packed, Freezing Point is about Environmentalist and engineer Ben Maki who sees the possibilities for Earth's future in a mountain-sized iceberg. If the Soldyne Corporation can tap into the ice, it can provide clean drinking water for millions, and if the company's vision isn't all philanthropic, well, there are always trade-offs. But environmental terrorist Rebecca Sweet lives for her cause -- free, fresh water for everyone -- and she will do anything to stop Soldyne.. We won't tell you more :-)

5. For the faithful father

How Creation Care Will Change Your Faith, Your Life, and Our World

Is your father a man with faith? does he see Planet Earth as God's creation? if he does, and no matter what religion he is part of, he will be enjoying Michael Abbate's unique book.

Gardening Eden invites you to consider a new, spiritual perspective to practical environmentalism. The question is not whether our so
uls find expression and inspiration in our incredible planet, but how best to preserve that fundamental connection. Discover creation care as an act of worship and a call to deeper harmony with our Creator, our fellow gardeners, and our living Earth. Gardening Eden is the primer in how this shift will transform not only our world, but your very soul.

6. For the biz type father

Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business

Is your father interested in business topics such as strategy and marketing? does he like to explore economic trends and new markets? if he is, then this book, one of the finest written on the green biz market lately is for him.

This book, providing a road map to the green marketplace, is written from a very unique point of view of
Joel Makower, who has been both following and participating in the evolvement of the green economy in the last two decades. This unique perspective is differentiating this book from other green biz books and makes it very valuable for any dad who is interested in green business and especially to those who want to better understand what's the green noise is all about.

7. For the clean father

Clean Body: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself

If your father likes to spend a lot of time in the bathroom and he even knows the name of the shampoo and soap he uses, not to mention using facial cream, this book can be a great fit for him.

Clean Body, written
by cleaning guru Michael DeJong, is not merely about washing away the dirt: it embodies a mindset, a philosophy, an alternative to mass consumerism. DeJong draws from Eastern belief systems—especially the element theory in Chinese medicine and Asian cooking—and harmoniously balances five pure essentials in his recipes, using baking soda, lemon, olive oil, salt, and white vinegar as the basis for his all-natural concoctions. Including special, separate sections for men and women, Clean Body has ideas for everything from facial exfoliants and natural aftershave to moisturizers and creams for itchy skin, discolored knees, and smooth feet. EVERY part of the body, from head to toe, is covered.

8. For the father who is interested in volunteering


If your father is looking for ways to volunteer,get involved in a non-profit, and in general follow President Obama's request to "put your shoulder up against the wheel", this book has all the information he needs.

Part career guide, part activist's handbook, The Idealist.org Handbook to Building a Better World provides tools and inspiration for anyone who wants to make a difference but doesn't know where to start. Inspired by Idealist.org's 600,000-member online community and their ongoing search for work that gives back to the world, this practical reference walks readers through the different ways they can get involved and the range of possibilities for applying one's interests and skills to meet their community's needs.

9. For the father who drinks only bottled water

Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It


Did you father forget the taste of tap water? do you see him all the time with a bottle of water in his hands? well, maybe it's time for revealing the world behind these bottles, and no book is better for that matter like Bottlemania of Elizabeth Royte.

In Bottlemania, Elizabeth Royte ventures to Fryeburg, Maine, to look deep into the source—of Poland Spring water. In this tiny town, and in others like it across the country, she finds the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that have made bottled water a $60-billion-a-year phenomenon even as it threatens local control of a natural resource and litters the landscape with plastic waste. Moving beyond the environmental consequences of making, filling, transporting and landfilling those billions of bottles, Royte examines the state of tap water today (you may be surprised), and the social impact of water-hungry multinationals sinking ever more pumps into tiny rural towns.

10. For the father that is fantasizing about life in a green house

Green Beginnings: The Story of How We Built Our Green & Sustainable Home

Do you catch your father looking at photos of green houses on his laptop, mumbling something about how a green home with less energy costs and more of everything else will make him a happy guy? if you know what I'm taking about Green Beginnings is the ultimate guide for him.

Green Beginnings is following the journey Avrim and Vicki had while building a new green sustainable home from scratch, one that will be eventually awarded the USGBC’s LEED Silver and Energy Star Qualified Home designations in October, 2008. The book provides homeowners, architects, contractors, and engineers a common understanding of that which they are about to undertake and empowers everyone involved in a project with a common vision and language to work with.


If you choose to give your father a book as a gift, you are more than welcome to balance it out with Eco-Libris, add our sticker to the book and make it the perfect green gift for Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!