What’s at the Top of Your Stack?

The Bicycling Big Book of Cycling for Beginners by Tori Bortman

“I bought a bike just after the pandemic shutdown, in March last year. Riding it through the fall and winter, I’ve discovered that it needs maintenance. I’m learning how to properly take care of my bike, so I can stay fit and stay mentally vigorous in the middle of the pandemic.”

David Miller, Former Mayor of Toronto

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller by Marc Levinson

“It sounds like an incredibly boring topic: containerized cargo. But, wow—when you read it, you realize how the innovation of containerized shipping completely changed trade and the world economy. I was blown away by the depth of importance of this one innovation—certainly nothing like getting a vaccine in 10 months, but a pretty basic idea that completely changed the world economy.”

Severin Borenstein, Professor, University of California, Berkeley, and the Energy Institute at Haas

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

“Reading about people moving from the South during the Great Migration ties into this idea of what housing people are consuming and what happens when jobs shift and transition. It provides good historical context for where and how people live, which can impact all types of things related to environmental justice, energy justice, and climate change.”

Tony Reames, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan

Stop Saving the Planet!: An Environmentalist’s Manifesto by Jenny Price

“This book is making the argument that environmentalists need to stop talking about an environment that is ‘out there’ and separate from us, like wilderness. We need to start thinking about the environment that’s all around us, and connected to us, and connects us with other people who might not be the same as us.”

Neil Maher, Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University-Newark

A version of this article appeared in print in the October 2021 issue of Resources magazine.