Ten biology books--with political consequences--that I would recommend:

1. Concrete Jungle: A pop media investigation of death and survival in urban ecosystems ,
   Edited by Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman.
   Contains many gross and exciting pictures. Keywords: anthropomorphism, "natural", eewwww!

2. The Birder's Handbook: A field guide to the natural history of North American birds,
   by Paul R. Ehlich, Davis S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye
   Top-notch hypertextual reading. Though it really seems more like an encyclopedia than a field guide to me. It's a pretty big book to carry around out in the field. Keywords: birds, birds, birds, ornithology

3. Tinkering with Eden: A natural history of exotic species in America
   by Kim Todd
   There are a few annoying things about this book, not the least of which is the title. Still it was quite worth the reading. Keywords: non-native, invasive, introduced, deployed, alien, feral

4. Stolen Harvest: The hijacking of the global food supply
   by Vandana Shiva
   A look at some of the striking injustices of global food control. If this woman comes around, you go and see her speak! Keywords: neo-colonialism, destruction of local agriculture, monoculture

5. A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America
   by Roger Tory Peterson
   This book, a pair of binoculars, and about 40 hours in a near by park will change the way you perceive the landscape. I will admit that it helps if you have decent vision and someone to teach you the basics. Keywords: Birds, birds, birds

6. Earth Dance: Living systems in evolution
   by Elisabet Sahtouris
   Ironically, very linear literature. This book presents a history of the whole damn universe from a Gaian perspective. I wish this book had an index and better graphic design. Keywords: Gaia, cosmos, holon, meta-narrative, economy of nurturing

7. Against the Grain: How agriculture has hijacked civilization
   by Richard Manning
   Among other things, a pretty nice--though admittedly Eurocentric-- history of agriculture. Keywords: domestication, ADM, industrial agriculture, sensuousness

8. The Molecular Invasion
   by the Critical Art Ensemble
   This one presents some fine ideas about how to deal with biotech. Keywords: resistance, tactical media, The Fly, transgenic

9. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia
   by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
   I'll never finish this book, but I like it quite a lot. It is certainly hypertextual, but not as perfectly so as The Birder's Handbook. I wish Earth Dance could have had a little more in common with this book (an index for example). Keywords: multiplicity, rhizome, body without organs, counterproductively dense and poetic (fucking) theory

10. Botany of Desire: A plant's-eye view of the world
    by Michael Pollan
    The part about apples is wonderful, with a great bio of Johnny Appleseed. I assume the rest of it is good too. Keywords: co- evolution, cheebah, apples, tulips, potatoes

- Mike Wolf