Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell:  This sequel to The Tipping Point and Blink is an equally fascinating work that focuses on contrary views to the idea of success.  In the format of a series of short essays, Gladwell, is trying to alert the reader to the idea that “What we do as a community, as a society, for each other matters as much as what we do for ourselves”.  After this book, you may want to investigate his others…..

Green Building Resource Center Book of the Month 

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell:  This sequel to The Tipping Point is an equally fascinating work tells about rapid cognition, or how you jump to conclusions in two seconds about something or someone.  In the format of a series of short essays, one of which centers on hospital behavior, Gladwell, who does not believe that “intuition” is a good label for this type of thinking,  deftly illustrates the often surprising factors that lead to both good and bad conclusions.  After this book, you may want to investigate his others…..

Are you looking for ways to live more sustainably, reduce the carbon footprint of your home, or remodel your house with sustainable materials that will save you energy, time and money?  The following resources are either available online or at your neighborhood Houston Public Library.

Residential

Complete Guide to the Green Home (2008).  Philip Schmidt

Eco: An Essential Sourcebook for Environmentally Friendly Design and Decoration (2003).  Beth Wihide  

Got Sun? (2005).  Rex A. Ewing

Green from the Gound Up (2008).  David Johnston & Scott Gibson

Green Remodeling (2008).  John D. Wagner

Little House on a Small Planet (2006).  Shay Salomon

Low Carbon Diet (2006).  David Gershon

Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green-House (2006).  Carol Venoliaa

Power with Nature: Alternative Energy Solutions for Homeowners (2005).  Rex A. Ewing

Sustainable Residential Development (2007).  Avi Friedman

The Carbon-Free Home (2008).  Stephen Hren

The Good House Book (2004). Clark Snell

The Green Self-Build Book (2007). Jon Broome

The Home Energy Diet (2005). Paul Scheckel

The Not So Big House (1998). The Not So Big Life (2005).  Sarah Susanka

Visualizing Density (2007). Alex MacLean

Wind Power: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business (2004).  Paul Gipe

Your Green Home (2006).  Alex T. Wilson

Commercial

Building Green (2005).  Clarke Snell

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We make Things (2002).  William McDonough & Michael Braungart

Green Building A to Z  (2007).  Jerry Yudelson

Green Building Fundamentals (2009).  Michael Montoya

Green Building Products (2008).  Alex Wilson & Mark Piepkorn

How Buildings Learn (1995).  Stewart Brand

Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer) (2010). Stan Cox

Over (2008). Alex MacLean

The World Without Us (2007). Alan Weisman

Green Living: Changing the Status Quo

Blessed Unrest, Ecology of Commerce (1993).  Paul Hawken

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2005).  John Perkins

Consumed:  How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole (2008).  Benjamin Barber

Don’t Think of an Elephant! (2004).  The Political Mind (2008).  George Lakoff

Ecological Intelligence (2009).  Daniel Goleman

Garbage Land On the Secret Trail of Trash (2005).  Elizabeth Royte

Guns, Germs, & Steel (1997).   Collapse (2005).  Jared Diamond

Home from Nowhere (1998).  World Made by Hand (2008).  The Long Emergency (2006).  James Howard Kuntsler

Hot, Flat, & Crowded v 2.0 (2009).  Thomas L. Friedman

My Ishmael (1998).  Beyond Civilization (2000). Daniel Quinn

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (1999). Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins

Our Choice (2009).  Al Gore

That Used to Be Us (2011). Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum

The Corporation (2005).  Joel Bakan

The Fourth Turning (1997). William Strauss and Neil Howe

The Impending World Energy Mess (2010). Hirsch, Bezdek, Wendling

The Lorax (1971).  Dr. Seuss

The Secret Life of Compost (1997).  Malcolm Beck

The Tipping Point (2002).  Blink (2007).  Outliers (2008).   Malcolm Gladwell

The Wal-Mart Effect (2006).  Charles Fishman

Toxics A to Z  (1991). Harte, Holdren, Schneider, Shirley

Worldchanging:  User’s Guide for the 21st Century (2008).  Alex Steffen, Editor