Environmental Issues and Sustainable Futures: A Critical Guide to Recent Books, Reports, and Periodicals : A Future Survey Guidebook (Future Survey Guidebook, 2) - Softcover

Marien, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0930242513 ISBN 13: 9780930242510

Publisher: World Future Society, 1996

About this title

Reviews

Everyone with an interest in the world's future should read this book. The author edits Future Survey, and the 450 abstracts in this bibliography were originally published in that journal. Almost all the titles were published in English between 1991 and 1995. Marien's lengthy abstracts provide critical analysis of the contents of each title, and he marks highly recommended ones with asterisks.

The material is organized in three broad categories: "Environmental Issues," "Toward Sustainability," and "Politics and Planning." Each section begins with a global overview followed by topical subsections. In part 1, for example, Marien treats climate, water, biodiversity, land use, toxic waste, and more. A bracketed note at the end of many abstracts gives further critical assessment, the author's choice of special features or omissions, and an occasional reference to another entry. The citations contain information for ordering books, the institutional affiliation of the author(s), where appropriate, and pricing for both hardcover and paperback editions. The volume begins with a useful abstract of each section pointing to key titles and topics. A core list of 21 recommended items for beginning students of environmental issues will interest collection-development librarians. The volume concludes with an annotated list of 170 popular and scholarly periodicals that deal with environmental issues, a title index arranged by publisher (a straight title index would have been helpful), a subject index, and an author-institution index.

Many titles listed in this guide were published by Island Press, so there is some overlap with The Island Press Bibliography of Environmental Literature (1993), which lists more than 4,000 titles. The latter, however, included no evaluation of the works and only brief citations. Marien also complements Jim Dwyer's Earth Works [RBB Ap 15 96], which includes fiction titles and young adult recommendations.

Marien's advocacy for a sustainable future is reflected in every thoughtful abstract. This is an excellent addition to the landscape of environmental literature and a good choice for most reference collections.

Edition details

• Publisher: World Future Society
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0930242513
• ISBN 13: 9780930242510
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 170