Annotated Resource Review
The following works have most influenced my thinking in my thematic topic areas:
| Author | Title | Publisher | Annotation | Topic Category |
| Bacigalupi, Paolo | The Windup Girl | Night Shade Books, 2009 | The Windup Girl is a work of speculative fiction set in a future defined by the unintended consequences of runaway genetic engineering of food crops. The apocalyptic outcome is widespread devastation of plant life. Bacigalupi, as in all of his post-apocalyptic works, does a fine job of exploring a range of possibilities of how humans might adapt to such a situation, and what the social, political, and economic impacts could be. | Regenerative Economy |
| Bacigalupi, Paolo | The Water Knife | Vintage, 2016 | The Water Knife is a work of fiction set in the US Southwest in the not-too-distant future. It imagines a social, environmental, and political context strongly defined by severe shortages of water, painting a thoughtful landscape of the tensions and adaptations that might result from such a situation. I found it a useful way to expand my imagination of how our continued exploitation of this delicate ecosystem might play out over the coming century. | Regenerative Economy |
| Beck, Don Edward., and Christopher C. Cowan | Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change: Exploring the New Science of Memetics | Blackwell Publishing, 2011. | The Spiral Dynamics model provides a useful framework for analyzing the complex forces at work in individual and group dynamics in a rapidly changing world. This book is a thorough primer for understanding Spiral Dynamics and by extension developing a basic grasp of Integral Theory. It offers both a complete explanation of the philosophical underpinnings of this model as well as practical tools for applying the model in personal and organizational development work. | Conscious Leadership |
| Brafman, Ori, and Rod A. Beckstrom | The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations | Penguin Putnam Inc, 2008 | The Starfish and the Spider compares and contrasts centralized and decentralized organizations. It offers a thorough assessment of the virtues of decentralized organizations using real-world examples of success stories. There is a clear bias that decentralized organizations are more resilient and therefore preferable, and the book makes a half-hearted effort of presenting the weaknesses of decentralized organizations. Even so, the authors present little practical information on how to create the proposed organizations. Originally published in 2008, the examples are dated as the models and theories have evolved significantly since that time. Nevertheless, an excellent primer on the rise of leaderless organizations in corporate culture. | Conscious Leadership |
| Brock, Adam. | Change Here Now: Permaculture Solutions for Personal and Community Transformation. | North Atlantic Books, 2017. | Brock's Change Here Now arrives not a moment too soon to conclusively shepherd the Permaculture movement beyond its roots as a land design method squarely into the realm of social design. Thoroughly researched and thoughtfully presented, Brock draws on a wide variety of sources to present eighty proven solutions for building healthy communities. | Conscious Leadership |
| Coyle, Gigi | Beyond Boundaries: A Pilgrimage of Service, Learning, & Bearing Witness | gobeyondboundaries.org, 2010 | This book tells the story of a group of individuals who set out on a year-long journey of service to several different eco-villages around the globe. The lessons they learned about the ideas, trials, tribulations, and successes of each of these communities is an informative snapshot of what is possible when people work together. | Regenerative Economy / Conscious Leadership / Transformative Education |
| Eisenstein, Charles. | Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition. | North Atlantic Books, 2011 | Eisenstein’s beautifully written manifesto is a must read for those of us who believe that our economic system is broken and in need of change. He painstakingly lays out the fundamental flaws in our modern economy and presents a complete and seemingly viable alternative for a regenerative future. This book was a fundamental step in my awakening to a world with hope for an alternative to the economic dogma I was taught in school. | Regenerative Economy / Conscious Leadership |
| Foster, Steven and Meredith Little | The Four Shields: The Initiatory Seasons of Human Nature | Lost Borders Press, 1999 | The only thorough text on understanding and using the Four Shields model of human existence that is the core framework of the School of Lost Borders. I kind of struggled with the read, but I love and use the framework. Maybe I'll try again and provide a more useful commentary. | Conscious Leadership |
| Frawley, Dr. David | Yoga & Ayurveda: Self-Healing and Self-Realization | Lotus Press, 1999 | My go-to text on Yoga and Ayurveda. A thorough yet manageable work on an incredibly complex topic. | Conscious Leadership |
| Freire, Paolo | Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 50th Anniversary Edition | Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. | Freire's classic on the intersection of liberation and education is a must read for anyone intrested in either of those topics, let alone both. Basically, if you haven't read this, do. | Transformative Education |
| Honeyman, Ryan. | The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good. | Readhowyouwant.com Ltd, 2014. | This simple handbook provides a complete explanation of the how and why of the social benefit corporation. Effectively the manual for B Labs, and NGO which guides and certifies organizations seeking to become socially and environmentally responsible citizens of the business world, this book is a must read for anyone interested in responsible business. | Regenerative Economy |
| Huler Scott | On The Grid. | Gordonsville: Rodale; 2011. | This one gets a little boring because, face it, a detailed analysis of the history and present of the power grid of the United States is bound to, but Scott does an admirable job of balancing a weath of information with a human element. Recommended reading for someone who want to understand how we got where we are, power-wise, as a step to understanding how to move forward. | Regenerative Economy |
| Macy, Joanna, & Brown, Molly Young | Coming Back to Life. | New Society, 2014. | This book is an updated guide to Macy's The Work That Reconnects. This book, like most of Macy's work, addresses the emotional challenges that accompany environmental and social activism and provides individual and group exercises to move from despair and inaction toward action. This book is distinctive in that while offering theoretical underpinnings for social change, also addresses directly the emotional difficulties of this work and provides practical methods for addressing these. Useful for self-work as well as for support workers of individuals and groups. | Conscious Leadership |
| Mcdonough, William. | Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. | San Val, 2010. | Since its original publication in 2002, Cradle to Cradle has become the de factomanifesto for regenerative manufacturing practices. Â Arguing that the reduce, reuse, recycle movement falls short of our potential, the authors provide plenty of real world examples from their own consulting work of designing products with a circular economy in mind from conception. Â An excellent primer on the topic and still relevant today. | Regenerative Economy |
| Moyer, Mike. | Slicing Pie Handbook. | Lake Shark Ventures, LLC, 2016. | As the title suggests, Slicing Pie Handbook is a practical guide to using all aspects of the Slicing Pie dynamic equity sharing model. This immensely useful model for distributing equity among partners and employees of bootstrapped startups is essential knowledge for anyone interested in starting a venture from the ground up, and the Handbook provides all the information needed to implement it. | Regenerative Economy |
| Osterwalder, Alexander and Yves Pigneur. | Business Model Generation. | Wiley, 2010. | Business Model Generation is the go-to manual for Lean Canvas business planning. Chock full of detailed process and planning tools that allow the reader to rapidly prototype business models with as little or as much detail as they want. Although I use a modified version of the Canvas more aligned with that offered by Leanstack.com, this has become my go to book for quickly evaluating my own and my clients ideas, identifying gaps and oversights in business plans, and ideating solutions. | Regenerative Economy |
| Pascale R, Sternin J, Sternin M. | The Power Of Positive Deviance. | Harvard Business Review Press; 2010. | Social Change | |
| Pinchbeck, Daniel. | How Soon Is Now? | Watkins Publishing, 2017. | How Soon Is Now? is a far ranging and thorough overview of what is happening and what is necessary in the technical, social, and consciousness aspect of transitioning society towards a regenerative future. A bit fluffy at times, Pinchbeck is more a dilettante than an expert on many of the subjects. Yet he draws compelling links between different ideas and movements to give the reader a thorough picture of the current landscape and articulates clear visions for a better future. An excellent companion read to Wahl's Designing Regenerative Cultures, giving a layperson's perspective to the work. | Regenerative Economy |
| Raworth, Kate | Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. |
Chelsea Green Publishing, 2017. | This book is Raworth's excellent effort to introduce the world to her revolutionary model of economic thinking. A thorough, thoughtful, and imminently practical refutation of mainstream economic thinking, Doughnut Economics brings the change maker an analysis of what is wrong with everything we have been taught about economics, and how to think about the dismal science in a way that will support and sustain healthy life on planet earth moving forward. Doughnut Economics is a perfect complement to the Theory U's analysis of "what is wrong in the world and what to do about it." While Scharmer provides in the foundational principles of Theory U an analysis of the dysfunctional thinking that has created the failing society we currently live in, Raworth augments this analysis with a history of how economic thinking became the way it is. Then, she takes her solution proposal a step further than Scharmer's Theory U methodology by providing a multi-step prescription to get us from where we are to where we need to be. While framed for economists, this book is written with the understanding that we are all, ultimately, the economists of our own lives and instructs the reader on how to adjust their thinking to create the outcomes, at whatever scale they can reach, that they desire. | Regenerative Economy |
| Reams, Johnathan. | Illuminating the Blind Spot: An Overview and Response to Theory U. Integral Review, Issue 5, 2007 | Integral Review, Issue 5, 2007 | http://nextstepintegral.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Illuminating-the-Blind-Spot-Jonathan-Reams.pdf Reams analysis and critique of Scharmer's Theory U provides a helpful perspective in analyzing and understanding both the benefits and some of the shortcomings of the model. | Conscious Leadership |
| Reisner M, Mott L. | Cadillac Desert. | New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books; 2017. | Cadillac Desert is a thoughtful and well researched history of water rights and development in the US Southwest. A great look at how a narrow focus and a lack of systems awareness leads to unintended consequences. | Regenerative Economy |
| Rifkin, Jeremy | The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism | St. Martin's Griffin, 2015 | Rifkin provides a thoughtful analysis of what happens to a capitalist society as the cost of production of goods steadily approaches zero. As the gig and sharing economies, 3D printers, increased automation, and other factors rapidly and radically change the nature of work, how must our understanding of value change in order to maintain the dignity of human existence? | Regenerative Economy |
| Scharmer, Otto | The Essentials of Theory U: Core Principles and Applications | Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018 | A handy text on the application of Theory U | Conscious Leadership |
| Scharmer, Otto and Katrin Kaufer. | Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-Systems to Eco-Systems. | Berrett-Koehler, 2013. | Leading from the Emerging Future serves as a complement to Scharmer's Theory U, by departing from the academic focus of the latter to provide a more user friendly explanation of the Theory U model. Directed towards users, particularly in organizational development, this book is replete with real-world examples of how to apply Theory U towards "transforming business, society, and self." | Conscious Leadership |
| Scharmer, Otto. | Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges. | Berrett-Koehler, 2009. | This is the standard textbook for learning and teaching the Theory U model. A dense tome of 531 pages, the reader can be forgiven for finding it dry and even forbidden, yet the author writes in a readable style that in spite of being verbose and sometime jargony, is accessible. In conjunction with the EDx Theory U 0.X and 1.X courses as well as the facilitator training I have taken, I have used this book to anchor my knowledge and practice of Theory U. Because of it's size, I have found this book most useful as a reference rather than a cover-to-cover read. | Conscious Leadership |
| Stevens Jamaica | Reinhabiting The Village: Co-Creating Our Future | Robert Reed Publishers, 2016 | A compendium of various initiatives around the world that seek to re-humanize our lives by metaphorically, or literally, re-inhabiting the village. Well researched, beautifully illustrated and mostly well written. | Regenerative Economy / Conscious Leadership / Transformative Education |
Cumulative Resource Review
The following is a link to a spreadsheet of all of the resources I have used thus far while an Associate of Gaia University. It is a living document and I am continuously updating it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sX9EMsVfyeSV-eSulrbc4Hv0LwdlksdtMBV4Qb7eEqA/edit?usp=sharing