Guest blog: 5 books that will expand your mind this summer

Guest blog by Marc Buckley who is Editor-at-Large for Innovators Magazine and host of INSIDE IDEAS, his OnePoint5Media video podcast show. Marc is a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network, Resilient Futurist, and award-winning Global Food Reformist. Originally published here. 

Great to see Chris Spence and my book Champions of Environmental Diplomacy included here.

We all want to understand more and would probably tick the growth mindset box if asked how we like to go about things. The authors who have joined me on the Inside Ideas podcast have written books that have helped shape my worldview. The below are 5 of them, as that seems as good a number as any to recommend – but all the titles on our books page are worthy of being added to your reading list.

_________

5 to read this summer

The Web Of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe by Jeremy Lent (Inside Ideas podcast interview with the author)

This book explores all the biggies: Who am I? Why am I? How should I live? Modern systems thinking, neuroscience and indigenous wisdom are some of the threads the author uses to untangle us from dehumanising tech labels, where we have hard drives for brains, robots are our cousins and our activities are reduced to the uploading and downloading of data as we go. Instead the book shows we are part of a very different dance: with each other and nature as our partners, locked together in a spontaneous and intricate dance of dissonance that will leave you breathless with awe, not just at its beauty but in realising you are one of the dancers.

_________

Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage edited by Felix Dodds and Chris Spence (Inside Ideas podcast interview with the editors)

This book will change how you think about global climate conferences, the people working at the heart of them and the impact they are having in driving change. The book, edited by award-winning writer and environmentalist, Chris Spence, and Felix Dodds, a leading thinker in the area of global governance for 30 years, and someone who has written or edited 24 books on sustainable development, tells stories about the scientists, politicians, diplomats, activists and businesspeople making that change happen.

_________

The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer (Inside Ideas podcast interview with the author)

The Life You Can Save is a guide millions of people are using to discover what actions they can take to make the world a better place for all. The book’s theme of effective altruism: doing the most good, has mobilised a global movement of people who are taking an active part in improving the lives of others. “We have a whole movement now called effective altruism that talks about how to be the most effective altruists. To not only give away some of your money and do some good but really make sure you are getting the best value for everything that you give,” author Peter Singer told me on Inside Ideas.

_________

The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: stories to save the world edited by Paul Goodenough (Inside Ideas podcast interview with the editor)

Hundreds of activists, celebrities, scientists, comedians and others created stories for this amazing comic, which is raising money and awareness to help save species threatened from extinction. Co-creators including Taika Waititi, Ricky Gervais, Cara Delevingne, and Jane Goodall are among those who feature in a comic that might just be the most important on earth.

_________

Sitopia by Carolyn Steel (Inside Ideas podcast interview with the author)

Using food as a ‘lens to explore the origins and dilemmas’ of a world fighting the fires of a polycrisis, Carolyn explores how food can safe the world by offering important answers to climate change, pollution, deforestation, and antibiotic resistance.