reading list for world-building

This reading list is constantly changing - some things get booted, others get added. I like to keep it around ten so it's a strong, distilled reading tonic!

Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language

The Christopher Alexander is number one and will probably be for all time. This is the one book I feel every world-building individual should have. Do not hesitate - order it. It is absolutely for everyone.

David Abrams, Spell of the Sensuous

David Abrams is a new addition - the Spell of the Sensuous changed the way I thought about magic, mystery and my own embodied-ness. 

Donna Harraway, A Companion Species Manifesto

Donna Harraway - EVERYTHING but I'm including a short text here, the first one I read that really introduced her to me and so it remains my favorite. You'll need a Cyborg Manifesto too. It's a little heady, take your time. Incredible that she wrote this text 40+ years ago.

Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property

If you want to think about alternative economies start here. (I also love his book Trickster Makes This World. 

Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider

Audre Lorde; everything but especially the essay Uses of the Erotic which you can read here. 

Leonard Koren, Wabi Sabi for Artists Designers Poets and Philosophers

This tiny book on wabi sabi I think I underlined it's entirety.

Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society

Everything he critics; education, our medical institutions resonates with me and how I want to change the world. 

M.F.K. Fisher, How to Cook a Wolf

My introduction to the poetics of making something out of nothing. 

Silvia Federici, Caliban and the Witch

A living legend, truly. The book introduced me to the concept of The Commons.

Lynn Margulis, Symbiotic Planet

This is a recent addition - I just finished this small very readable book that focuses on collaboration and symbiosis from a evolutionary biologist point of veiw. Also last chapter is the best explanation of Gaia theory.