Name: _____________________
Environmental Science
Read a Book about Science
Due Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Deliverable: 1. Chapter Summary
2. Summary and analysis paper
3. Project
Choose a book from the choices below. There is a wide selection, so hopefully you will be
able to choose a topic that interests you. No two environmental students can read the same
book. You will have to choose your top 5 picks and email them to me no earlier than
Wednesday, August 27 at 7 pm. All preferences must be turned in by 7 pm on Tuesday,
September 2. Ms. Gonzalo and I will go though the emails in chronological order and let you
know of your book choice.
Chapter Summary: When it comes time to discuss the book, many students go blank because
they did not read the book or simply do not remember what they've read. When you are
reading the book, keep a notebook with you. At the end of each chapter, stop and write down
an outline of the key events in the chapter and your reactions to these events before you forget
them. When you are finished the book, the outline will help you write your final paper.
Paper: The paper should be no less than three pages double spaced, one inch margins, Times
New Roman font. Include a summary of the book, as well as an analysis. The analysis should
answer the following two topics:
1. Connect through your past or present knowledge
- how might the ideas/thoughts/events in the book affect you or other people’s lives?
- how is this news likely to change the world - on a small or large scale?
- does it support or refute other information you've heard or read? How so?
2. Connect through yourself
- what is your opinion of what happened and why do you feel that way?
- if you had been involved in the event, what would you have done?
Project: Choose one of the following. You many choose to complete two for extra credit.
1. Create 5 poems/songs (minimum 25 lines). The poems can be of the full book or
sections/parts. One poem must be your take on the title.
2. Write a letter to the author. This option is only available for authors that are still alive,
because I will be sending the letters to the authors. Discuss your thoughts of the book,
questions and if he/she would be interested in coming to talk to the students at
Walsingham Academy.
3. Create a radio advertisement or television commercial persuading the public why they
should buy and read this book. The recording will be shown in class.
4. Interview a person from the book. Write your interview in question and answer format.
The interview tape will be shown in class.
5. Videotape at least three scenes from the book or be a reporter taping live from the
scenes. The tape will be shown in class.
6. Write/perform a parody of the book. Videotape at least two scenes or the entire book.
The tape will be shown in class.
7. Design a newspaper based on the events of the book. There should be at least 4 pages.
Include an editorial based on a controversial issue in the book. All stories,
advertisements, titles should be pertinent to the book.
8. Create a children’s book. Retell in the story for younger students in simple words and
pictures. Be sure to decide in advance what age you are writing for.
Name: _____________________
Environmental Science
9. Write/illustrate a comic book version of your book. The book must include comic-style
illustrations and dialogue bubbles.
Book tittles:
1. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus Charles C. Mann
2. A Civil Action Jonathan Harr
3. A Reason for Hope Jane Goodall
4. A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold
5. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail Bill
Bryson
6. Atmosphere, Climate and Change Thomas Graedel and Paul Crutzen.
7. Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It Elizabeth Royte
8. Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon
Rain Forest. Andrew Revkin
9. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water Marc Reisner
10. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England William
Cronon
11. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things William McDonough and
Michael Braungart
12. Crossing the Next Meridian : Land, Water, and the Future of the West Charles
Wilkinson
13. Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered Bill Devall and George Sessions.
14. Degrees of Disaster: Prince William Sound: How Nature Reels and Rebounds Jeff
Wheelwright
15. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness Edward Abbey
16. Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future Mark
Hertsgaard.
17. Earth Under Siege: From Air Pollution to Global Change Richard Turco
18. Ecology, Economics, Ethics: The Broken Circle F. Herbert Bormann and Stephen
Kellert
19. Eco-warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement Rick Scarce
20. Encounters with the Archruid John McPhee
21. Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? David Raup
22. Fat of the Land: The Garbage behind New York – The Last Two Hundred Years
Benjamin Miller
23. Fateful Harvest Duff Wilson
24. Four Corners: History, Land and People of the Desert Southwest Kenneth Brown.
25. From the Bottom Up Chad Pregracke
26. Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash Elizabeth Royte
27. Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage Heather Rogers
28. Green Delusions: An Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism
Martin Lewis
29. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond
30. High Tech Trash Elizabeth Grossman
31. How Many People Can the Earth Support? Joel Cohen
32. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit Daneil Quinn
33. Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment Sandra
Steingraber
34. My First Summer in the Sierra John Muir
Name: _____________________
Environmental Science
35. Never Cry Wolf Farley Mowat
36. Of Wolves and Men Barry Lopez
37. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard
38. Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Nature William F.
Ruddiman
39. Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England Tom Wessels
40. Riddle of Ice: A Scientific Adventure into the Arctic Myron Arms
41. Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic Marla Cone
42. Silent Spring Rachel Carson
43. Soft Energy Path: Towards a Durable Peace Amory Lovins
44. Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions David Quammen
45. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character Richard
Feynman,
46. Tales from the Underground: A Natural History of Subterranean Life David
Wolfe
47. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in
the Amazon Rain Forest Mark Plotkin
48. The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton
49. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance Laurie
Garrett
50. The Control of Nature John McPhee
51. The Demon in the Freezer Richard Preston
52. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Carl Sagan
53. The Diversity of Life Edward O. Wilson
54. The Endurance Caroline Alexander
55. The Hot Zone Richard Preston
56. The Omnivore’s Dilemma Michael Pollan
57. The Population Bomb Paul Ehrlich
58. The Prairie Keepers: Secret of the Grasslands Marcy Houle
59. The Rough Guide to Climate Change Robert Henson
60. The Sand Dollar and the Slide Rule: Drawing Blueprints from Nature Delta Willis
61. The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind Richard
Leakey and Roger Lewin.
62. The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich
63. The Stork and the Plow: The Equity Answer to the Human Dilemna Paul Ehrlich.
64. The Warning: Accident at Three Mile Island, A Nuclear Omen for the Age of
Terrorism Mike Gray and Ira Rosen.
65. The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring Richard Preston
66. The Wolves of Isle Royale: A Broken Balance Rolf Peterson
67. Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking Tom Brown
68. Tracking the Vanishing Frogs: An Ecological Mystery Kathryn Phillips
69. Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South
America Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miyata.
70. Undaunted Courage Stephen Ambrose
71. Wilderness and the American Mind Roderick Nash