Reddit reviews Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
We found 7 Reddit comments about Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
University of California Press
Relevant books:
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed
Interesting article, and an important topic that is not usually well understood when people talk about the issues we're facing in regards to our overuse of resources which replenish on timescales well above human lifetimes. I recommend Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations for anyone who is interested in a more in depth introduction to this topic.
If you are interested in erosion and desertification, you might enjoy the book "Dirt" by David Montgomery. It's written for the general public, and it's fascinating. http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Civilizations-David-R-Montgomery/dp/0520272900/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421884885&sr=8-1&keywords=dirt
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations (amazon.com) is probably the single most depressing book I've read in the past 10 years. On the time span of about 100 to 200 years we (the 7-11 billion of us) are pretty much screwed by the agricultural soil erosion issue alone.
Permaculture: A Designer's Manual is considered the bible for permaculture because of how comprehensive it is and how much information is packed into that book. It won't explain all of the effective strategies for different climates that we've developed over the last 30 years but I would definitely start there for the foundation. Then move on to books on topics that are specific to a particular topic within permaculture design.
​
My Recommendations:
Check out Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations for sore really interesting history on this.
The same author has a second book - Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life which is possibly the most hopeful, uplifting, and practical book I’ve ever read on agriculture or the environment.
Highly recommend both!
It sounds like you have an Intro Geology book.
For a nice overview of historical geology, I was enraptured by "The Earth: An Intimate History" by Richard Fortey. It starts slow but delves into the major developments and ideas of geology as the author visits many significant locales around the world.
Stephen Jay Gould was a very prolific science-writer across paleontology and evolution.
John McPhee has several excellent books related to geology. I would recommend "Rising from the Plains" and "The Control of Nature."
Mark Welland's book "SAND" is excellent, covering topics of sedimentology and geomorphology.
If you are interested in how society manages geologic issues, I would recommend Geo-Logic, The Control of Nature mentioned before, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, and Cadillac Desert.
These are some of the texts I used in university: