Reddit reviews The Economy of Nature

I don't think you have to worry too much about this course beforehand, they will teach all the basics. The AP bio I did in highschool actually didn't do much bio120-related material anyway (it was almost exclusively bio130)

However, if you really want to do some readings beforehand, Why Evolution is True is certainly a good starting point, especially since you'll have to read it eventually for the course, but it only covers the evolution half of the course. The Economy of Nature by Ricklefs is the recommended (but no longer required) reading for the ecology half. Note that all the required readings for the ecology section (some of which are sourced from the aformentioned book) will be provided during the course

Hi, I graduated with a degree in Natural Resources a few years ago. Your basic 100 level courses are most likely going to be general science courses like Chemistry, Biology, and some math. Here are some of the books I used and enjoyed in my upper level courses, though you might not get into these for a few years yet: A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, Evolution by Douglas Futuyma, The Economy of Nature by Robert Ricklefs, Introduction to Wildlife Management by Paul Krausman, The Origins of Modern Environmental Thought by J.E. de Steiguer.


I don't recommend you buy any of these textbooks, because your college probably will use different textbooks. Of course if you think they sound interesting or you find a cheap copy by all means go ahead, but many schools will use a slightly different version, or if your teacher is published, they may want to use their own books. I liked these ones and if you read it I'm sure you could learn a lot, but it might not all be relevant to what your current classes are.

Also I'm sure some of your books will depend on your part of the country, I went to school in the Southwest so many of my books are geared towards issues like water conservation and one of my favorite textbooks A Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona, we also used Mammals of California, you might buy Mammals of North America and another local guide depending on where you are, I had to buy two (California and North America) for my mammalogy class.

I took a lot of elective biology classes for my general biology credits towards my degree. Your school may not have the same classes, or use the same textbook, or you may not be interested, but here are some other books I'd recommend. Most are 'fun' books and read more like a narrative and are normal book length instead of chapter books. You can learn from reading them but they are set out more like a story than a textbook crammed full of data. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, Alex & Me by Irene Pepperberg, The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey, Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat, Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem & Jonathan Prince, Evolutionary Medicine Edited by Trevathan, Smith, & McKenna, Endgame by Derrick Jensen, Why We Get Sick by Randolph Nesse & George Williams.

Anyway hope this was useful and you got some good ideas, feel free to ask me for further information about anything! I don't think you should worry about being the oldest kid in your class, there are plenty of older people there than you and I think having a bit of maturity will help in your studies. Good luck!