Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks Clifford D. Conner 2005 568p 5 x 8 You’ve probably heard the history of science that we learned from grade school textbooks: How Galileo used his telescope to show that the earth was not the center of the universe; how Newton divined gravity from the … Continue reading A People’s History of Science
Marge Piercy 1976 384p MMPB Connie Ramos, a woman in her mid-thirties, has been declared insane. But Connie is overwhelmingly sane, merely tuned to the future, and able to communicate with the year 2137. As her doctors persuade her to agree to an operation, Connie struggles to force herself … Continue reading Woman on the Edge of Time
Ursula K. Le Guin 1966 113p MMPB The fourth installment of the Hainish Cycle, this story is set on Werel, the third planet of the Gamma Draconis system. The planet has an orbital period of 60 Earth years, and is approaching its correspondingly long winter. The main characters belong to … Continue reading Planet of Exile
Stories Ursula K. Le Guin 1976 240p MMPB Orsinia . . . a land of medieval forests, stonewalled cities, and railways reaching into the mountains where the old gods dwell. A country where life is harsh, dreams are gentle, and people feel torn by powerful forces and fight to … Continue reading Orsinian Tales
A Factor of Evolution Peter Kropotkin 1902 336p 5 x 8 Kropotkin posits that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive. Essential to the understanding of human evolution as well as social organization, this book offers a powerful counterpoint to the tenets of … Continue reading Mutual Aid
Vera Figner 1920 336p 6 x 9 In this classic memoir, Figner recounts her journey from aristocrat to revolutionary, candidly relating the experiences that shaped her ideas and provoked her to political action and violence. As she reflects on her own lifelong commitment to improving the lives of ordinary … Continue reading Memoirs of a Revolutionist
A Novel Ursula K. Le Guin 1971 192p 5 x 8 In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately … Continue reading The Lathe of Heaven
Body of Glass Marge Piercy 1991 448p 6 x 9 A dystopian future novel in the 22nd century where corporations control scarce world resources and remain luxurious, spick and span, while independent free zones remain in squalor but free and dangerous. The story follows Shira Shipman, working at one such corp called … Continue reading He, She and It
Lois Lowry 1993 192p MMPB Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community, and when Jonas turns 12 he is sent to train under The Giver. The Giver alone holds the … Continue reading The Giver
Ursula K. Le Guin 1978 192p 5 x 8 In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups–the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers–live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, where the City Bosses rule the Shantih … Continue reading The Eye of Heron