The Committee on the Environment (COTE) has compiled a green reading list based on the recommendations of COTE members around the country. We hope to continuously expand the list with additional titles. If you know of a book that should be on the list, we encourage you to send your recommendation to cote@aia.org.
Titles that have been reviewed by AIA members have links to the reviews.

Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic (John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor)
American Metropolitics (Myron Orfield)
Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment (Reyner Banham)
Architecture without Architects (Bernard Rudofsky)
Asphalt Nation (Jane Holtz Kay)
Becoming Native to This Place (Wes Jackson)
Biologic (David Wann)
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature (Janine M. Benyus)
Biophilia (E.O. Wilson)
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming (Paul Hawken)
Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water (Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke)
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World (Michael Pollan)
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water (Marc Reisner)
Campus and Environmental Responsibility (David J. Eagan and David Orr)
The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era (Jeremy K. Leggett)
Catching the Light (Arthur Zajonc)
Changes in the Land (William Cronon)
Cities Back from the Edge (Roberta Brandes Gratz and Norman Mintz)
Civilizing Terrains (William Morrish)
Climate Consideration in Building and Urban Design (Baruch Givoni)
Climatic Design (Donald Watson)
Comeback Cities (Paul Grogan)
Confronting Suburban Decline (William H. Lucy and David L. Phillips)
Consilience (E.O. Wilson)
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (William McDonough and Michael Braungart)
Daylight Design of Buildings (Nick Baker and Koen Steemers)
Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jane Jacobs)
Deep Design (David Wann)
Deep Ecology for the 21st Century (George Sessions)
Design with Climate (Victor Olgyay)
Design with Nature (Ian McHarg)
Designing Sustainable Communities (Judy Corbett)
Earth in Mind (David Orr)
Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (Albert Gore Jr.)
Earth to Spirit (David Pearson)
ECODESIGN, A Manual for Ecological Design (Ken Yeang)
Ecological Architecture: A Critical History (James Steele)
Ecological Design (Sim van der Ryn)
Ecological Literacy (David Orr)
The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (Paul Hawken)
Ecology of Place (Timothy Beatley and Kristy Manning)
Economicology—The Eleventh Commandment (Peter M. Wege)
Ecotopia (Ernest Calenbaugh)
Ecoturimo (Hector Ceballos)
The End of Nature (Bill McKibben)
Environmental Design Charrette Workbook (Donald Watson)
Ethical Land Use (Timothy Beatley)
The Future of Ice: A Journey Into Cold (Gretel Ehrlich)
The Garden-Ville Method: Lessons in Nature (Malcolm Beck)
A Gardener’s Education (Michael Pollan)
Genome (Matt Ridley)
Gentle Architecture (Malcolm Wells)
Global City Blues (Daniel Solomon)
Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design (Anne Whiston Spirn)
Greed to Green: The Transformation of an Industry and a Life (David Gottfried)
Green Architecture (James Wines)
Green Investment, Green Return: How Practical Conservation Projects Save Millions on America’s Campuses (David Eagan and Julian Keniry)
Green Studio Handbook (Alison Kwok and Walter Grondzik)
Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities (Timothy Beatley)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Jared Diamond)
Healing Environments (Carol Venolia)
Health and Community Design: The Impact of the Built Environment on Physical Activity (Lawrence D. Frank, Peter O. Engeike, and Thomas L. Schmid)
Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Design Methods for Architects (Norbert Lechner)
The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design, Second Edition (Bill Odell, Sandra Mendler, and Mary Ann Lazarus)
How Buildings Learn (Stewart Brand)
How Cities Work (Alex Marshall)
The Humane Metropolis: People and Nature in the 21st Century City (Thomas R. Hunter, AIA, LEED AP)
The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the Worldwide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth (Jeremy Rifkin)
Image of the City (Kevin Lynch)
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Waking Up to Personal and Global Transformation (Thom Hartmann)
The Living City (Roberta Brandes Gratz)
Mastering Energy: A Conceptual Design Tool for Energy Efficient Buildings (J. Douglas Balcomb)
Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings (Ben Stein and John S. Reynolds)
Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise (Ray C. Anderson)
Native to Nowhere (Tim Beatley)
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins)
Natural Ventilation in Buildings (Francis Allard)
Nature’s Economy (Donald Worster)
Nature’s Metropolis (William Cronon)
The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream (Peter Calthorpe)
Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards (Sara Stein)
The Not So Big House (Sarah Susanka)
Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth (Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees)
Passive Cooling (Jeffrey Cooke)
A Pattern Language (Christopher Alexander)
The Philosophy of Sustainable Design (Jason F. McLennan)
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (Lester R. Brown)
Planning to Stay (William Morrish and Catherine Brown)
Poetry, Language, Thought (Martin Heidegger)
A Primer on Sustainable Building (Rocky Mountain Institute)
Regenerative Design for Sustainable Development (John Tillman Lye)
Regional City (Peter Calthorpe)
Resettling America (Gary J. Coates)
Reshaping the Built Environment: Ecology, Ethics, and Economics (Charles J. Kibert, Editor)
Resource Guide for Sustainable Development in an Urban Environment (Urban Environmental Institute)
Ritual House (Ralph L. Knowles)
Rural by Design: Maintaining Small Town Character (Randall Arendt)
The Sacred Balance (David Suzuki)
Sharing Nature's Interest: Ecological Footprints as an Indicator of Sustainability (Nicky Chambers, Craig Simmons, and Mathis Wackernagel)
Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (Sarah Nettleton, AIA, and Frank Edgerton Martin)
The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World (Bjorn Lomborg)
Smart Materials and Technologies (Michelle Addington and Daniel Schodek)
The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling (Daniel D. Chiras)
Solving Sprawl: Models of Smart Growth (F. Kaid Benfield)
Spell of the Sensuous (David Abram)
Sun, Wind, and Light: Architectural Design Strategies (G.Z. Brown and Mark DeKay)
Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence (Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy)
Sustainable Architecture: Principles, Paradigms, and Case Studies (James M. Steele)
Sustainable Architecture: White Papers (Earth Pledge Foundation)
Sustainable Construction (Charles Kibert)
Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning (Daniel Williams, FAIA)
Taking Shape (Susannah Hagan)
Teaching Sustainability at Universities: Towards Curriculum Greening (Walter Leal Filho)
Thermal Delight in Architecture (Lisa Heschong)
Toward a Livable City (Emilie Buchwald)
Toward a New Regionalism: Environmental Architecture in the Pacific Northwest (David E. Miller)
Towards Sustainable Building (Nicola Maiellaro)
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture (Wendell Berry)
Wasting Away (Kevin Lynch)
The Web of Life (Fritjof Capra)
What Are People For? (Wendell Berry)
Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs (Wallace Stegner)
The Wooing of the Earth (Rene Dubois)
Worldchanging (Alex Steffen, editor)