Cottonwood Institute educational programs address a variety of topics including essential camping and wilderness survival skills, environmental education, and changing the world. We have had several requests for book recommendations, so we have compiled the following list that we have in our library. We recommend buying your books through a company called Book Sense, an online family of independent booksellers. When you purchase a book from this list, a percentage of your sale will be donated to help underwrite our public school educational programs in the Boulder/Denver area. Click on the link below, enter your zip code, and choose your favorite local independent bookstore!

ESSENTIAL CAMPING AND WILDERNESS SURVIVAL SKILLS:

• 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive!, by Cody Lundin
• Backpacker’s Field Manual: A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Backcountry Skills, by Rick Curtis
• Bush Craft, by Mors Kochanski
• Earth Knack: Stone Age Skills for the 21st Century, by Bart and Robin Blankenship
• Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills, Edited by David Wescott
• Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival, by Tom Brown, Jr.
• When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive when Disaster Strikes, by Cody Lundin

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION:

• Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature, by Jon Young
• Earth in Mind, by David orr
• Earth Speaks, by Steve Van Matre and Bill Weiler
• Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, by Gregory Tilford
• Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire, by John MacLean
• Land Above the Trees: A Guide to American Alpine Tundra, by Ann H. Zwinger and Beatrice E. Willard.
• Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv
• Plants of the Rocky Mountains, by Kershaw, MacKinnon, and Pojar
• Scats and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains, by James Halfpenny
• Snow Sense, by Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler
• Vicious: Wolves and Men in America, by Jon Coleman

CHANGING THE WORLD:

• Better Together: Restoring the American Community, by Robert Putnam
• Better World Handbook, by Jones, Haenfler, and Johnson
• Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, by Robert Putnam
• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond
• Cradle to Cradle: Redesigning the way we Make Things, by McDonough and Braungart
• Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying, by David Bach
• Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time, by Paul Rogat Loeb
• Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell