In class last week, we discussed the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and I recommended the recently-published history of the Constitution by Jill Lepore. It's a highly readable discussion of how the Constitution came to be as we know it...and of just how difficult it has become to amend it. 

We also discussed the value of a "life-centric" (rather than ecocentric or anthropocentric) view of the natural world. I recommended a less recent book--one by Barbara Kingsolver--a highly readable and provocative reflection of one family's decision to live more sustainably.