Resources: Literature

This page is a compilation of books that have either inspired ideas or aided in research toward our communal goals. They span a broad range of topics, but each has ideas that have contributed to our overall vision.

Core Literature
These books inspired us to think differently about the structure of society itself. They are a clarion call to self-examination, and a reason for discussing the potential and limits of collective action. We expect those who share the vision of these thinkers will benefit through collaboration with one another.

Walden Two
A novel published in 1948 by behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner setting forth his vision for an efficient, self-sustaining society built on a foundation of positive reinforcement, controlled experimentation, and collectivist ideals. The book is highly regarded as an inspiration to many people looking to form intentional living communities, including the well-known Twin Oaks Community in Virginia. As far as we've been able to tell, the experiment most similar to the Walden Two from the novel (and, indeed, the one described as such by Skinner himself) is Los Horcones in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Walden Two has been an important resource both in building our own ideas and in understanding the context from which others may be approaching the task of forming a community. In particular, Skinner's affinity for scientific exploration and many of his ideas for restructuring of social norms line up with our beliefs.

B. F. Skinner's Utopian Vision: Behind and Beyond  Walden Two

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us
Daniel Pink, credited as a "business guru" in the author notes, uses scientific research and compelling evidence to support the argument that rewards, incentives, and rules that typically govern business and society-at-large work against our natural inclinations to produce. This implies that a society dependent on quantified rewards and fair contractual consideration suffers restricted creativity and inefficiencies in the allocation of labor. Since the prevailing discontent with job opportunities and job structure is chief among our motivations to live intentionally and sustain-ably, Pink's insights are a critical tool for discussing how to make the responsibilities of shared labor as rewarding as possible.This book is short and uses concepts that will immediately be familiar to those with little scientific, technological, or business literacy. It ought to be core material because it provides us with a framework for calling into question societal mechanisms we suspect are dysfunctional.

The Zero Marginal Cost Society
Economist Jeremy Rifkin published this book to bring together a broad range of modern technological and social advances that he believes are leading us toward a society of abundance in which capitalism as we know it may no longer be relevant. Starting with an overarching narrative of the birth of capitalism from previously collectivized feudal societies, Rifkin places our current economic situation into a large historic context. He then discusses the modern constructs (categorized into the Information, Energy, and Logistics Internets) that he sees as part of an ongoing transition toward a shared economy.

This book touches on many of the big ideas we've been trying to pull together: sustainable energy, home manufacturing, free education, collectivizing resources, efficient use of technology... It also contains a wealth of case studies and other references to people and companies working at the cutting edge these movements. The biggest downfall of this book is that it lacks a call to action. It does however train the reader in critical vocabulary and concepts for reckoning with issues of resource allocation, consumption and management. For this reason, it ought to be a core text.

Jeremy Rifkin's Talk on Google

Resources for Informed Living
These books help build on our shared vision of the world, how it works and changes, and what our roles are in it. We feel that the more saturated any group becomes with these ideas, the more cohesively and fluidly it will operate.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Perhaps best known within scientific circles, Thomas S. Kuhn's essay-turned-novel describes the historical process by which scientific consensus is accepted, challenged, and expanded. In it, Kuhn introduces the idea of a "paradigm shift": a new discovery or analysis that clearly contradicts previous theory, causing a period of controversy that is usually followed by rapid change in the conceptual understanding of the scientific community at large. This process is demonstrated in various historic contexts, and Kuhn makes some astute and original observations about the differences between "normal" science (i.e. the testing and verification of current theory) and "revolutionary" science (i.e. controversial theories which, if sound, are likely to cause a paradigm shift), speculating that the ebb and flow of these two opposites seems to be the cornerstone of a healthy scientific community.

Kuhn's overarching idea (scientific implications aside) is that we must strike a balance between securing our foundations and striving toward innovation. Implicit in this is a willingness to question even our most fundamental ideas without allowing our internal bias to control larger decision-making processes. Far from being limited to the scientific realm, these ideas are equally applicable to many aspects of collective life--especially in the information age.

Quick Guide to Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions

The Element
Written by educator and innovator Ken Robinson, this exploration of human potential is presented as a series of case studies of exceptional people and how they came into their own--or, in Robinson's words, into their Element. Interspersed are more general discussions of the interplay between natural talent and personal passion, the importance of finding the right people, and the stigmas surrounding less conventional paths to success and fulfillment.

In this book, Sir Ken Robinson puts the ideas of passion and creativity into a workable paradigm, offering practical tips (backed by real-life examples) for people trying to find their niche. His unconventional ideas on success and fulfillment fly in the face of our current educational paradigm and point toward a more natural approach that is both intuitive and scientific.

[https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? (TED)]

Simple Rules to Thrive in a Complex World
Donald Sull and Kathleen Eisenhardt use their combined experience in organizational strategy to offer a surprisingly straightforward solution to the problem of growing complexity in our everyday lives: simple rules. Their approach posits that the majority of systems (both personal and interpersonal), no matter how complex, can be guided using concise rules. Throughout the book, they describe and elaborate on their system for optimizing for a given outcome by simplifying rules, rather than complicating them. Using a broad series of real-life examples--from field triage to collective behavior to religious and legal tenets--the authors show a strong historic foundation for their ideas.

Simple rules work well for a combination of reasons. Most obviously, we as humans have a limit to the amount of information we can process at once, and overload has never been more imminent than in today's world. Keeping the complexity and number of constraints to a minimum ensures that individuals can understand and follow the rules with very little mental overhead. Related to this is the fact that the minutiae in many situations, besides being cumbersome to process, are often less important than we perceive them to be. Lastly, simple rules allow the flexibility of personal discretion in situations that may not be clear-cut. This is especially important in new ventures, when strictness can be a hindrance.

Don Sull on Simple Rules

Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking
Social psychologist Richard E. Nisbett offers this accessible guide to thinking and reasoning effectively even when our brains are working against us. Nisbett's premise is that we as humans follow countless cognitive shortcuts when analyzing information, and that more often than not they lead us to harmful or ill-informed decisions. The purpose of the book is to point out some common pitfalls (by way of everyday examples) and to offer effective and well-established methods for noticing and avoiding them. It touches on many common logical fallacies, misunderstood statistical concepts, and psychological barriers in a scientific but casual tone. Also included is a discussion about cultural differences in how individuals are taught to perceive the world.

Understanding bias is important for both individuals and for society. The animosity and polarization in the current political arena come in large part from our tendency to oversimplify issues and make snap judgments based on limited information. Even worse, the information that's available now is suspect in too many ways to count, making a discerning mind even more important moving forward.

The Celestine Vision
James Redfield's four-book "Celestine" series is an allegorical novel depicting what he believes is a global spiritual and social awakening driven by the pursuit of synchronicity and a better-informed view of the world around us. "The Celestine Vision" (nonfiction) is a practical guide for understanding the sources of Redfield's beliefs and implementing his ideas in daily life. Ultimately, the goal of the book is to train oneself to pay attention to surroundings, looking for indications (often subtle or even intuited) of the "next step" toward fulfillment in one's life. (Redfield himself was an abuse counselor for over a decade, sparking his interest in the human potential movement and formulating many of the ideas in the book.)

Although much less scientific in presentation from other books on this list, the vision presented is nonetheless compelling: a peaceful, understanding world in which each of us performs a particular role with little or no doubt as to what one's purpose ought to be. In many ways, this represents the spiritual side of Skinner's scientific approach in "Walden Two."

The Celestine Vision Website

Additional Reading
These collected works reinforce or share ideas important to informing our view of the world, but are not critical to maintain organizational cohesion or effective operation.

Plato's Republic
(PDF Full Text. A millennia old take on idealized society.)

Sir Thomas More's Utopia
(PDF Full Text.A five centuries old take on idealized society. Builds on the republic.)

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers
(Observations and anecdotes of what really creates success, and an illustration of how important teamwork and cooperation is critical for that success.)

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
(A science fiction demonstrating the value of preserving knowledge for future generations in combating existential risk and the limits of human knowledge in that pursuit.)