There are a number of resources that are useful for understanding Technoecology. At the moment, there is no text specific to the field, but hopefully in the future we’ll publish one. For now, here are a number of resources that you can use. The books listed are available from a number of sellers, but we would greatly appreciate it if you use our affiliate links. It would go a long way to supporting the project.

Industrial Ecology and Energetics

The flow of energy through the technosphere is an important area of study for technoecology. There’s already a nascent science which uses a one way analogy between ecosystems and industrial systems called Industrial Ecology. 

A good resource on the topic is Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Engineering by T.E. Graedel and B.R. Allenby. 

A more general text on energetics, both in natural systems and human systems is Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems by Vaclav Smil.

Thermodynamics

Much of the theory being developed in the study of the technosphere is centered on concepts in thermodynamics. It’s therefore useful to have a solid foundation on the topic. There are a number of good texts if you want to learn more about thermodynamics, including: 

• Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, by Y.A. Cengel and M.A. Boles
• Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics, by M.J. Moran, H.N. Saprio, D.D. Boettner, and M.B. Bailey
• Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, by R.E. Sonntag and C. Borgnakke

This project also relies heavily on recent achievements in the understanding of how the second law of thermodynamics relates to open systems, of which the Earth is one such system. We therefore suggest reading the paper Statistical Physics of Self-Replication by Jeremy England. 

Complex Systems

Natural systems and human systems are complex systems, and so an understanding of how complex systems function, and fail, must be considered. There are a number of important works on the topic. Technoecology relies upon The Law of Requisite Variety and the concept of variety developed by Ross Ashby, in An Introduction to Cybernetics. Other materials to consider include:

• Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, by M.M. Waldrop
• Dynamics of Complex Systems, by Yaneer Bar-Yam and his associated paper on multiscale variety in complex systems

The Inherent Instability of Disordered Systems by Taeer Bar-Yam et al. is another crucial read. Along with England’s work, the two act as a sort of “grand unification” between statistical physics and complex systems analysis, as it applies to the study of the technosphere and biosphere.