World-conscious survey of low-tech food production in semiarid regions.
Faulkner, Edward H. Plowman's Folly. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1943.
This book created quite a controversy in the 1940s. Faulkner stresses the vital importance of capillarity. He explains how conventional plowing stops this moisture flow.
Foth, Henry D. Fundamentals of Soil Science. Eighth Edition. New York: John Wylie & Sons, 1990.
A thorough yet readable basic soil science text at a level comfortable for university non-science majors.
Hamaker, John. D. The Survival of Civilization. Annotated by Donald A. Weaver. Michigan/California: Hamaker-Weaver Publishers, 1982.
Hamaker contradicts our current preoccupation with global warming and makes a believable case that a new epoch of planetary glaciation is coming, caused by an increase in greenhouse gas. The book is also a guide to soil enrichment with rock powders.
Nabhan, Gary. The Desert Smells like Rain: A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1962.
Describes regionally useful Native American dry-gardening techniques
Russell, Sir E. John. Soil Conditions and Plant Growth. Eighth Edition. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1950.