Scott’s expertise is the history of the people living in the hills of Southeast Asia. This people have been in contact with the largest state-building project in history (China) for thousands of years. They have arranged their societies to be anti-legible: to make it as hard as possible for the state or any large institution to establish itself.
Seeing Like A State is the best political book I have ever read. I have long had tendencies along these lines, but could never put them into words. Scott expresses himself beautifully and cites numerous examples.
We currently understand international relations in terms of states, which claim sovereignty within their borders and recognize other states as equal outside of their borders. During the High Middle Ages (~1000-1350), multiple different international systems developed. One of them, the sovereign territorial state, became dominant, first in Europe, then throughout the world.
Weather, Macroweather, and the Climate is an excellent book on climate science. Lovejoy engages both climate scientists and climate skeptics and attempts to persuade both. It tries to be accessible to a general audience, but I think it ends up being accessible to almost any scientist or engineer. This book is more about climate than about climate change. Lovejoy does not mention climate change until the 6th chapter, out of 7 chapters total. Instead, his main goal is for you to understand the patterns of motion in the atmosphere.
