This week we challenged top writers and artists to come up with their responses to climate change, and they responded with dozens of original works of art which are featured in a special issue of Guardian Review, Postcards to the Planet. But what are the books you should read if you want to swot up on the environment?

We asked Felicity Lawrence, John Vidal and Sarah Crown to harvest a stimulating and manageable reading list from the profusion of green books on the shelves. Their choices range from economics and philosophy, through gardening to poetry, photography, science fiction and children's books.

Non-fiction
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen
Soil Not Oil by Vandana Sheeva
The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock
The Selected Works of Arne Naess
So Shall We Reap by Colin Tudge
Feeding People is Easy by Colin Tudge
Collapse by Jared Diamond
Six Degrees by Mark Lynas
Heat by George Monbiot

How-to guides
Grow Your Own Vegetables by Joy Larkham
How Many Lightbulbs does it take to Change a Planet by Tony Juniper

Photography
Earth from the Air by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Fiction
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
The Science in the Capital series by Kim Stanley Robinson

Poetry
Landing Light by Don Paterson
The Drowned Book by Sean O'Brien
Dart by Alice Oswald

Children's books
Exodus by Julie Bertagna
Zenith by Julie Bertagna
Nation by Terry Pratchett