Here are 2 books that Optional Practical Training fans have personally recommended if you like Optional Practical Training. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Is a River Alive?

Mitchell Thomashow Author Of To Know the World: A New Vision for Environmental Learning

From Mitchell's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Environmental thinker Improviser

Mitchell's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Mitchell Thomashow Why Mitchell loves this book

Is a River Alive presents a journey through three extraordinary rivers, located in wilderness Ecuador, wilderness Quebec, and urban India. Macfarlane explores how important these rivers are in the lives of people and ecosystems. He writes stunning portraits of the rivers users and protectors. He magnificently depicts the remarkable ecological "lives" of the rivers; their moods and seasons, their narratives and histories. In so doing, he raises questions about what it means to be sentient and why a redefinition of natural rights is essential for ecological survival, political activism, and environmental learning. MacFarlane is an evocative writer, filled with compassion, wisdom, and insight.

By Robert Macfarlane ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Is a River Alive? as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book - which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title.

At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings - who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.

The book flows first to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.

Then, to the wounded rivers,…


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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

Book cover of The Gentrification of the Mind

Unknown Author

By Sarah Schulman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Gentrification of the Mind as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this gripping memoir of the AIDS years (1981-1996), Sarah Schulman recalls how much of the rebellious queer culture, cheap rents, and a vibrant downtown arts movement vanished almost overnight to be replaced by gay conservative spokespeople and mainstream consumerism. Schulman takes us back to her Lower East Side and brings it to life, filling these pages with vivid memories of her avant-garde queer friends and dramatically recreating the early years of the AIDS crisis as experienced by a political insider. Interweaving personal reminiscence with cogent analysis, Schulman details her experience as a witness to the loss of a generation's…


Book cover of Is a River Alive?
Book cover of The Gentrification of the Mind

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