Explore the Commons
Think Like a Commoner, Second Edition, features a concluding section, “Tools for Exploring the Commonsverse,” which lists books, websites, patterns of commoning, and other resources of interest. Here are some leading websites on specific realms of commoning.
Readers may also wish to consult David Bollier’s previous books on the commons, sometimes written or edited in collaboration with colleagues. The books show the general arc of his research, reporting, and thinking about the commons over the past twenty-five years.
Silent Theft:
The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth
(Routledge, 2002)
A history of contemporary enclosures of the commons, from land, water, and public spaces to software, genes, and knowledge.
Brand Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture
(Wiley, 2006)
A survey of corporate enclosures of creativity and culture using copyright, trademark, and patent law.
Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own
(New Press, 2008)
A history of the free culture movement as instigated by free software and Creative Commons licenses, and extending to open science, publishing, and education.
The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market & State
Co-editor, Silke Helfrich (Levellers Press, 2012)
A wide-ranging anthology of 71 scholarly and activist-minded essays on the commons from two dozen countries.
Green Governance:
Ecological Survival, Human Rights, and the Law of the Commons
Co-author, Burns H. Weston (Cambridge U. Press, 2013)
A legal treatise and set of proposals for using law to catalyze commons-based ecological governance.
From Bitcoin to Burning Man and Beyond: The Quest for Identity and Autonomy in a Digital Society
Co-editor, John H. Clippinger (Off the Common Books, 2014)
A collection of 15 essays that explores the rich potential of decentralized autonomous organizations on digital networks.
Think Like a Commoner A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons, 1st edition
(New Society Publishers, 2014)
An early popular introduction to the social economics of organized cooperation and its larger societal implications.
Patterns of Commoning
co-author, Silke Helfrich (Off the Commons Books, 2015)
An anthology of 51 essays on commons and commoning from international scholarly and academic perspectives.
Free, Fair, and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons
(New Society Publishers, 2019)
A fresh conceptual synthesis of the commons paradigm as a living social system that requires different ways of acting, knowing and being.
The Great Awakening New Modes of Life Amidst Capitalist Ruins
co-editor, Anna Grear (Punctum Books, 2020)
Twelve essays that critique the predicaments of capitalist modernity while offering practical ideas for a post-capitalist future.
The Commoner’s Catalog for Changemaking Tools for the Transitions Ahead
(Schumacher Center for a New Economics, 2021)
Inspired by The Whole Earth Catalog, this catalog surveys dozens of robust movements and projects that are building a new commons-based world right now.
Think Like a Commoner: A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons, 2d edition
(New Society Publishers, 2025)
A significant revision and update of the original 2014 edition of the book, incorporating many new developments and scholarly insights.