A Selection of Nora’s Writings
Books
Belly
Published by Triarchy Press, 1st September 2026
In this book, Nora Bateson writes about grief, appetite, microbiomes and mycelia, family meals and global crises, asking what it means to sense and respond in a world where there are no clean edges between you and everything you are in relation with. It is a book to read slowly, to dog‑ear and to spill on, as you learn to notice how your own belly is already holding the world.
Combining
Published by Triarchy Press, 2023
In this book, Nora invites us into an ecology of communication where nothing stands alone, and every action sets off a chain of incalculable consequences. She challenges conventional fixes for our problems, highlighting the need to tackle issues at multiple levels, understand interdependence, and embrace ambiguity.
books.org (US/UK)
amazon.com
Small Arcs of Larger Circles
framing through other patterns
Published by Triarchy Press, 2016
Nora’s first collection of essays, reflections and poems. This book is a revolutionary personal approach to the study of systems and complexity, and the core text of the Harvard University LILA program 2017-18.
books.org (UK)
amazon.com
Ecology of Mind: A Cybernetic Approach to Planetary Problems
Poetry
An Ecology of Change
the restlessness of sorrow
makes each room a place to leave
Isnt it stagnant in here?
Isnt it late already; time to be in motion?
Does anyone else smell smoke?
jumpy to go, to shift, to twitch to slide to scratch -
the kitchen is piled with nothing to eat-
the bedroom is pillowed with nothing like sleep-
the body is fidgety to do something where there is only what cannot be undone-
making long phone calls in the time set aside to be alone-
walking, running, pacing, circling, writhing-
slipping out of the grip of möbius memories-
stillness aches.
IT’S A GAP
It's a gap,
That is holding our fibering.
It's a gap,
That is both eachness & reaching.
It's a gap,
That is our learning to find one another.
It's a gap,
That pulls us & pushes us.
It is - - - - - -
gapping.
Please do not complete me.
Let me relish longing.