Publishers send The Chronicle a lot of books, but until now there has not been a place to highlight the books we get on architecture, landscape, energy, sustainability, and related topics. In this column, which will appear on Buildings & Grounds from time to time, we’ll review and summarize such books for our readers. We call the column “Commuter-Rail Reading” because these books help pass the time on the train and subway rides to and from the office. (If there are books you’d like to see in future columns, send us a note.)

With this inaugural edition, we start light, focusing on two new books in the “Green Guides” series from Chelsea Green Publishing. The Green Guides are little pocket primers, about 70 pages each, that give the basics in various enviro-topics: energy, water, recycling, composting, and so on. These two latest books — Biking to Work and Greening Your Office — cover topics that would be of interest to people in campus sustainability offices, but the quality and value of the books are very different.

Given that colleges and universities lately have shown an interest in supporting biking on campus and bike-sharing programs, students, administrators, and sustainability directors could probably use a good handbook on bike commuting. But it’s not clear that Biking to Work is it. Whole sections of the book — like the chapters on buying the right bike and bike maintenance — don’t go into enough depth to be useful to anyone but absolute beginners (which may, in fact, be the target audience for this book). Whole parts of the book are mere space-fillers. Chapter 8, titled “It’s Not All Work,” explains to readers that biking is not only great for commuting but also a lot of fun for both adults and children — like, duh!

Other parts of the book might be more useful for setting up commuter-biking programs. The chapter titled “Is Your Workplace Bicycle Friendly?” outlines some things a campus might need to encourage more bike commuting (racks, lockers, showers, etc.). The opening chapter offers some simple statistics that student organizers could use to push biking programs on campuses. For example, the book says that driving accounts for 20 percent of carbon emissions, and that bikers generally have the fitness of someone 10 years younger. But, again, most of this information is not offered in enough depth to be useful.

Greening Your Office is also a compilation of quick factoids and short suggestions, but in this case the format works. The book’s subtitle is “From Cupboard to Corporation: An A-Z Guide,” and indeed, the book starts with the hazards of Aerosols and ends with a suggestion to use the Internet instead of the wasteful Yellow Pages.

The factoids between could start sustainability conversations around the water cooler — or in the manager’s office. Did you know that Americans throw away more than 400,000 cellphones a day? Or that more than 300 million inkjet cartridges go in the garbage every year? Or that paper consumption goes up by 20 percent annually? (We at The Chronicle are particularly guilty there.)

Office purchases and habits are among the low-hanging fruit in any sustainability program, and Greening Your Office offers plenty of suggestions of where to start. For example, the book includes a simple description of the “traffic-light system,” which can help offices save energy: Green stickers go on items that can be shut off when not in use, like computers; yellow stickers go on items that take time to warm up, like copiers; and red stickers go on items that should never be turned off. And some suggestions would challenge cubicle culture. Who’s ready to set up a worm bin in the office, to compost coffee grounds and other food waste? (Red worms would feast here at The Chronicle.)

The book opens with chapters on why to green the office and how to get people on board. Through energy savings and other efficiencies among the items, perhaps the most frugal office manager would see a payback on the cover price, a mere $8. —Scott Carlson