Nature Books for Book Clubs or Winter Reading
Suggested Nature Books
I'm often asked for natural history themed reading selections or books that might be good for a science/nature book club. I know there are many different flavors of science and what people like to read, but I thought I'd offer a list of books that I've read or those that are good for conversations in nature-related book clubs. This list is largely populated by the "Natural Selections" reading list from the Cape Henlopen book group I belonged to for years. I miss those late night discussions, they were wonderful. So for those of you thinking of buying books for loved ones, starting a book club, looking to expand your library, or for some fun winter reading, here's a list.
Title |
Author's First Name |
Last Name |
| Monkey Wrench Gang | Edward | Abbey |
| Desert Solitaire | Edward | Abbey |
| Biography of a Germ | Karlen | Arno |
| Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired By Nature | Janine M. | Benyus |
| The Wisdom of Birds (An Illustrated History of Ornithology) | Tim | Birkhead |
| The Swamp Walker's Journal: A Wetland's Year | David | Carroll |
| Silent Spring | Rachel | Carson |
| Silent World | Jacques | Cousteau |
| The Origin of Species | Charles | Darwin |
| Guns, Germs, and Steel | Jared | Diamond |
| Plunder of Paradise | Michael | D'Orso |
| Prairie Spring | Peter | Dunne |
| The Man Who Walked Through Time | Colin | Fletcher |
| Where We Stand | Seymour | Garte |
| Monkey Dancing | Daniel | Glick |
| Ants at Work | Deborah | Gordon |
| An Inconvenient Truth | Al | Gore |
| Bully For Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History | Steven J. | Gould |
| The Flamingo's Sile | Steven J. | Gould |
| Almost Paradise: New and Selected Poems & Translations | Sam | Hamill |
| The Great House of Birds | John | Hay |
| Environmental Politics | Samuel P. | Hays |
| Open Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996 | Seamus | Heany |
| The Trees in My Forest | Bernard | Heinrich |
| Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds | Bernd | Heinrich |
| Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival | Bernd | Heinrich |
| Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,000 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fool, Including the Author, Who Went In Search of Them. | Donovan | Hohn |
| Lily Pond: Four Years with a Family of Beavers | Ryden | Hope |
| Waiting for Aphrodite | Sue | Hubbel |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Zora Neale | Hurston |
| Redwall | Brian | Jacques |
| Along the Edge of Amer | Peter | Jenkins |
| Shopping for Porcupine | Seth | Kanter |
| Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants | Robin Wall | Kimmerer |
| Small wonder | Barbara | Kingsolver |
| Animal, Vegetable, Miracle | Barbara | Kingsolver |
| Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World | Daniel | Koeppel |
| Last Child in the Woods: Saving Children From Nature Deficit Disorder | Richard | Louve |
| The Snow Leopard | Peter | Matthiessen |
| Narrative-Medicine | Lewes | Mel-Madrona |
| The Secret Life of Bee | Sue | Monk Kidd |
| Listening to Whales: What Orcas Have Taught Us | Alexandra | Morton |
| Never Cry Wolf: Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves | Farley | Mowat |
| The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer | Siddhartha | Mukherjee |
| Black Elk Speaks | John J. | Neihardt |
| The Big Year | Mark | Obamascik |
| American Primitive: Poems by Mary Oliver | Mary | Oliver |
| Dog Songs | Mary | Oliver |
| Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes | Svanta | Paabo |
| Rebel with a Conscience | Russell | Peterson |
| Singing School | Robert | Pinsky |
| Omnivores Dilemma | Michael | Pollan |
| Coming of Age with Elephants | Joyce | Poole |
| Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime | Ellen | Prager |
| The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring | Richard | Preston |
| Chasing Monarchs | Robtert | Pyle |
| The Flight of the Iguana: A sidelong View of Science and Nature | David | Quammen |
| The Tapir's Morning Bath | Elizabeth | Royte |
| Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It | Dick | Royte |
| Virus X | Frank | Ryan |
| Oaxaca Journal | Oliver | Sachs |
| Songs for the Blue Ocean | Carl | Safina |
| Crabs Wars: A Tale of Horseshoe Crabs, Bioterrorism, and Human Health | William | Sargent |
| Between the Ocean and the Bay: A Natural History of Delmarva | Jane | Scott |
| The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca | Skloot |
| Squirrels at My Window: Life with a Remarkable Gang of Urban Squirrels | Grace Marmor | Spruch |
| Wicket Plants: The Weed the Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities | Amy | Stewart |
| The Drunken Botanist | Amy | Stewart |
| Where the Wild Things Were | William | Stolzenburg |
| Rat Island: Predators In Paradise and the World's Greatest Wildlife Rescue | William | Stolzenburg |
| Seven Arrows | Hemeyohsts | Storm |
| Journey Into Summer | E.W. | Teale |
| Autumn Across America | Edward | Teale |
| North with the Spring | Edwin Way | Teale |
| Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay | WM | Warner |
| The Hedgehog's Dilemma | Hugh | Warwick |
| Beak of the Finch | Jonathan | Weiner |
| Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England | Tom | Wessels |
| Leaves of Grass | Walt | Whitman |
| The Naturalist | E.O. | Wilson |
| Anthill: A Novel | E.O. | Wilson |
| Letters From Eden: A Year at Home, in the Woods | Julie | Zickefoose |