From learning how to create a meaningful garden and how we relate to each other through trees to understanding why animals communicate, these nature reads give us a closer look at all the beauty our planet has to offer.
Click for Environmental Reads that Inspire Change.
The Power of Nature:
The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession by Amy Stewart
Fifty vignettes of remarkable people whose lives have been transformed by their obsessive passion for trees—written and charmingly illustrated by the New York Times bestselling author of The Drunken Botanist.
“These mesmerizing trees, and the inspiring people they’ve transformed, will alter your perspective and give you hope.”—Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees
“What a gift! The Tree Collectors takes us on a whirlwind planetary journey into the wondrously entangled life of people and plants. With this book, Amy Stewart shows us how we are all related to one another, through trees.”—Katie Holten, author of The Language of Trees
Available July 16th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging by Jessica J. Lee
A prize-winning memoirist and nature writer turns to the lives of plants entangled in our human world to explore belonging, displacement, identity, and the truths of our shared future.
“Weaving material from literary, personal, scientific and historical sources, Lee examines plants—including seaweed and far beyond it—that broach human borders, exploring their migrations alongside her own . . . Dispersals asks readers to consider how plants challenge not only spatial borders but taxonomic ones.”—Erica Berry, Scientific American
“The author laces her histories with a subtle and personal optimism. Just as those plants replanted far from home, we can adapt to transition, dispersal, and recollection. An insightful meditation on nature and identity within ‘a world in motion.’”—Kirkus Reviews
Available in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
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The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History by Manjula Martin
H Is for Hawk meets Joan Didion in the Pyrocene in this arresting combination of memoir, natural history, and literary inquiry that chronicles one woman’s experience of life in Northern California during the worst fire season on record.
“Exquisitely attuned to her Northern California landscape, Martin trains her gaze on wilderness ravaged by wildfire, and on her own body, hobbled by a chronic pain condition, teasing out the intricate connections between human beings and the natural world on which they depend.”—The New York Times
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Help Your Garden Grow:
The Gardening Book: An Accessible Guide to Growing Houseplants, Flowers, and Vegetables for Your Ideal Garden by Monty Don
A fresh approach to gardening by bestselling author and England’s favorite gardener Monty Don.
Whether you want to grow your own vegetables, create a child-friendly garden, connect with nature, or make the most of houseplants, Monty will help you unlock your space’s potential, showing you what, where and when to plant. The Gardening Book gives you the basics to grow over 100 popular flowers, foods, shrubs, houseplants and more—each one has a clear, concise, format: what you need, timing, method, and step-by-step photos, all on one spread. It’s a refreshingly accessible approach that will help you build a garden which best serves your needs and enhances your lifestyle.
Available in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
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Garden Wonderland: Create Life-Changing Outdoor Spaces for Beauty, Harvest, Meaning, and Joy by Leslie Bennett and Julie Chai
A visual feast of garden design inspiration that embraces diversity and teaches you how to create a lush, colorful, edible, and meaningful garden wonderland of your own.
“Through story and imagery, Garden Wonderland reminds us over and over that plants should be part of everyday for everyone: as food, experience, memory, and creativity.”—Jennifer Jewell, creator and host of the Cultivating Place public radio program and podcast, and author of What We Sow
“Leslie is an expert on creating deeply meaningful and transformative garden spaces. This delightful book is equal parts inspiring and instructive. It’s brimming with ideas, whether you want to fill your plot with food or flowers.”—Erin Benzakein, owner of Floret Flower Farm and New York Times bestselling author of Floret Farm’s A Year in Flowers
Available in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
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Listen to the Animals:
What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
From the author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific investigation into owls—the most elusive of birds—and why they exert such a hold on human imagination.
“Ackerman is a warm and companionable guide, so enthusiastic about her subject that I suspect even the avian-indifferent will be charmed by her encounters with owls and the dedicated people who study them.”—The New York Times
“A must-read for all bird lovers, Ackerman’s latest engaging work contains a feast of revelations about creatures that have fascinated us throughout human history. We learn that owlets begin making vocal sounds in the egg and that adult owls use sophisticated communication calls conveying their weight, sex, size and state of mind. Ackerman describes the strong maternal instincts owls display and outlines the environmental threats to these entrancing birds.”—The Guardian
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan; Foreword by David Allen Sibley
A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated by the bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club.
“Much of great writing comes from great interest, and in The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan shows us how the world fascinates her, especially the birds. The result is both unexpected and spectacular.”—Ann Patchett, author of These Precious Days
“What an enchanting and illuminating book! How lucky for us that Amy Tan has turned her genius, her deep empathy and insight, her keen eye for what is telling, to birds. Every page of these chronicles radiates warm curiosity, wonder, and delight.”—Jennifer Ackerman, The Genius of Birds
Available April 23rd in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
A compassionate, sweeping history of the transformation in American attitudes toward animals by the bestselling authors of Rabid.
“Our Kindred Creatures is the most elegantly written, rigorously researched, and morally nuanced portrait of America’s early animal advocates I’ve ever read. More important, it’s the story of how widespread social change happens. Anyone who cares about human-animal relationships should put this book at the very top of their reading list.”—Bronwen Dickey, author of Pit Bull
Available April 23rd in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication by Arik Kershenbaum
From leading zoologist Arik Kershenbaum, a delightful and groundbreaking exploration of animal communication and its true meaning.
“Animal communication doesn’t need to resemble human language to be full of meaning and nuance. Arik Kershenbaum delivers an expert overview of the astonishing discoveries made in the last few decades”—Frans de Waal, author of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
“In Why Animals Talk, Zoologist and science writer Arik Kershenbaum immerses us in the soundscapes of animal life. In the howls of wolves and clicks of dolphins, Kershenbaum helps us perceive how other animals sense their worlds, and in doing so, explores the evolutionary roots of our own advanced language skills. It is fitting that a book about communication is so conversational and engaging, and it will give you a new perspective on the richness of nature.”—Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
Available August 6th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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The Wisdom of Sheep: Observations from a Family Farm by Rosamund Young
A touching, wise and surprising chronicle of the rich inner lives of animals, drawn from Rosamund Young’s extraordinary lifetime as an organic farmer.
We talk a lot about sheep: following the herd, counting sheep to fall asleep and looking out for wolves in sheep’s clothing. But, just like people, animals don’t always follow the pack. Some are affectionate while others butt heads; some follow the leader while some guide the whole flock home. This is a story of joy, discovery, cooperation and, sometimes, heartbreak. But through it all, The Wisdom of Sheep is a fresh and delightful tribute to the miraculous inner worlds of the animals all around us and what we can learn about them, and about ourselves, by watching them more closely.
Available August 13th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Appreciate Nature Every Day:
Urban Nature Every Day: Discover the Natural World on Your Doorstep by Jane McMorland Hunter and Sally Hughes
366 prompts for noticing nature every day of the year.
Arranged in day-by-day format, this beautiful book is a celebration of the nature you can find in your city or town, such as urban foxes prowling in your garden, wildflowers sprouting from a crack in the pavement, butterflies on your balcony and the joys of wandering along a canal path.
Over the past few years, city-dwellers have all learned to appreciate the nature on their doorsteps, as part of the lasting legacy of lockdown. This timely book is a celebration of the vast variety of wildlife around us, proving that you don’t need a trip to the countryside to enjoy the natural world.
Available in Hardcover.
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