Nature
Booklist
Nonfiction titles
focused on the aspects of the natural world.
A selected list of (mostly) hardcover books which received at
least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit)
from the following review sources: Booklist
(BL), Publisher's
Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library
Journal (LJ).
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram
Book Magazine.
Titles are listed by year and then alphabetically by author.
2006
2005
- The Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire
Author: Carey, Richard Adams
Publisher: Counterpoint $ 24 ISBN: 1582431736 Date: 2005
Kirkus
Carey takes us on an illuminating journey across the globe to uncover, the secrets of the sturgeon. On that trek we meet the fascinating real-life characters both profiting from its scarcity and fighting to save it. A high-stakes cocktail of business, diplomacy, technology, and espionage, The Philosopher Fish is, at its heart, the epic story of a 250-million year-old fish struggling to survive.
Updated 12.27.04
- Bird Songs of the Mesozoic: A Day Hikers's Guide to the Nearby Wild
Author: Hopes, David B.
Publisher: Milkweed $ 15.95 ISBN: 1571312773 Date: 2005
Booklist
As Balzac famously said of cities, "to walk is to vegetate, to stroll is to live." For David Brendan Hopes, day hikes provide the perfect occasion for both refuge and contemplation. Encounters with wild animals, rare plants, or simply the perfect moment of weather and view are opportunities to reflect on the sublime synchronicity of human and natural life. The ferns of early spring transport him through time, to wonder whether dinosaurs had song. The emergence of cicadas calls to mind men and women "gorgeous in impractical ways." A glorious display - one of "exuberant defiance" - of late fall roses suggests that plants might have moods. Touching on themes as diverse as hunting, deep ecology, wicca, and sci-fi literature, Hopes' hikes and thoughts are part of a sifting of experience that unites the everyday world with a larger personal and eternal story. - Publisher Marketing.
Updated 2.15.05
- Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
Author: Fredston, Jill
Publisher: Harcourt $ 24 ISBN: 0151012490 Date: 2005
LJ
Avalanche expert Fredston stalks these so-called freaks of nature, forecasting where and when an avalanche will strike, deliberately triggering them with explosives, teaching potential victims how to stay alive, and leading rescue efforts when tragedy strikes.
Updated 10.3.05
- The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
Author: Gallagher, Tim
Publisher: Houghton $ 25 ISBN: 0618456937 Date: 2005
LJ
The author takes up the chase of an extinct--or at least elusive--bird heading deep into the trackless Southern swamps and bayous to determine once and for all if the Ivory-billed Woodpecker still lives.
Suggested Reading: For the Birds
Updated 6.29.05
- To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession
Author: Koeppel, Dan
Publisher: Hudson $ 24.95 ISBN: 1594630011 Date: 2005
LJ
From a well-known outdoors and nature writer comes a narrative that explores a lifelong obsession with competitive birding.
Suggested Reading: For the Birds
Updated 5.18.05
- Oak: The Frame of Civilization
Author: Logan, William Bryant
Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0393047733 Date: 2005
Kirkus
William Bryant Logan combines science, philosophy, spirituality, and history with a quirky curiosity about why the natural world works the way it does. In lively literary prose, he narrates the biography of the tree that since time immemorial has been a symbol of loyalty and strength, generosity and renewal. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 3.25.05
- Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape, Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks
Author: McKibben, Bill
Publisher: Crown $ 16 ISBN: 0609610732 Date: 2005
Kirkus
The bestselling author of The End of Nature walks from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the two landscapes, places of diverse human habitation and pure wilderness that share a border.
Updated 1.5.05
- Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger
Author: Mittelback, Margaret & Michael Crewdson
Publisher: Villard $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400060028 Date: 2005
Kirkus
LJ
Comic travel writing in the tradition of Bill Bryson, the first mainstream book about Tasmania is perfect for armchair explorers and nature lovers. Along with descriptions of bizarre species and Tasmania's surprising history, the book is laced with Rockman's evocative artwork--originally crafted from organic materials picked up on this postmodern safari.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Updated 4.7.05
- On the Edge: In Search of a Natural Life
Author: Petersen, David
Publisher: Holt $ 24 ISBN: 0805047743 Date: 2005
LJ
A naturalist captures the beauty and capriciousness of nature as he reflects on 25 years of life on a mountainside in southwestern Colorado.
Updated 3.10.05
- Temple Stream: A Rural Odyssey
Author: Roorbach, Bill
Publisher: Dial $ 24 ISBN: 0385336543 Date: 2005
LJ
Part nature, part science, part history, this remarkable mediation on country life--its beauty, its darkness, its deep and lasting pleasures--will take its place among the best works of narrative nonfiction published this year. Acclaimed author Bill Roorbach brings his singular literary gifts and generous spirit to a book that is funny, loving, and filled with wonder. - Publisher Marketing.
Updated 7.12.05
- Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone
Author: Smith, Douglas W.
Publisher: Lyons $ 23.95 ISBN: 159228700x Date: 2005
Booklist
This definitive book--by the leader of the Yellowstone Wolf Project and an award-winning nature writer--recounts the 10 riveting years since the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone Park.
Updated 4.22.05
- Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
Author: Vaillant, John
Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0393058875 Date: 2005
Booklist
As vividly as Jon Krakauer put readers on Everest, John Vaillant takes them into the heart of North America's last great forest, where trees grow to 18 feet in diameter, sunlight never touches the ground, and the chainsaws are always at work.
Updated 3.10.05
- Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul
Author: Weidensaul, Scott
Publisher: North Point $ 25 ISBN: 0865476888 Date: 2005
PW
LJ
Booklist
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Wild America, naturalist Scott Weidensaul retraces Roger Tory Peterson's and James Fisher's steps to tell the story of wild America today.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 10.31.05
2004
- The Trout Pool Paradox:
The American Lives of Three Rivers
Author: Black, George
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 24 ISBN: 0618310800 Date: 2004
Booklist
Presenting detailed stories of early industrialists, 19th-century naturalistsand
contemporary river foes and stewards, Black throws brilliant light on ourdynamic
relationship with nature and our demands on our waterways.
Updated 4.6.04
- Self-Portrait
With Turtles: A Memoir
Author: Carroll, David M.
Publisher: Houghton $ 22 ISBN: 0618162259 Date: 2004
Kirkus
Updated 12.29.03
- The Secret Life of Lobsters
Author: Corson, Trevor
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060555580 Date: 2004
LJ
In this intimate portrait of an island lobstering community and an eccentric
band of renegade biologists, Corson escorts the reader onto slippery fishing
boats and on treacherous scuba dives to learn about lobsters--who prove to
be a masters of the boudoir, lethal boxers, snoopy socialites and underwater
bloodhounds.
Updated 4.20.04
- Acquainted With the Night: An Intimate Journey Through the World After Dark
Author: Dewdney, Christopher
Publisher: Bloomsbury $ 24.95 ISBN: 1582343969 Date: 2004
Kirkus
PW
Dewdney takes readers on a fascinating, hour-by-hour journey through the
nocturnal realm, covering bedtime stories, festivals of the night, fireworks,
nightclubs, astronomy, sleep and dreams, the graveyard shift, ladies of the
night, the art of night, and more.
Updated 4.26.04
- Locust: The Devastating Rise
and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect That Shaped the American
Frontier
Author: Lockwood, Jeffrey A.
Publisher: Basic $ 25 ISBN: 0738208949 Date: 2004
LJ
Drawing on historical accounts and modern science, Lockwood brings to life
the cultural, economic and political forces at work in America in the late-nineteenth
century, as he investigates the mysterious disappearance of the dreaded Rocky
Mountain locust.
Updated 4.20.04
- Rats: Observations on the History
and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
Author: Sullivan, Robert
Publisher: Bloomsbury $ 23.95 ISBN: 1582343853 Date: 2004
Kirkus
PW
LJ
Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting. The author of A Whale Hunt now
turns the lowly rat into the star of the most perversely intriguing, remarkable,
and unexpectedly elegant book of the season.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Nonfiction
That Reads Like Fiction
Updated 2.2.04
- On the Wing: To the Edge of the Earth WIth the Peregrine Falcon
Author: Tennant, Alan
Publisher: Knopf $ 25 ISBN: 0375415513 Date: 2004
Booklist
LJ
In this extraordinary narrative, a passionate observer of nature recounts
his all-out effort to radio-track the transcontinental migration of the peregrine
falcon--an investigation no one before him had ever taken to such lengths.
Updated 9.20.04
- Under the Weather: How Weather and Climate Affect Our Health
Author: Thomas, Pat
Publisher: Vision $ 15.95 (paper) ISBN: 1904132308 Date: 2004
LJ
Under the Weather explores the fascinating links between the weather and certain
medical conditions.
Updated 6.1.04
- Gorgon: The Greatest Catastrophe
in Earth's History
Author: Ward, Peter Douglas
Publisher: Viking $ 27.95 ISBN: 0670030945 Date: 2004
LJ
This is the tale of the true Lost World. In the prehistory of the dinosaurs,
Therapsids roamed the earth. The most terrifying of these was the gorgon.
Gorgon is
the first book to examine the gorgon and its contemporaries, the ancestors
of the turtle, to ask what they were like, how they lived, and, most importantly,
how they died.
Updated 1.15.04
2003
- Monkey Dancing: A Father,
Two Kids, and Journey to the Ends of the Earth
Author: Glick, Daniel
Publisher: Peresus $ 26 ISBN: 1586481541
PW
In this frank and funny memoir, a suddenly single father--and nationally known
environmental reporter--takes his children on a world tour of some of the
world's rare and endangered life forms while reckoning with loss, change,
and the challenges of parenting.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Updated 5.8.03
- Hoagland on Nature: Essays
Author: Hoagland, Edward
Publisher: Lyons $ 27.95 ISBN: 1585746525
LJ
Hoagland's exploration, from the boreal forests of Maine to the brawny Belize
River, illuminates both the exotic and the wilds of readers' backyards. Hoagland
reports from the frontlines of life, and recounts fascinating detail with
exacting prose.
Updated 11.18.03
- Entering the Stone: On Caves and Feeling Through the Dark
Author: Hurd, Barbara
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $23 ISBN: 0618191380
LJ
Hurd begins her foray into the increasingly popular pursuit of caving with
a panic attack. Nevertheless, as her hunger to understand caves and caving
increases, she lures the reader in deeper as well, to the extraordinary fascination
of these dark interiors.
Updated 7.30.03
- Spix's Macaw: The Race
to Save the World's Rarest Bird
Author: Juniper, Tony
Publisher: Atria $ 25 ISBN: 074347550x
LJ
Tony Juniper's heart-stopping inside account of the race to save a rare blue
parrot, the last of its species, is a priceless addition to nature literature
-- and a timely portrait of Earth's endangered wildlife. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 9.08.03
- Gathering Moss
Author: Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Publisher: Oregon State $17.95 ISBN: 0870714996
LJ
Drawing on her diverse experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, and writer
of Native American heritage, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific
terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book,
the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful
metaphor for ways of living in the world.
- Publisher Marketing
Updated 11.18.03
- An Accidental Cowboy
Author: Parker, Jameson
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312310242
Booklist
A stunning and breathtaking memoir that pays homage to a dying way of life. An
Accidental Cowboy is a story of trauma, depression, and the beginnings
of hope, set against the backdrop of the American Southwest.
Updated 9.22.03
- Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predators in the Jungles of History and the Mind
Author: Quammen, David
Publisher: Norton $ 25.95 ISBN: 0393051404
PW
Booklist
LJ
Casting his expert eye over the rapidly diminishing areas of wilderness
where predators still reign, the award-winning author of The Song of
the Dodo examines the fate of lions, saltwater crocodiles, brown bears
and others that are disappearing.
Updated 8.14.03
- Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home
Author: Ray, Janisse
Publisher: Milkweed $ 22 ISBN: 1571312722
Booklist
By the author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood comes the story of
a woman's return to her childhood home in Baxley, Georgia.
Updated 4.28.03
- The Path: A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe
Author: Raymo, Chet
Publisher: Walker $ 23 ISBN: 0802714021
Kirkus
Raymo describes the one-mile walk he has taken every day for the past forty
years, exploring in-depth its natural features and historic relevance.
Updated 2.10.03
- Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's
Cajun Coast
Author: Tidwell, Mike
Publisher: Pantheon $ 23 ISBN: 0375420762
Kirkus
Tidwell--a celebrated travel and environmental writer--introduces readers
to the surprisingly varied population of the Louisiana area. He describes
the food, the music, the culture, and the lives of those who live along the
bayou--a complex, compelling character itself.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
Updated 1.10.03
2002
- Blues for Cannibals: the Notes from Underground
Author: Bowden,
Charles
Publisher: North Point $ 24 ISBN: 0865476241
Booklist
Blues for Cannibals continues the quest Charles Bowden began in Blood
Orchid--to discover the headwaters of the sickness that seeps through
the American soul, and to consider what it might mean to come fully alive
in a time of exalted consumption, global pillage, gated communities, and wholesale
destruction of the environment.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
- Breaking Clean
Author: Blunt, Judy
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0375401318
Kirkus
PW
An astonishing literary debut: the true story of a remarkable
woman's life in the contemporary American West, where the lessons
she learned carried her through blizzards, devastating prairie
fires, and extreme isolation.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
- Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galapagos
Islands
Author: D'Orso, Michael
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060193905
Kirkus
Against the spectacular backdrop of the Galpagos Islands, D'Orso tells a riveting
story of modern-day piracy, greed, and the struggle to save one of the planet's
last untouched natural treasures from human destruction.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales &
Nature
Updated 11.26.02
- Fish's Eye: Essays About Angling and the
Great Outdoors
Author: Frazier, Ian
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 20 ISBN: 0374155208
Booklist
Exploring his lifelong passion for fishing, fish, and the aquatic world,
the author of On the Rez brings together 20 years of heartfelt,
funny, and vivid essays on a timeless pursuit where so many mysteries,
both human and natural, coincide.
- My Fine Feathered Friend
Author: Grimes, William
Publisher: North Point $ 15 ISBN: 0865476322
Kirkus
PW
One day in the dead of winter, New York Times restaurant
critic William Grimes looked out the window into his backyard
in Queens and saw a chicken, jet black with a crimson comb. His
relationship with the hen eventually left him with a funny, enlightening,
and heartwarming tale to tell.
- Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We
Are
Author: LeDoux, Joseph
Publisher: Viking $ 29.95 ISBN: 0670030287
Library Journal
From a world-renowned expert on the brain, a major new work examining how
nature and nurture collaborate--via the brain--to create our personalities.
- The Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape,
Art, and Spirit
Author: Meloy, Ellen
Publisher: Pantheon Books $ 24 ISBN: 0375408851
Kirkus
From the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the
Bahamas to her home ground on the high plateaus and in the deep canyons of
the Southwest, artist-naturalist Ellen Meloy plumbs her lifelong intoxication
with light and color, expressed as a profound attachment to landscape.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
- The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship, Tragedy, and
Survival in the Alaskan Wilderness
Author: Schooler, Lynn
Publisher: Ecco $ 25.95 ISBN: 0066210852
PW
This haunting memoir is about the search for one of the world's most elusive
animals, the friendship it forged, and the tragedy that ensued.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales
- Prime Mover: A Natural History of Muscle
Author: Vogel,
Steven
Publisher: Norton $ 25.95 ISBN: 0393021262
Kirkus
A bioengineer offers the story--and the science--of nature's greatest engine:
the muscle.
- The Ghost With Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking,
and the Search for Lost Species
Author: Weidensaul, Scott
Publisher: North Point $ 26 ISBN: 0374246645
Kirkus
In this round-the-world detective story, the author of Living on the Wind:
Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds goes on a search to rediscover
vanished species.
2001
- Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden
by Ackerman, Diane
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25 ISBN: 0060199865
Kirkus
PW
In the mode of her bestselling A Natural History of the Senses,
Ackerman's new book celebrates the sensory pleasures and wonders
of natures she discovers in her garden.
- Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity
by Ackerman, Jennifer G.
Publisher: Houghton $ 25 ISBN: 0618082875
LJ
In a fascinating history of humanity seen through the microscopic
lens, an award-winning science writer explores how human heredity
links us to the rest of the natural world.
- The Parrot Who Owns Me: The Story of a Relationship
by Burger, Joanna
Publisher: Villard $ 23.95 ISBN: 0679463305
LJ
PW
An internationally renowned ornithologist tells the extraordinary
story of the parrot who took over her life, revealing fascinating
parallels between humans and birds.
- Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin,
Behavior, and Evolution
by Coppinger, Raymond
Publisher: Scribner $ 26 ISBN: 0684855305
PW
LJ
The Coppingers explore how dog breeds have evolved into their
unique shapes and behaviors. Concentrating on five types of dogs--modern
household dogs, village dogs, livestock guarding dogs, sled dogs,
and herding dogs--they examine canine companions from a unique
biological viewpoint.
- The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America
and Its Peoples
by Flannery, Tim
Publisher: Atlantic $ 27.50 ISBN: 0871137895
Kirkus
LJ
PW
Booklist
Offering a wealth of scientific details, one of the world's foremost
paleontologists has undertaken a sweeping, multiple disciplinary
history of the geological and ecological development of North
America.
- The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meterologist Forged
the Language of the Skies
by Hamblyn, Richard
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Grioux $ 24 ISBN: 0374177155
Kirkus
A captivating mixture of biography, history, and science. - Publisher
marketing.
The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter,
the Big Consequences of Little Things
by Holmes, Hannah
Publisher: Wiley $ 22.95 ISBN: 0471377430
Kirkus
A mesmerizing expedition around the dusty world--from exploding
stars, to dinosaur beds, the Gobi Desert, Antarctic glaciers, and
finally the living-room coffee table. Along the way is a delightful
cast of characters--the scientists who study dust.
- Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs and Human Imagination
by Hurd, Barbara
Publisher: Houghton $ 23 ISBN: 0807085448
LJ
Stirring the Mud steeps the reader in the strange and seductive
beauty of swamps and bogs-a landscape where "the bulbous and mottled
hoods" of skunk
- The Northern Lights
by Jago, Lucy
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0375409807
Library Journal
Booklist
A galvanizing, enlightening saga, The Northern Lights chronicles
the life of the visionary 20th-century Norwegian scientist Kristian
Birkeland, whose quest for an explanation of the aurora borealis
took him across some of the most forbidding landscapes on Earth.
- Wild Nights, Nature Returns to the City
by Matthews, Anne
Publisher: North Point $ 22 ISBN: 0865475601
Booklist
Matthews conducts a walk on New York City's truly wild side and
gives a glimpse of the landscape of the future as she explores
the resurgence of nature within the city. With deer in Manhattan,
coyotes in the Bronx, and wild turkeys flying down Broadway, she
shows how nature stubbornly reasserts itself even in the most
violently resculptured terrain.
- The Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes
by Matthiessen, Peter
Publisher: FSG/North Point $ 27 ISBN: 0374199442
Publishers Weekly
Booklist
Sacred to many cultures and considered a bellwether by environmentalists,
cranes have an important place in this world, here a leading naturalist
and writer travels the globe in search of this prized--and vanishing--bird.
- The Botany of Desire
by Pollan, Michael
Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375501290
PW
Booklist
In this original narrative about man and nature, a bestselling
author masterfully links four fundamental human desires--sweetness,
beauty, intoxication, and control--with the fascinating stories
of four plants that embody them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana,
and the potato.
- Eye of the Whale
by Russell, Dick
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 35 ISBN: 0684866080
LJ
Kirkus
In the 1980s, naturalist Dick Russell led the crusade to save
the Atlantic striped bass. Now he focuses his energies on the
gray whale in this brilliant mosaic of man's complex relationship
with the natural world.
- A Primate's Memoir
by Sapolsky, Robert M.
Publisher: Scribner $ 25 ISBN: 0743202473
PW
Booklist
Award-winning scientist Robert Sapolsky reinvents the traditional account
of field research with this exhilarating and daring memoir of his 20-plus
years studying a troop of Kenyan baboons.
- Ill Nature: Meditations of Humanity and Other Animals
by Williams, Joy
Publisher: Lyons $ 22.95 ISBN: 1585741876
Kirkus
From the culling of elephants to human overpopulation to her inflammatory
anti-hunting work, The Killing Game, Williams presents 13 stunning
essays on the abuse of nature. Razor sharp, controversial, and scathingly
opinionated, Williams refuses to compromise as she lashes out at the
greed of Americans and decries our own turpitude.
2000
- Elephants
by Alexander, Shana
Publisher: Random $ 25.95 ISBN: 0679456600
PW
Elephant contains the most marvelous stories and history
about these mysterious behemoths, from Hannibal's crossing of
the Alps to Barnum's Jumbo.
- Life's Matrix: A Biography of Water
by Ball,
Philip
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 25 ISBN: 0374186286
Kirkus
PW
In this fresh exploration, a consulting editor for Nature
tells of water's origins, its history, and its fascinating pervasiveness.
Finally, Ball laments about the future of this natural resource,
predicting that it will become a scarce commodity this century.
- Lying Stones of Marrakesh: Penultimate Reflections in
Natural History
by Gould, Stephen Jay
PW
Kirkus
In his latest collection of essays, Gould once again offers his
unmistakable perspective on nature and the people who have tried
to make sense of it.
- Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust and Lunacy
by Hansen, Eric
Publisher: Pantheon $ 23 ISBN: 0679451412
PW
A travel writer and author of Motoring with Mohammed journeyed
the four corners of the Earth for five years to explore the beautiful
world of orchids, and along the way encountered orchid smugglers,
corrupt botanists, visionary breeders, a network of plant police,
and attack dogs.
Suggested Reading: Travel Tales.
- Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think
by Huaser, Marc D.
Library Journal
Hauser, an acclaimed scientist in the field of animal cognition,
treats animals neither as machines nor as extensions of humans,
but as independent beings driven by their own complex impulses.
In prose that is both elegant and edifying, Hauser describes his
groundbreaking research in the field.
- Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated
by Jones, Steve
Publisher: Random $ 25.95 ISBN: 0375501037
PW
Library Journal
Darwin's masterpiece, the most important book of the millennium,
is rewritten by a renowned geneticist using fascinating contemporary
examples and incorporating the vast amount of scientific knowledge
discovered since its publication.
- Dreambirds
by Nixon, Rob
Publisher: Picador ISBN: 0312245408 $ 23
Booklist
Library Journal
Dreambirds is a quirky memoir of the author's upbringing
on an ostrich farm and a delightful history of that prehistoric
bird's unlikely role in fashion and food.
- The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder
by Quammen, David
Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 0684837285
Kirkus
The author hailed by Edward O. Wilson as "a brilliant young star
of nature writing" explores the relationship between humans and
the natural world in a collection of essays culled from his popular
Outside magazine column.
- The Snakebite Survivors' Club
by Seal, Jeremy
Publisher: Harcourt ISBN: 0151005354 $ 24
PW
A riveting, hands-on adventure with the world's deadliest snakes,
recounted with humor and horror by one of the most original travel
writers of today. "A white knuckle read."- The Daily Mail.
1999
- Swampwalker's Journal: A Wetlands Year
by Carroll, David
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company ISBN: 0-395-64725-8 $ 27
Booklist
Kirkus
LJ
"A genius, a madman, a national treasure" (Annie Dillard) takes
readers on a miraculous year-long journey through the wetlands,
revealing why they are so important to his life, to ours, to all
life on Earth.
- Fledgling Days: Memoir of a Falconer
by Ford, Emma
Publisher: Overlook Press ISBN: 0-87951-947-9 $ 25.95
Booklist
Falconry has been historically the sport of royalty and traditionally
a pursuit of men. Emma Ford is neither royal nor a man, yet she
is one of the most acclaimed falconers in the world today. Fledgling
Days, her powerful memoir of life in the Kent countryside, where
she learned from girlhood the art of falconry, is both a tale
of personal discovery and a heart-warming and funny account of
a country childhood.
- Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with
Wolf-Birds
by Heinrich, Bernd
Publisher: Cliff Street Books ISBN: 0-06-017447-1 $ 25
PW
LJ
A scientific investigation into the mind of the raven which lyrically
addresses the existence of intelligence in a bird that has had
an extraordinary relationship with humans throughout history.
- Tigers & Ice: Reflections on Nature and Life
by Hoagland, Edward
Publisher: Lyons ISBN: 1558217428 $ 22
Kirkus
- Waiting for Aphrodite
by Hubbell, Sue
Publisher: Hougton Mifflin ISBN: 0395837030 $ 25
Kirkus
The acclaimed naturalist, whose life is dedicated to "living the
questions", offers a fascinating glimpse into the "little things
that run the world".
- Inside the Animal Mind
by Page, George
Publisher: Doubleday ISBN: 038549291x $ 24.95
Booklist
Exploring new knowledge about the many facets of animal intelligence,
this book is the official companion to a three-part PBS program
airing in January 2000 on the Emmy-winning series "Nature, In
Search of the Animal Mind."
- Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage
by Pyle, Robert Michael
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company ISBN: 0-395-82820-1 $ 24
LJ
Pyle offers an account of the summer he set out to follow these
winged wanderers south from their northernmost breeding grounds
in British Columbia to the California Coast.
- Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home
by Sheldrake, Rupert
Publisher: Crown Publishers Inc ISBN: 0-609-60092-3 $ 25
PW
In the bestselling tradition of When Elephant Weep and
The Hidden Life of Dogs, Sheldrake shares the astonishing
results of his five-year study - including the anecdotal evidence
shared by thousands of pet owners- -of the uncanny paranormal
abilities of animals.
- A Dark Place in the Jungle
by Spalding, Linda
Publisher: Algonquin ISBN: 1565122267 $ 22.95
PW
Looking up orangutan researcher Birute Galdikas in Borneo, Spalding
uncovered a storm of controversy and corruption in a rain forest
paradise, where the animals are the losers.
- Change in the Weather: People, Weather, and the Science
of Climate
by Stevens, William K.
Publisher: Dellacorte ISBN: 0385320124 $ 24.95
PW
Kirkus
An armchair scientist's glimpse into the science of climate, The
Change in the Weather is an eye-opening and authoritative
exploration of today's world and tomorrow's uncertainty.
- Watching Birds: Reflections on the Wing
by Taylor, Ann
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Book Company ISBN: 0-07-134866-2 $ 19.95
Booklist
Taylor chronicles her fascinating life as a curious and devoted
amateur bird-watcher and nature-lover who has traveled the world
in pursuit of her passion.
- Into the Porcupine Cave and Other Odysseys: Adventures
of an Occaisional Naturalist
by Warner, William W.
Publisher: National Geographic ISBN: 0792274555 $ 25
Kirkus
A stunning collection of ten vivid reflections by a Pulitzer Prize-winning
author that trace the life of a man in love with and fascinated
by the natural world.
- The Condor's Shadow: The Loss and Recovery of Wildlife
in America
by. Wilcove, David S
Publisher: Freeman ISBN: 0716731150 $ 24.95
PW
LJ
A comprehensive overview of where we stand today ecologically
and how we got there, Condor's Shadow describes how nature
has responded to the forces human beings have unleashed upon it.
Links:
Open
Directory - Nature Writing
Environmental
Literature - ASLE
Landmarks
of Nature Writing - From Virginia's Blue Ridge to the Shenandoah
Valley
Eco Books
National
Geographic - Books