Best Nature Writing & Essays Books
Here you will get Best Nature Writing & Essays Books For you.This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
1. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Author: by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Milkweed Editions
English
408 pages
A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Bestseller Named a “Best Essay Collection of the Decade” by Literary Hub As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers.
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beingsasters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrassoffer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.
In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world.
2. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate―Discoveries from A Secret World (The Mysteries of Nature, 1)
Author: by Peter Wohlleben
Greystone Books
English
288 pages
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWith more than 2 million copies sold worldwide, this beautifully-written book journeys deep into the forest to uncover the fascinatingand surprisingly movinghidden life of trees. At once romantic and scientific, [Wohlleben’s] view of the forest calls on us all to reevaluate our relationships with the plant world.
Daniel Chamovitz, PhD, author of What a Plant KnowsAre trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers.
Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in his woodland. After learning about the complex life of trees, a walk in the woods will never be the same again.
3. World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Author: by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Milkweed Editions
English
184 pages
A New York Times Best Seller Barnes & Noble 2020 Book of the Year A Kirkus Prize Finalist for Nonfiction A Southern Book Prize Finalist An NPR Best Book of 2020 An Esquire Best Book of 2020 A BookPage Best Book of 2020 A New York Public Library Best Book of 2020 A Wall Street Journal Holiday Gift Pick for 2020 An Indie Next Pick, September 2019 A Publishers Weekly “Big Indie Book of Fall 2020” A BuzzFeed Best Book of Fall 2020 A Literary Hub “Most Anticipated Book of 2020 A Ralph Lauren Summer Reading Recommendation A Garden & Gun Summer Reading Recommendation A Bustle “Best Book of Fall 2020 Named a “Most Anticipated Book of 2020” by The Millions An Alma “Favorite Book for Fall 2020” A Literary Hub “Recommended Climate Read for September 2020” A Mpls.
St.Paul Magazine Reading Recommendation for Fall 2020 From beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfictiona collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us. As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio.
4. Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River
Author: by John N Maclean
English
272 pages
0062944592
BEAUTIFUL….A lyrical companion to his father’s classic, A River Runs through It, chronicling their family’s history and bond with Montana’s Blackfoot River…. Spectacularly vivid. Washington PostA New York Times “New & Noteworthy” SelectionA “poetic” and “captivating” (Publishers Weekly) memoir about the power of place to shape generations, Home Waters is John N.
Maclean’s remarkable memoir of his family’s century-long love affair with Montana’s majestic Blackfoot River, the setting for his father’s classic novella, A River Runs through It. Maclean returns annually to the simple family cabin that his grandfather built by hand, still in search of the trout of a lifetime.
When he hooks it at last, decades of longing promise to be fulfilled, inspiring John, reporter and author, to finally write the story he was born to tell. A book that will resonate with everyone who feels deeply rooted to a landscape, Home Waters is chronicle of a family who claimed a river, from one generation to the next, of how this family came of age in the 20th century and later as they scattered across the country, faced tragedy and success, yet were always drawn back to the waters that bound them together.
5. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Author: by Bill Bryson
Anchor
English
397 pages
The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in Americamajestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find.
He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the wayand a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).
6. The Hidden Life of Trees: The Illustrated Edition
Author: by Peter Wohlleben
Greystone Books
English
176 pages
This beautiful, timeless book shares text from the New York Times bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees alongside stunning photographs of forests, taking readers on an unforgettable visual journey. In his international bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben opened readers’ eyes to the amazing processes at work in forests every day.
Now this new, breathtakingly illustrated edition brings those wonders to life like never before. With compelling, abridged selections from the original book and stunning, large-format photographs of trees from around the world, this gorgeous volume distills the essence of Wohlleben’s message to show trees in all their glory and diversity.
Through rich language highlighting the interconnectedness of forest ecosystems, the book offers fascinating insights about the fungal communication highway known as the wood wide web, the difficult life lessons learned in tree school, the hard-working natural cleanup crews that recycle dying trees, and much more.
7. The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (Landscapes Book 3)
Author: by Robert Macfarlane
B007V65QO6
October 11, 2012
English
From the acclaimed author of The Wild Places and Underland, an exploration of walking and thinkingIn this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond.
The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane’s distinctive voice, The Old Ways folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology and literature.
His walks take him from the chalk downs of England to the bird islands of the Scottish northwest, from Palestine to the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas. Along the way he crosses paths with walkers of many kindswanderers, pilgrims, guides, and artists.
Above all this is a book about walking as a journey inward and the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes through which we move. Macfarlane discovers that paths offer not just a means of traversing space, but of feeling, knowing, and thinking.
8. The Optimist: A Case for the Fly Fishing Life
Author: by David Coggins
Scribner (May 4, 2021)
English
256 pages
A modern tribute to an ageless pastime, and a practical guide to the art, philosophy, and rituals of fly fishing, by an expert, lifelong angler. In The Optimist, David Coggins makes a case for the skills and sensibility of an enduring sport and shares the secrets, frustrations, and triumphs of the great tradition of fly fishing, which has captivated anglers worldwide.
Written in witty, keenly observed prose, each chapter focuses on a specific place, fish, and skill. Few individuals, for example, have the visual acuity required to catch the nearly invisible bonefish of the Bahamas flats. Or the patience to land the elusive Atlantic salmon, the fish of a thousand casts, in eastern Canada.
Pursuing these challenges, Coggins, a confirmed obsessive, travels to one fishing paradise after another, including the great rivers of Patagonia, private chalk streams in England, remote ponds in Maine, and New York City’s Jamaica Bay. In each setting, he chronicles his fortunes and misfortunes with honesty and humor while meditating on how fishing teaches focus, inner stillness, and a connection to the natural world.
9. The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature
Author: by Peter Wohlleben
English
264 pages
1771646896
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREESA powerful return to the forest, where trees have heartbeats and roots are like brains that extend underground. Where the color green calms us, and the forest sharpens our senses.
In The Heartbeat of Trees, renowned forester Peter Wohlleben draws on new scientific discoveries to show how humans are deeply connected to the natural world. In an era of climate change, many of us fear we’ve lost our connection to naturebut Peter Wohlleben is convinced that age-old ties linking humans to the forest remain alive and intact.
We just have to know where to look. Drawing on science and cutting-edge research, The Heartbeat of Trees reveals the profound interactions humans can have with nature, exploring:the language of the forestthe consciousness of plantsand the eroding boundary between flora and fauna.
A perfect book to take with you into the woods, The Heartbeat of Trees shares how to see, feel, smell, hear, and even taste the forest. Peter Wohlleben, renowned for his ability to write about trees in an engaging and moving way, reveals a wondrous cosmos where humans are a part of nature, and where conservation and environmental activism is not just about saving treesit’s about saving ourselves, too.
10. Desert Solitaire
Author: by Edward Abbey
English
288 pages
0671695886
Hailed by The New York Times as a passionately felt, deeply poetic book, the moving autobiographical work of Edward Abbey, considered the Thoreau of the American West, and his passion for the southwestern wilderness. Desert Solitaire is a collection of vignettes about life in the wilderness and the nature of the desert itself by park ranger and conservationist, Edward Abbey.
The book details the unique adventures and conflicts the author faces, from dealing with the damage caused by development of the land or excessive tourism, to discovering a dead body. However Desert Solitaire is not just a collection of one man’s stories, the book is also a philosophical memoir, full of Abbey’s reflections on the desert as a paradox, at once beautiful and liberating, but also isolating and cruel.
Often compared to Thoreau’s Walden, Desert Solitaire is a powerful discussion of life’s mysteries set against the stirring backdrop of the American southwestern wilderness.
11. The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner: What to Do & When to Do It in the Garden, Orchard, Barn, Pasture & Equipment Shed
Author: by Ann Larkin Hansen
Storey Publishing, LLC
English
208 pages
This hardworking addition to the best-selling Backyard Homestead series offers expert advice on what tasks to do around your farm and when to do them no matter where on the planet you call home. Author Ann Larkin Hansen sets the priorities for each area of the farm, including the barn, garden, orchard, field, pasture, and woodlot.
For every critical turn of the year (12 in all), Hansen provides an at-a-glance to-do list along with tips and a more in-depth discussion of key topics for the season. Easy-reference charts, checklists, and record-keeping sections help you keep track of it all.
Also available in this series: The Backyard Homestead, The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals, and The Backyard Homestead Book of Kitchen Know-How.
12. Nature's Silent Message
Author: by Scott Stillman
English
168 pages
1732352224
The Earth is trying to teach us to live better. To lead richer, happier lives. Will we continue down the limited path of the mechanical mind? Or will we tune into ultimate intelligence? The same intelligence that allows blood to flow through our veins, bees to pollinate flowers, birds to fly south, salmon to spawn, whales to migrate, caterpillars to become butterflies, the Earth to rotate, the moon to orbit, and the rest of nature to function perfectly of its own accord?
We have access to nature’s silent messageif we take the time to listen. In this spellbinding collection, Stillman guides us from the lush forests of the North Cascades, through the sandstone slot canyons of Utah, and into the border country of extreme southern Arizona.
In this classroom, we learn not from books, nor words, nor lectures. Wilderness is the school of life, where we learn not from that which thinksbut that which knows. Nature’s Silent Message suggests the existence of something far greater than what we see on the surface.
13. Walden and Civil Disobedience
Author: by Henry David Thoreau
Signet
English
336 pages
Henry David Thoreau reflects on life, politics, and society in these two inspiring masterworks: Walden and Civil Disobedience. In 1845, Thoreau moved to a cabin that he built with his own hands along the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts. Shedding the trivial ties that he felt bound much of humanity, Thoreau reaped from the land both physically and mentally, and pursued truth in the quiet of nature.
In Walden, he explains how separating oneself from the world of men can truly awaken the sleeping self. Thoreau holds fast to the notion that you have not truly existed until you adopt such a lifestyleand only then can you reenter society, as an enlightened being.
These simple but profound musingsas well as Civil Disobedience, his protest against the government’s interference with civil libertyhave inspired many to embrace his philosophy of individualism and love of nature. More than a century and a half later, his message is more timely than ever.
With an Introduction by W.S. Merwin and an Afterword by Will Howarth
14. One Man's Wilderness, 50th Anniversary Edition: An Alaskan Odyssey
Author: by Richard Louis Proenneke
English
272 pages
1513261649
Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of when Dick Proenneke first broke ground and made his mark in the Alaskan wilds in 1968, this bestselling memoir features an all-new foreword by Nick Offerman plus color photographs not seen in print for over 20 years.
To live in a pristine land unchanged by man… To roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed… To choose an idyllic site, cut trees, and build a log cabin… To be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available…
To be not at odds with the world, but content with one’s own thoughts and company… Thousands have had such dreams, but Dick Proenneke lived them. He found a place, built a cabin, and stayed to become part of the country.
One Man’s Wilderness is a simple account of the day-to-day explorations and activities he carried out alone, and the constant chain of nature’s events that kept him company. From Dick’s journals, and with firsthand knowledge of his subject and the setting, Sam Keith has woven a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.
15. Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds
Author: by Bernd Heinrich
0061136050
Ecco
English
Heinrich involves us in his quest to get inside the mind of the raven. But as animals can only be spied on by getting quite close, Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a “raven father,” as well as observing them in their natural habitat.
He studies their daily routines, and in the process, paints a vivid picture of the ravens’ world. At the heart of this book are Heinrich’s love and respect for these complex and engaging creatures, and through his keen observation and analysis, we become their intimates too.
Heinrich’s passion for ravens has led him around the world in his research. Mind of the Raven follows an exotic journeyfrom New England to Germany, and from Montana to Baffin Island in the high Arcticoffering dazzling accounts of how science works in the field, filtered through the eyes of a passionate observer of nature.
Each new discovery and insight into raven behavior is thrilling to read, at once lyrical and scientific.
16. A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
Author: by Aldo Leopold
Oxford University Press
English
240 pages
Few books have had a greater impact than A Sand County Almanac, which many credit with launching a revolution in land management. Written as a series of sketches based principally upon the flora and fauna in a rural part of Wisconsin, the book, originally published by Oxford in 1949, gathersinformal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; a final section addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation.
Beloved for its description and evocation ofthe natural world, Leopold’s book, which has sold well over 2 million copies, remains a foundational text in environmental science and a national treasure.
