Monday, November 11, 2019

Nonfiction November: Be The Expert: Books About Nature




Nonfiction November is hosted this year by Julie (JulzReads), Sarah (Sarah’s Book Shelves), Katie (Doing Dewey), Rennie (What’s Nonfiction) — is a month-long celebration of everything nonfiction. Each week, they’ll be a different prompt and a different host looking at different ideas about reading and loving nonfiction.

Week 3 (Nov. 11 to Nov. 15)
Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert (Hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey)Three ways to join in this week! You can either share three or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert).


I became a Texas Master Naturalist last year. I love being a Texas Master Naturalist. We teach children about nature. We work on nature trails. We help at the native plant nursery. 

I love to read about nature. Here are some of my favorite reads about nature.









The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman


H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald





Wilderness Essays by John Muir



Walden by Henry David Thoreau



Have you read any of these?
Are any of these new to you?
Do you have other good nature books to share with me?
Please share them in the comments.

23 comments:

  1. What a wonderful set of books you've shared there! I loved the Kingsolver, which is the only one of those I've read, although a few others are on my radar. Alys Fowler's "Hidden Nature" is about the nature on Birmingham's canal network and Stephen Rutt's "Seafarers" is about the seabirds of Britain, and they have been two of my stand-out reads of this year, but I have several on rewilding to come.

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  2. I love your enthusiasm for nature and books!

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  3. I haven’t read any of these, but I love nature books. I need to make time to read more of them.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  4. I've started to appreciate nature books relatively recently and always looking for good recommendations here. This is such a great list! I also loved The Orchid Thief. I have copies of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Lab Girl I've been meaning to get to, I'm happy to see you recommend them. I also really liked American Wolf. Have you read The Tiger by John Vaillant? It's a favorite of mine that kind of reminds me of American Wolf, in some ways, in that it's a narrative following an animal and looking at the changes that affected it through the region around it.

    Some nature books I've loved are Gretel Ehrlich's The Solace of Open Spaces, Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and Mary Oliver's Upstream.

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  5. Excellent recommendations. I just read, reviewed and loved Fire Season. I've read Animal/MineralVeg too but found it a tad preachy. I loved the Hawk portions of H is for Hawk as well. Have you read any of Rachel Carsons books?

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  6. wow a fabulous collection of books. i love that you are a naturalist. i find that fascinating.
    sherry @ fundinmental

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  7. I've been meaning to read the Orchid thief since forever! For some reason I think it will be somewhat like Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, which I highly recommend for someone interested in food, history, biology, evolution etc.

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  8. My TBR just grew exponentially! LOL. And congrats on becoming a Master Naturalist, that sounds amazing!

    Hmm. I feel like if I recommend something you may have already read it but I will throw one out there. An author really. I love John Lewis-Stempel - we are actually reading his book The Woods out loud as family read this year, and I plan on reading Meadowland next year as a family read. Meadowland is one of my faves of all time. :)

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  9. American Wolf looks fascinating, I've always been interested in the wolf populations of N. america.

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  10. We had similar thoughts this week, although your list is way more extensive! Definitely adding What Shamu Taught and The Wave to my TBR!

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  11. I did read 3 of these!
    In case you haven't read it I would also recommend Unseen City, about nature in our cities. A beautiful book https://wordsandpeace.com/2017/03/13/book-review-unseen-city/
    Please, come and help me, my list is about birds, and I see one book in common: https://wordsandpeace.com/2019/11/12/nonfiction-november-2018-expert-on-bird-books/
    I can't believe I didn't included H is for Hawk, which I really liked!

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  12. Wow! That's quite the collection you've got there! I haven't read any of them, but have heard of several. Maybe I should pick up a few. :)

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  13. This is a great list! I'm not a big outdoor person, but I hope to change that soon.

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  14. That's a lot of books about nature! (And I've only read 2 of them.) I'm very impressed with your list.

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  15. Being a Master Naturalist sounds like an amazing thing to do, experience & share.

    I love books about nature, and you've shared such a variety here - my wishlist has grown!

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  16. That’s a comprehensive list, sadly I’ve read none. I have enjoyed Walkabout by Bill Bryson..it’s a omnibus of both InA Sunburnt Country and A Walk in the Woods. Thanks for your recommendations

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  17. Sounds great to be a Master Naturalist. I think it is much needed these days. For myself, I love being in Nature and discover different climates, natural phenomena, different kind of natures, but, I don't really read anything about nature. Both my husband and son are very interested and know quite a lot about nature and animals. That means I do get some lectures from time to time, although I don't read to know more. I am not able to advise you on any reading either. Keep up the expertise!

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  18. So many good books there. I've added Obmascik's "The Big Year" to my list. I love that subtitle. It sounds like a fun read. Thanks for curating all these

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  19. This is very timely since I need a book about nature for the Reading Women Challenge. I'm cheating a little bit and reading Girl of the Limberlost, a classic novel where the main character is very into collecting moths. I love Barbara Kingsolver and especially loved Flight Behavior and Animal Dreams, but I haven't read this one.

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  20. I loved studying Walden as a high school junior and again as a college sophomore. You recommended Lab Girl to me, and that book taught me there was value and pleasure in non-fiction. It turned my reading habits around and expanded my reading tastes. TY!!

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  21. Oh dear - I'm adding so many of these to my to-read list, especially the book on birds! This is an awesome topic and your experience as a naturalist sounds wonderful. My mom does something similar and I'd definitely like to do the same someday.

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