100 Best Wildlife Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

Lawrence Anthony

5.0

Lawrence Anthony devoted his life to animal conservation, protecting the world's endangered species. Then he was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand. His common sense told him to refuse, but he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them.

In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the year

2

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World

Peter Wohlleben

4.9

Preview Summary

In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they

Recommended by Emma Watson.

3

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There

Aldo Leopold

4.8

First published in 1949, A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land.

Written with an unparalleled understanding of the ways of nature, the book includes a section on the monthly changes of the Wisconsin countryside; another part that gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over

Recommended by Isabella Tree, Mark Boyle, and Mike Phillips.

Isabella Tree

Leopold wrote that one of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. To me, that rings painfully true. [source]

Mark Boyle

I love many books, but I am in love with A Sand County Almanac. [source]

Mike Phillips

It speaks to the need for us to recognize we’re just as much a part of this planet as the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us. [source]

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4

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Trevor Noah

4.8

Preview Summary

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often ab

Recommended by Bill Gates, Heather Zynczak, Irina Nica, and 3 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

As a longtime fan of The Daily Show, I loved reading this memoir about how its host honed his outsider approach to comedy over a lifetime of never quite fitting in. Born to a black South African mother and a white Swiss father in apartheid South Africa, he entered the world as a biracial child in a country where mixed race relationships were forbidden. Much of Noah’s story of growing up in South Africa is tragic. Yet, as anyone who watches his nightly monologues knows, his moving stories will often leave you laughing. [source]

Heather Zynczak

So excited for our latest speaker announcement for #PSLIVE19! Trevor Noah! I am a huge @TheDailyShow fan! And his book -Born a Crime -and life story are amazing. Can't wait! Join us! https://t.co/N6ykJq7TOy https://t.co/r0dIx5RFVI [source]

Irina Nica

I also pay attention to any book recommendations my friends post on Facebook. I started reading Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime after I saw Radu Marcusu, CEO of Upswing, recommending it. He swore by it that is was funny -- and it was! Until the last chapter. I remember listening to the audiobook on a train and crying my eyes out. So yeah. That happened. [source]

5

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer

4.8

Preview Summary

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 lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celeb

Recommended by Oliver Sacks Fdn. and Sarah Taber.

Oliver Sacks Fdn.

As a writer, Oliver Sacks found gardens essential to the creative process. Check out our year-end newsletter, devoted to some beautiful books by botanist-writers that would make great gifts for all your plant-loving friends. https://t.co/2U8iEv4L1x https://t.co/IK1cgIMJhE [source]

Sarah Taber

Yeah that's because most of those books are actually just sanctimonious classists pretending they're trying to fix problems. That's why they're depressing If you want a book that's actually about moving forward, "Braiding Sweetgrass" is FANTASTIC. https://t.co/Drr1tmwhSs [source]

6

Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves

Farley Mowat

4.7

More than a half-century ago the naturalist Farley Mowat was sent to investigate why wolves were killing arctic caribou. Mowat's account of the summer he lived in the frozen tundra alone—studying the wolf population and developing a deep affection for the wolves (who were of no threat to caribou or man)—is today celebrated as a classic of nature writing, at once a tale of remarkable adventures and

7

Walden

Henry David Thoreau

4.7

Preview Summary

At Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau reflected on simpler living in the natural world. By removing himself from the distractions of materialism, Thoreau hoped to not only improve his spiritual life but also gain a better understanding of society through solitary introspection.

In Walden, Thoreau condenses his two-year, two-month, two-day stay into a single year, using the four seasons to symbolize h

Recommended by Emma Watson, Donna Dickenson, Emily Thomas, and 5 others.

Donna Dickenson

He discusses how the original ideals that America was founded on were being compromised, and how massive industrial interests were starting to dominate. [source]

Emily Thomas

The beginning is hard going. Once you get past that, then suddenly you’re into these beautiful and inspiring descriptions of nature. [source]

Joan Boixados

In case you were deceived and expected me to name Walden by Henry David Thoreau, you should read it too if you haven’t, it obviously is the inspiration to Walden Two. :) [source]

8

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Elizabeth Kolbert

4.7

Preview Summary

Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.

In prose that is at once fran

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and 6 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

The president also released a list of his summer favorites back in 2015: All That Is, James Salter The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates Washington: A Life, Ron Chernow All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert. Climate change is a big problem—one of the biggest we’ll face this century—but it’s not the only environmental concern on the horizon. Humans are putting down massive amounts of pavement, moving species around the planet, over-fishing and acidifying the oceans, changing the chemical composition of rivers, and more. Natural scientists posit that there have been five extinction events in the Earth’s history (think of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs), and Kolbert makes a compelling case that human activity is leading to the sixth. Unlike a lot of people who write about the environment, Kolbert doesn’t resort to hype. She just lays out the facts and wraps them in memorable anecdotes. It’s a sobering but engaging and informative read. [source]

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

"In his autobiography, Walmart's founder expounds on the principles of discount retailing and discusses his core values of frugality and a bias for action — a willingness to try a lot of things and make many mistakes. Bezos included both in Amazon's corporate values," Brad Stone writes. [source]

9

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life

Ed Yong

4.6

Preview Summary

Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us—the microbiome—build our bodies, protect our health, shape our identities, and grant us incredible abilities. In this astonishing book, Ed Yong takes us on a grand tour through our microbial partners, and introduces us

Recommended by Bill Gates.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Helped me see microorganisms in a whole new light. [source]

10

Last Chance to See

Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine

4.6

"Very funny and moving...The glimpses of rare fauna seem to have enlarged [Adams'] thinking, enlivened his world; and so might the animals do for us all, if we were to help them live."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
Join bestselling author Douglas Adams and zooligist Mark Carwardine as they take off around the world in search of exotic, endangered creatures. Hilarious and poignant--as only Douglas A

Recommended by Beth Shapiro, Gaia Vince, and Mark Lynas.

Beth Shapiro

He describes in this book not only the beauty of these animals, but the human landscape they live in and what a disastrous time he has getting to these locations. [source]

Gaia Vince

This is a book obviously for readers but it’s also a book for writers of science to understand how to capture the imagination of readers. [source]

Mark Lynas

For me, Last Chance to See is a real eye-opener, with the idea that you can take a depressing subject – species on the verge of extinction – and present it in a way which is so engaging, so funny and so humane. [source]

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11

Watership Down

Richard Adams

4.6

Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a

Recommended by Jennifer Gunter, M G Leonard, Philip Reeve, and 1 others.

Jennifer Gunter

@SuetheLibrarian I suppose if you only have one great book in you Watership Down is knocking it out of the park! [source]

M G Leonard

My view of the countryside changed forever after reading the book. [source]

Philip Reeve

Watership Down is one of the most famous animal adventures ever written. It is a far stranger book than many people expect. [source]

12

My Family and Other Animals (Corfu Trilogy #1)

Gerald Durrell

4.6

When the unconventional Durrell family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle of Corfu. My Family and Other Animals was intended to embrace the natural history of the island but ended up as a delightful account of Durrell's family's experiences, from the many eccentric hangers-on to the c

Recommended by M G Leonard.

M G Leonard

It’s a real work of genius and needs to be kept on every child’s bedside table. [source]

13

Cry of the Kalahari

Mark James Owens

4.6

“A remarkable story beautifully told…Among such classics as Goodall’s In the Shadow of Man and Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist.”—Chicago Tribune

Carrying little more than a change of clothes and a pair of binoculars, two young Americans, Mark and Delia Owens, caught a plane to Africa, bought a thirdhand Land Rover, and drove deep into the Kalahari Desert. There they lived for seven years, in an unex

14

Man-Eaters of Kumaon

Jim Corbett

4.5

Jim Corbett was every inch a hero, something like a "sahib" Davy Crockett: expert in the ways of the jungle, fearless in the pursuit of man-eating big cats, and above all a crack shot. Brought up on a hill-station in north-west India, he killed his first leopard before he was nine and went on to achieve a legendary reputation as a hunter.
Corbett was also an author of great renown. His books on th

Cover unavailable

15

Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds (Story of Elsa, #1)

Joy Adamson, George Page

4.5

There have been many accounts of the return to the wild of tame animals, but since its original publication in 1960, when The New York Times hailed it as a "fascinating and remarkable book," Born Free has stood alone in its power to move us.

Joy Adamson's story of a lion cub in transition between the captivity in which she is raised and the fearsome wild to which she is returned captures the abilit

Recommended by Karen Paolillo.

Karen Paolillo

I want everyone to read about how Elsa the lioness not only returned to her own world, but in that world where she was a lioness she still had room for her human adoptive parents. [source]

16

The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

Rick Warren

4.5

Preview Summary

A New Edition for A New Generation!

Two new bonus chapters on the most common barriers to living a purpose driven life.

Access to an online community where you can discuss your journey to purpose, get feedback, and receive support.

“Movie stars and political leaders aren’t the only ones turning to Rick Warren for spiritual guidance. Millions of people—from NBA and LPGA players to corporate executives

Recommended by John C. Maxwell, Lilian Ong, Robert Katai, and 2 others.

Lilian Ong

I gained clarity and a different perspective of living a life with purpose. I learned that how we are “wired” or our S.H.A.P.E can help us find the purpose of our life. [source]

Robert Katai

I have 2 books that resonate with me and my work. The first one is a book written by Rick Warren called “The Purpose-Driven Life” and the second one is “Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. These are the books that I can read over and over again, because they always remind me what’s my purpose in this life, in my daily job and what I can do with my projects and work to create a purple cow effect. [source]

Theresa Evanoff

Here are some of my favourites around purpose, positive habits, positive thinking, and business goals. I’m a firm believer that subject expertise can be learned, but character-building traits, like perseverance and purposefulness, must be honed. “Purpose Driven Life”, Rick Warren “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey "The Magic of Thinking Big", David J. Schwartz "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz “Good to Great”, Jim Collins “Doing Good Well”, Willie Cheng [source]

17

The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World's Greatest Creatures

Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence

4.5

When Lawrence Anthony learned that the northern white rhino, living in the war-ravaged Congo, was on the very brink of extinction, he knew he had to act. If the world lost the sub-species, it would be the largest land mammal since the woolly mammoth to go extinct. In "The Last Rhinos," Anthony recounts his attempts to save these animals.

The demand for rhino horns in the Far East has turned poachin

18

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

4.5

Preview Summary

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published in three serialized excerpts in the New Yorker in June of 1962. The book appeared in September of that year and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully througho

Recommended by John Kerry.

John Kerry

I’d start with Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, which looked at how pesticide use was harming, and in some cases killing, animals and humans, and really was the first book of its kind to illustrate this environmental destruction. I’ve been so involved in the environment for years and years and that has been a great guideline – it was really the awakening, if you will, to the environmental movement and to the progress we’ve made over the last quarter century or more. [source]

19

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

John Vaillant

4.4

It’s December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: the tiger is apparently en

Recommended by Ryan Holiday and TC Boyle.

Ryan Holiday

Author

Holy shit, this book is good. Just holy shit. Even if it was just the main narrative–the chase to kill a man-eating Tiger in Siberia in post-communist Russia–it would be worth reading, but it is so much more than that. The author explains the Russian psyche, the psyche of man vs predator, the psyches of primitive peoples and animals, in such a masterful way that you’re shocked to find 1) that he knows this, and 2) that he fit it all into this readable and relatively short book. You may have heard about the story on the internet a while back: a tiger starts killing people in Russia and a team is sent to kill it (Russia is so fucked up, they already have a team for this). At one point, the tiger is cornered and leaps to attack the team leader…and in mid-air the soldier’s rifle goes into the tigers open jaws and down his throat all the way to the stock, killing the tiger at the last possible second. The autopsy later revealed that the tiger had been shot something like a dozen times during its life and lived. The story is very similar to that of the Tsavo maneaters, which was turned into the underrated Val Kilmer movie The Ghost and the Darkness. There are all sorts of well-selected threads from evolutionary psychology and biology in this book and it makes the book a self-educator’s dream. You can pick and choose which ones you want to follow next–trusting safely that the author has pointed you in an interesting and valuable direction. But that’s just the meta-stuff that is a bonus with this book, and it’s worth pointing out only because the rest of the book is just so fucking interesting and exciting. [source]

TC Boyle

Sometimes nature strikes back, and in this book you really do root for the animal. [source]

Cover unavailable

20

Chomp

Carl Hiaasen

4.4

An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.

Wahoo Cray lives in a zoo. His father is an animal wrangler, so he's grown up with all manner of gators, snakes, parrots, rats, monkeys, snappers, and more in his backyard. The critters he can handle. His father is the unpredictable one.

When his dad takes a job with a reality TV show called "Expedition Survival!", Wahoo figures he'll have to do a

21

H Is for Hawk

Helen MacDonald

4.4

Winner of the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize, New York Times Bestseller, Named the Amazon Best Book of the Month for March 2015, #1 Bestseller in the UK, H IS FOR HAWK by Helen Macdonald. Magnificent, splendid memoirs woven with nature and a healing process of grief from the bereavement of her beloved father. In Korean. Annotation copyright Tsai Fong Books, Inc. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

Recommended by Barack Obama, Gail Kelly, Diana Kimball, and 1 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

Just like us, the president enjoys a good beach read while relaxing in the sun. In 2016, he released his list of summer vacation books: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, William Finnegan H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins Seveneves, Neal Stephenson The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead [source]

Nick Pyenson

H is for Hawk feels like the definitive statement on hawks for the modern times, and I think its success has a lot to do with how well Macdonald tied her inquiry into the life of a hawk with her own personal experience and journey. [source]

22

The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild

Craig Childs

4.4

From one of the finest nature writers at work in America today; a lyrical, dramatic, illuminating tour of the hidden domain of wild animals.

Whether recalling the experience of being chased through the Grand Canyon by a bighorn sheep, swimming with sharks off the coast of British Columbia, watching a peregrine falcon perform acrobatic stunts at 200 miles per hour, or engaging in a tense face-off wi

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23

David Quammen

4.3

David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and our place in that world. It's also a book full of entertainment and wonders.
In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas

Recommended by Isabella Tree, Sean B Carroll, and TC Boyle.

Isabella Tree

Quammen’s wondrous peregrination of islands takes us on a journey of evolutions and extinctions in order to illustrate how like islands our continents have become. [source]

Sean B Carroll

The book covers the role that islands have played in our thinking about how nature works. [source]

TC Boyle

A brilliant journalist who can tell scientific stories with the kind of panache you’d expect from a novelist. [source]

Cover unavailable

27

Wilding

Isabella Tree, Eric Schlosser

4.3

For many years Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell struggled to make a go as farmers, doing everything they could to make the heavy clay soils of their farm at Knepp in West Sussex as productive as possible, while rarely succeeding in making a profit. By 2000, facing bankruptcy, the couple decided they would try something new. They would hand their 3,500 acres, farmed for centuries, even millennia,

Recommended by Ben Goldsmith and Mark Boyle.

Ben Goldsmith

@ErikSolheim Allowing nature to recover by itself is even cheaper, a la Wilding, by @isabella_tree (a book you must order and read). [source]

Mark Boyle

Wilding is about an extraordinary experiment at the 3,500-acre Knepp Wildland Project, and an example of what can happen when we learn to do the hardest thing of all: nothing. [source]

Cover unavailable

28

Of Wolves and Men

Barry H. Lopez

4.3

Originally published in 1978, this classic exploration of humanity’s complex relationship with and understanding of wolves returns with a new afterword by the author.

Humankind's relationship with the wolf is the sum of a spectrum of responses ranging from fear to admiration and affection. Lopez’s classic, careful study has won praise from a wide range of reviewers and improved the way books on wil

Recommended by Mark Boyle.

Mark Boyle

Offers fascinating insights into the depths of understanding which civilised peoples have lost and what, if we were wise, we might attempt to regain. [source]

29

The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness

Delia Owens

4.3

After being expelled from Botswana for writing their controversial bestseller Cry of the Kalahari, Mark and Delia Owens set off on a journey across Africa, searching for a new Eden. They found it in Zambia, but elephant poachers soon had them fighting for their lives when they tried to stop the slaughter. 16 pages of photos, half in color.

30

The Snow Leopard

Peter Matthiessen

4.3

When Matthiessen went to Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and, possibly, to glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard, he undertook his five-week trek as winter snows were sweeping into the high passes. This is a radiant and deeply moving account of a "true pilgrimage, a journey of the heart."

Recommended by Nick Pyenson.

Nick Pyenson

The book stands apart and it remains fresh because of the ways that Matthiessen weaves his exploration of the outer world with his own inner one. [source]

31

The Genius of Birds

Jennifer Ackerman

4.3

Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. According to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence.

In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds. As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research--the distant laboratories of Barbados

Cover unavailable

32

The Sibley Guide to Birds

David Allen Sibley

4.3

The entire birding world, from expert ornithologists to backyard enthusiasts, has been waiting for Sibley's work to be made available in a field-usable form. Containing the renowned artist's superbly lucid and comprehensive text, this guide features more than 6,500 of his detailed paintings. Full color.

33

The Overstory

Richard Powers

4.3

The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of - and paean to - the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There

Recommended by Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Kearney, and Sarah Dry.

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Feels at the beginning like a series of short stories, each of which has some important thing about a tree or a kind of tree in it, but also holds some human character. You’d be a very strange person if you came away from this book not caring about what’s happening to the trees. [source]

Martha Kearney

@omrgriffiths @BBCPM @RobGMacfarlane Great idea. Loved that book. [source]

Sarah Dry

I had the experience of having the revelation that the author clearly hoped a reader would have, which is that what appears to be a book about distinct individuals—almost a book of short stories— turns out to be something more complex, in which all the characters are linked through time and space. [source]

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34

Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide

Peter Allison

4.3

A hilarious, highly original collection of essays based on the Botswana truism: “only food runs!”

In the tradition of Bill Bryson, a new writer brings us the lively adventures and biting wit of an African safari guide. Peter Allison gives us the guide’s-eye view of living in the bush, confronting the world’s fiercest terrain of wild animals and, most challenging of all, managing herds of gaping tou

35

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl

Stacey O'Brien

4.3

When biologist Stacey O'Brien first met a four-day-old baby barn owl with nerve damage in one wing, she knew he had no hope of surviving on his own in the wild, so gave him a permanent home living with her. This is the funny, poignant story of their two decades together.

On Valentine's Day 1985, biologist Stacey O'Brien first met a four-day-old baby barn owl -- a fateful encounter that would turn i

36

Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo

Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence

4.3

When the Iraq war began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, located in the city center and caught in the war's crossfire. Once Anthony entered Baghdad he discovered that full-scale combat and uncontrolled looting had killed nearly all the animals of the zoo.

But not all of them. U.S. soldiers had taken the time to help care for the remaining

Cover unavailable

37

A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons

Robert M. Sapolsky

4.3

In the tradition of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, Robert Sapolsky, a foremost science writer and recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, tells the mesmerizing story of his twenty-one years in remote Kenya with a troop of Savannah baboons.

“I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla,” writes Robert Sapolsky in this wi

Life on Earth

David Attenborough

4.2

In this unique book, David Attenborough has undertaken nothing less than a history of nature, from the emergence of tiny one-celled organisms in the primeval slime more than 3,000 million years ago to apelike but upright man, equally well adapted to life in the rain forest of New Guinea and the glass canyons of a modern metropolis. Told through an examination of animal and plant life today - with

Recommended by David Bainbridge.

David Bainbridge

I don’t think the book has been bettered since, and that’s because it just seems to be the most interesting way to talk about life, through a narrative. [source]

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46

Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival

Bernd Heinrich

4.2

From award-winning writer and biologist Bernd Heinrich, an intimate, accessible and eloquent illumination of animal survival in Winter.

From flying squirrels to grizzly bears, torpid turtles to insects with antifreeze, the animal kingdom relies on some staggering evolutionary innovations to survive winter. Unlike their human counterparts, who must alter their environment to accommodate our physical

Cover unavailable

47

American Wolf

Nate Blakeslee

4.2

ISBN moved from this edition
The enthralling story of the rise and reign of O-Six, the celebrated Yellowstone wolf, and the people who loved or feared her

Before men ruled the earth, there were wolves. Once abundant in North America, these majestic creatures were hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states by the 1920s. But in recent decades, conservationists have brought wolves back to the Roc

Cover unavailable

48

An Elephant in My Kitchen: What the Herd Taught Me about Love, Courage and Survival

Françoise Malby-Anthony

4.2

A heart-warming sequel to the international bestseller The Elephant Whisperer, by Lawrence Anthony's wife.

A chic Parisienne, Françoise never expected to find herself living on a South African game reserve. But then she fell in love with conservationist Lawrence Anthony and everything changed. After Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Po

49

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Frans de Waal

4.2

What separates your mind from an animal’s? Maybe you think it’s your ability to design tools, your sense of self, or your grasp of past and future—all traits that have helped us define ourselves as the planet’s preeminent species. But in recent decades, these claims have eroded, or even been disproven outright, by a revolution in the study of animal cognition. Take the way octopuses use coconut sh

Cover unavailable

50

Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life

George Monbiot

4.2

To be an environmentalist early in the twenty-first century is always to be defending, arguing, acknowledging the hurdles we face in our efforts to protect wild places and fight climate change. But let’s be honest: hedging has never inspired anyone.

So what if we stopped hedging? What if we grounded our efforts to solve environmental problems in hope instead, and let nature make our case for us? T

Recommended by Amy Liptrot and Isabella Tree.

Amy Liptrot

This is a bold and radical book, which changed the way I look at the countryside. [source]

Isabella Tree

Monbiot pushed the boundaries of what rewilding should mean. [source]

51

The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time

Jonathan Weiner

4.2

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

On a desert island in the heart of the Galapagos archipelago, where Darwin received his first inklings of the theory of evolution, two scientists, Peter and Rosemary Grant, have spent twenty years proving that Darwin did not know the strength of his own theory. For among the finches of Daphne Major, natural selection is neither

Cover unavailable

52

The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa's Wildlife

Kobie Kruger

4.2

Everyone warned Kobie Krüger that being the wife of a game warden at a remote ranger station in South Africa's largest national park would be an arduous move. The heat was unbearable, malaria would be a constant danger, her husband would have to be away for long stretches, there were no schools or nearby doctors for their three daughters, and of course the area teemed with wild animals. Yet for Ko

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53

Collins Bird Guide

Lars Svensson

4.2

Following on from its hugely successful launch in 1999, Collins Bird Guide – the ultimate reference book for bird enthusiasts – now enters its second edition.

With expanded text and additional colour illustrations, the second edition of the hugely successful Collins Bird Guide is a must for every birdwatcher.

The book provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the yea

54

Into the Wild

Jon Krakauer

4.1

Librarian's Note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

In April, 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himse

Recommended by Holger Seim.

Holger Seim

When it comes to adventure stories, Into the Wild. [source]

55

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

Robin Wall Kimmerer

4.1

Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series o

Recommended by Caspar Henderson.

Caspar Henderson

She writes vividly about what it’s like to walk across moss in bare feet and to notice it for the first time and to notice the incredible world within moss and the creatures that live within it. [source]

56

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

David Quammen

4.1

“Science writing as detective story at its best.” —Jennifer Ouellette, Scientific American

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Scientific American Best Book of the Year, and a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Ebola, SARS, Hendra, AIDS, and countless other deadly viruses all have one thing in common: the bugs that transmit these diseases all originate in wild animals and

Recommended by Kaleigh Rogers.

Kaleigh Rogers

@rachsyme Spillover is a fantastic book though. I'd also recommend Pandemic and/or The Fever by @soniashah [source]

57

How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals

Sy Montgomery

4.1

National Book Award finalist Sy Montgomery reflects on the personalities and quirks of 13 animals--her friends--who have profoundly affected her in this stunning, poetic, and life-affirming memoir featuring illustrations by Rebecca Green.

Understanding someone who belongs to another species can be transformative. No one knows this better than author, naturalist, and adventurer Sy Montgomery. To re

Recommended by Alvin Lindsay.

Alvin Lindsay

The 1 #book you MUST read to understand how to build a powerful personal #brand on the web today > https://t.co/uLzyBw429W #makeyourownlane https://t.co/s6qUc1gvUT [source]

58

The Peregrine

J. A. Baker, Robert Macfarlane

4.1

From autumn to spring, J.A. Baker set out to track the daily comings and goings of a pair of peregrine falcons across the flat fen lands of eastern England. He followed the birds obsessively, observing them in the air and on the ground, in pursuit of their prey, making a kill, eating, and at rest, activities he describes with an extraordinary fusion of precision and poetry. And as he continued his

Recommended by Jeremy Mynott, Robert Macfarlane, and William Fiennes.

Jeremy Mynott

It’s the story of this pursuit of the bird and how he came to feel a kind of affinity with it, and how he uses the bird as a symbol for the things he feels, or wants to feel, about the natural world. [source]

Robert Macfarlane

Baker turned his bulging set of ornithological field journals into a 120-page prose poem. It’s astonishingly energy-filled. [source]

William Fiennes

It’s hard to imagine a greater contrast with U and I, although it was written by another Baker. My book The Snow Geese had a lot to do with birds and the non-human world around us, but I didn’t read this book until I’d finished. I wish I’d read it earlier than I did. The way he describes the world outside him, particularly birds, is so electric. It avoids all the traps of rhapsody and the sort of nature writing that Evelyn Waugh satirises in Scoop. You remember William Boot the protagonist of Scoop? He writes a nature column that’s a terrible, sub-poetic kind of purple-word haze. But The Peregrine is far removed from that. [source]

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59

Ring of Bright Water

Gavin Maxwell, John Lister-Kaye

4.1

Hailed a masterpiece when it was first published, the story of Gavin Maxwell’s life with otters on the remote west coast of Scotland remains one of the most lyrical, moving descriptions of a man’s relationship with the natural world.

Recommended by Amy Liptrot and Will Travers.

Amy Liptrot

He’s sort of alone, in the natural world, which is very appealing [source]

Will Travers

@ElandPublishing @gallimaufrey777 @OnlyInGuides My Mum and Dad were in Ring of Bright Water. Special, book, film, memories. Best W [source]

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60

North American Wildlife: An Illustrated Guide to 2,000 Plants and Animals

Editors of Reader's Digest

4.1

North American Wildlife is a valuable reference guide to the most common and conspicuous wild plants and animals in North America.

Birds and butterflies, ferns and frogs, mushrooms and mantra rays, seashells and salamanders---this 576 page book includes more than 2,000 plants and animals of all types. Spanning the land from Florida to the Northwest Territories, it embraces field forest, pond, and p

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61

Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People

Mark Owens

4.1

"VIVIDLY WRITTEN. . .THEIR STORY IS THRILLING - THE KIND OF TALE THAT WILD-ANIMAL LOVERS WON'T EASILY FORGET." –'PEOPLE'

In this riveting real-life adventure, Mark and Delia Owens tell the dramatic story of their last years in Africa, fighting to save elephants, villagers, and - in the end - themselves. The award-winning zoologists and pioneering conservationists describe their work in the remote a

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62

A Lion Called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond Between Two Friends and a Lion

Anthony Bourke, John Rendall, George Adamson

4.1

In 2008 an extraordinary two-minute film clip appeared on YouTube and immediately became an international phenomenon. It captures the moving reunion of two young men and their pet lion Christian, after they had left him in Africa with Born Free’s George Adamson to introduce him into his rightful home in the wild.

A Lion Called Christian tells the remarkable story of how Anthony “Ace” Bourke and Joh

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63

Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food

Paul Greenberg

4.1

In Four Fish, award-winning writer and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus — salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna — and investigating where each stands at this critical moment in time.

He visits Norwegian megafarms that use genetic techniques once pioneered on sheep to grow millions of pounds of salmon a year. He tr

Recommended by Barry Estabrook and Helen Scales.

Barry Estabrook

This book is totally unbiased and very serious at looking for solutions to the global fisheries problem. He picks four iconic fish to use as examples to serve for the whole spectrum. So there is tuna, salmon, cod and sea bass. He doesn’t condemn fish farming outright but he explores ways to do it so that we continue to fish in what is the last wild place where we get our food. [source]

Helen Scales

Greenberg brings Roberts’s story bang up to date. He answers questions about what we eat today and how that is affecting the ocean. He picks four fish, which in the western world at least are the main species we eat. Those are tuna, salmon, cod and sea bass. It is a fascinating story about how we got hooked on those four species, which he tells from his perspective as an avid angler. [source]

64

Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story

Daphne Sheldrick

4.1

"Astonishing...You may be tempted after the last page to sell all your possessions and join [Sheldrick's] cause."— The Boston Globe

The first person to successfully raise newborn elephants, Dame Daphne Sheldrick has saved countless African animals from certain death. In this indelible and deeply heartfelt memoir, Daphne tells of her remarkable career as a conservationist and introduces us to a w

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65

Soul of a Lion: One Woman's Quest to Rescue Africa's Wildlife Refugees

Barbara Bennett, Marieta Van Der Merwe

4.1

For animal lovers, nature enthusiasts, and the vast readership for gripping true-life stories, this African saga is a must-read adventure. It chronicles the unique Harnas Wildlife Foundation in Namibia, where Marieta van der Merwe and her family, former wealthy cattle farmers, have sold land to buy and care for embattled wildlife. We meet Sam, the "AIDS" lion infected by mistake at a vet clinic. B

66

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America

National Geographic Society

4.1

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America continues to be the most sought-after, the most authoritative, and the easiest to access field guide to birds on the market. Now in its 4th Edition, revisions include 250 updated range maps, and new classification information National Geographic is reissuing the Field Guide to the Birds of North America in the 4th edition, focusing on i

67

The Lost Words

Macfarlane

4.1

From Acorn to Weasel: a gorgeous, hand-illustrated, large-format spellbook celebrating the magic and wonder of the natural world

All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. Words like Dandelion, Otter, Bramble, Acorn and Lark represent the natural world of childhood, a rich landscape of discovery and imagination that is fading from children's minds.

The Lost Words stand

Recommended by Zoe Greaves.

Zoe Greaves

The illustrations are utterly breathtaking. Jackie Morris is an illustrator that I just find astonishing—she’s got to be one of the most brilliant artists working in children’s books at the moment. [source]

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68

Animals: A Visual Encyclopedia

DK

4.1

Following in the footsteps of DK's bestselling adult title Animal, which sold in excess of 2 million copies, Animals: A Visual Encyclopedia reveals the wonders of the animal kingdom to a younger readership.
Structured by animal group with separate entries for every notable type of animal, from ants and aardvarks to wasps and wallabies Fact files provide key information on behavior, distribution, di

69

Elisabeth Tova Bailey

4.1

In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her uncommon encounter with a Neohelix albolabris —a common woodland snail.

While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mys

Recommended by Mark Kurlansky.

Mark Kurlansky

This is the autobiographical story of a woman who gets ill with a mysterious virus that totally incapacitates her for years. Somebody brings her a violet in a pot which has a snail on it, and she becomes fascinated with this snail. And she starts to learn everything about snails, which are not what you would have as the usual household pet. It is an engaging story of snails, which is surprising. This is also an example of a book that you would want to have in your library, because it is such a handsome book and nicely illustrated. It is a beautiful little book which is written with a real gentleness and is very enjoyable to read. [source]

73

Wildlife Anatomy: The Curious Lives & Features of Wild Animals around the World

Julia Rothman

4.1

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74

The Call of the Wild

Jack London

4.1

First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London's masterpiece. Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.

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75

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America

Jon L. Dunn, Jonathan Alderfer

4.1

New enthusiasts are flocking in record numbers to the fascinating pastime of birding. National Geographic has been meeting their need for clear and accurate information for 25 years with our million-selling Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Now, to better serve the expanding market, we’ve customized our field-guide format to offer unique coverage for birders east or west of the Rocky Moun

Recommended by Timothy Ferriss.

76

American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon

Steven Rinella

4.1

From the host of the Travel Channel’s “The Wild Within.”

A hunt for the American buffalo—an adventurous, fascinating examination of an animal that has haunted the American imagination.

In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds—there’s only a 2 percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent

77

Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth's Most Awesome Creatures

Nick Pyenson

4.1

The Smithsonian's star paleontologist takes us to the ends of the earth and to the cutting edge of whale research

Whales are among the largest, most intelligent, deepest diving species to have ever lived on our planet. They evolved from land-roaming, dog-like creatures into animals that move like fish, breathe like us, can grow to 300,000 pounds, live 200 years and roam entire ocean basins. Whales

Recommended by Dan Vergano and Tom Flowers.

Dan Vergano

Edward Abbey

4.1

First published in 1968, Desert Solitaire is one of Edward Abbey’s most critically acclaimed works and marks his first foray into the world of nonfiction writing. Written while Abbey was working as a ranger at Arches National Park outside of Moab, Utah, Desert Solitaire is a rare view of one man’s quest to experience nature in its purest form.

Through prose that is by turns passionate and poetic, A

Recommended by Hari Kunzru and Robert Macfarlane.

Hari Kunzru

He has a deep love for this place and he’s amusing to read because he’s such a strong personality. His writing is extraordinary. [source]

Robert Macfarlane

Abbey is full of passion, fury and contempt – a fiery fighter to shake up the sometimes over-tranquil atmosphere of nature writing. [source]

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84

Wild Life

Cynthia DeFelice

4.1

Erik is preparing for his first-ever hunting trip when he learns that his parents are being deployed to Iraq. A few days later, Erik is shipped off to North Dakota to live with Big Darrell and Oma, grandparents he barely knows. When Erik rescues a dog that's been stuck by a porcupine, Big Darrell says Erik can't keep him. But Erik has already named her Quill and can't bear to give her up. He decid

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85

The Jim Corbett Omnibus.

Jim Corbett

4.1

Jim Corbett's riveting accounts of shikar in the Himalayan foothills have kept generations of readers enthralled. The Jim Corbett Omnibus includes three enduring tales of Corbett's encounters with man-eaters.

Man-eaters of Kumaon contains fascinating stories of tracking and shooting of man-eaters in the Indian Himalayas during the early years of the last century. The stories in The Temple Tiger dis

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86

100 Heartbeats: A Journey to Meet Our Planet's Endangered Animals and the Heroes Working to Save Them

Jeff Corwin

4.0

It’s no secret that our planet—and the delicate web of ecosystems that comprise it—is in crisis. Environmental threats such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and land degradation threaten the survival of thousands of plant and animal species each day. In 100 Heartbeats, conservationist and television host Jeff Corwin provides an urgent, palpable portrait of the wildlife that is suffering

87

The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature

David Baron

4.0

When, in the late 1980s, residents of Boulder, Colorado, suddenly began to see mountain lions in their yards, it became clear that the cats had repopulated the land after decades of persecution. Here, in a riveting environmental fable that recalls Peter Benchley's thriller Jaws, journalist David Baron traces the history of the mountain lion and chronicles Boulder's effort to coexist with its new n

Recommended by TC Boyle.

TC Boyle

They were looking, horrified, at this corpse when they heard a growl from the nearby bushes. [source]

88

Raising Hare: A Memoir

Chloe Dalton

4.0

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89

The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag

Jim Corbett, Raymond Sheppard

4.0

Most of Jim Corbett's books contain collections of stories that recount adventures tracking and shooting man-eaters in the Indian Himalaya. This volume, however, consists of a single story, often considered the most exciting of all Corbett's jungle tales. He gives a carefully-detailed account of a notorious leopard that terrorized life in the hills of the colonial United Provinces. This story repr

90

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

Andrea Wulf

4.0

The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world—and in the process created modern environmentalism.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769 – 1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces four counties, thirtee

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91

Birds, Beasts and Relatives (Corfu Trilogy #2)

Gerald Durrell

4.0

Part coming-of-age autobiography and part nature guide, Gerald Durrell's dazzling sequel to My Family and Other Animals is based on his boyhood on Corfu, from 1933 to 1939. Originally published in 1969 but long out of print, Birds, Beasts and Relatives is filled with charming observations, amusing anecdotes, boyhood memories, and childlike wonder.

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92

The Kenneth Anderson Omnibus: Volume 1: Tales from the Indian Jungle, Man-Eaters and Jungle Killers, The Call of the Man-Eater

Kenneth Anderson

4.0

Reprint of three well-loved books, on experiences in Indian jungles, interaction with tigers and leopards, perspectives on wild animals. Beautifully written and informative.

93

Farley Mowat

4.0

Deep in the volcano country of central Africa live some of the rarest, most intriguing animals on earth -- the mountain gorillas. Here, in the mist-shrouded forests, Dian Fossey courageously dedicated her life to studying them. Here she patiently waited until the luminous-eyed gorillas accepted her presence, hugged her, and loved her...while she fought for their survival against poachers, callous

Recommended by Karen Paolillo.

Karen Paolillo

The writer never met Dian Fossey in the flesh but he saw who she really was and his book is the best of any written about her. [source]

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99

The Daily Coyote: Story of Love, Survival, and Trust In the Wilds of Wyoming

Shreve Stockton

4.0

A lavishly illustrated journal based on the author's experiences of raising an orphaned coyote documents the first year of their relationship, during which the author, the pup, and her cat shared an unusual life in a Wyoming log cabin.

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100

The Life of Mammals

David Attenborough

4.0

Of marsupials, mice and men. Evolution, and Sir David Attenborough's 23-year sequence of books and BBC television 'Life' films, have culminated in the mammals and the explosion of awareness and intelligence. In the very short period of 100 million years - a mere blink in evolutionary time - the first mammals have arrived at world dominance.

This came largely from hair and milk. Insulation and centr