Overbooked Book Lists
Nature Booklist
Page Modified: June 19, 2009
Updated as time allows...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: 2005Kirkus
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 10.31.052004
- The Trout Pool Paradox: The American Lives of Three Rivers
Author: Black, George
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 24 ISBN: 0618310800 Date: 2004
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
Updated 12.29.03- The Secret Life of Lobsters
Author: Corson, Trevor
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060555580 Date: 2004
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 1.15.042003
- Monkey Dancing: A Father, Two Kids, and Journey to the Ends of the Earth
Author: Glick, Daniel
Publisher: Peresus $ 26 ISBN: 1586481541
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 1.10.032002
- Blues for Cannibals: the Notes from Underground
Author: Bowden, Charles
Publisher: North Point $ 24 ISBN: 0865476241
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things
by Hamblyn, Richard
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Grioux $ 24 ISBN: 0374177155
A captivating mixture of biography, history, and science. - Publisher marketing.
by Holmes, Hannah
Publisher: Wiley $ 22.95 ISBN: 0471377430
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
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- Waiting for Aphrodite
by Hubbell, Sue
Publisher: Hougton Mifflin ISBN: 0395837030 $ 25
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Contact...
Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT)
Comments, suggestions, corrections: Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT): overbooked1@verizon.net or ann@overbooked.com
Ann Chambers Theis: Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.
I really appreciate all the e-mail I receive from avid readers and writers and regret that I am not able to respond to all correspondents.
Who...
Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT)
Comments, suggestions, corrections: Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT): overbooked1@verizon.net or ann@overbooked.com
Ann Chambers Theis: Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.
I really appreciate all the e-mail I receive from avid readers and writers and regret that I am not able to respond to all correspondents.
Overbooked is a volunteer project undertaken by Ann Chambers Theis:
Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.Overbooked is not an official Chesterfield County Public Library service. Overbooked does not endorse any commercial providers (or their products and services) linked to from this web site.
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- It is fun.
- I'm fortunate to have a job I love and access to lots of information about books. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to share this information with other book lovers.
- It is a way to channel my obsessive tendencies to organize stuff.
PANG - Play, Affiliation, Nurtance, Gratitude (in memory of my father -psychologist, musician)
Overbooked/Ann is available for panging on Facebook, My Space, and Twitter.
Facebook | Myspace: Overbooked | twittering slightly
Overbooked on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | Shelfari
Please join the conversation(s) at Overbookers - a rather quiet social space for the chronically overbooked.
Join the Overbooked List - A list for readers to share recent reads, keep up to date with details about new books, discuss favorite authors/titles, etc.
