Science & Nature

This book is part of our 2023 Fall Reading Challenge. Read more about the challenge here.

While most everyone knows that the planet is in crisis, it’s hard to know how to help when the task feels overwhelming. Flanagan’s book, a collection of essays from activists, community organizers, and climate experts, does not allow you to shy away from the responsibility we all owe to the earth and to each other. It does provide a lot of excellent history and background, and I especially appreciate the “action sections” that give a range of ways you, as an individual, can help. I went into this book hoping to be challenged, and while I certainly was, I also found hope and a wealth of resources.

—Jax

In 2019, Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Rush joined a research vessel sailing to study the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, called the Doomsday Glacier for its potential effect on sea level rise. What follows is a wondrous combination of environmental journalism, travel writing, and memoir that also asks: how do we build community in the face of escalating climate change? How can we choose to bear children into this world of uncertainty? Amiably and thoughtfully articulated, Rush shines refreshing light on science, her on-board crew, and an offer of collective, intentional hope.

—Melinda

Though I have long loved nature writing, its history is troubling, inarguably grounded in Whiteness and privilege, often a man alone, observing wilderness, a previously unknown space. Through this lens, the form is limited at best. Erin Sharkey’s marvelous collection of Black nature essays shapes a new legacy, re-filling the landscapes and histories with people who were also there, adjusting the scope of human relationship with nature. Including pieces by Lauret Savoy, Ama Codjoe, and Naima Penniman, grounded in archival objects that root the Black experience to this land, A Darker Wilderness is revelatory, foundational, beautiful.

—Melinda

Sarafina El-Badry Nance—astrophysicist, activist, former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, and author—has written an utterly engrossing, absolutely accessible memoir of growing up Egyptian American with chronic health issues and a passion for the stars. El-Badry Nance’s evocative writing brings all the people in her story, from childhood on, to vivid life, while punctuating her own story with accessible science written with love and wonder. I loved reading this and didn’t want to put it down.  —JOCELYN

Veterinarian Kwane Stewart, founder of Project Street Vet, is a shining example of how one person, armed with kindness and the drive to make a difference, can change the world. In What It Takes to Save a Life, Stewart takes us behind the scenes with raw and real experiences that reflect the hardships and the beauty vets encounter daily. Filled with compassion for animals and humans alike, this book will break your heart open and have you believing in “the power of one.”

—Kristina

Torbjørn Ekelund did not write A Year in the Woods to drastically change your life, no matter that it might. Ekelund effortlessly describes how we are losing perspective on life entirely and that the natural world offers a place for us to reflect on all that exists outside of and beyond our individualistic society. This is a book you can pick up time and time again, especially when you need a gentle reminder to go breathe some forest (or beach) air.

—Kristina

Christian Cooper, known for the viral video of the Central Park racist birding incident, is so much more than that one moment, as his delightful memoir shows. A self-proclaimed Blerd (Black nerd), queer, activist, comic book–loving avid birder, Cooper takes us through his childhood, world travels, and time writing for Marvel, all while showing how birding has been his lifeline. His good nature, knowledge, enthusiasm, and helpful birding tips make this book as much life guide as memoir.  

—Melinda

Many of us are feeling run down, burnt out, and completely disconnected from ourselves—a shell of our former selves. In her book Rooted, Lyanda Haupt lays out her concept of living a Rooted life: “Rooted lives are radically intertwined with the vitality of the planet.” Each chapter features simple, easily accessible ways to bring awareness and connection to your life through nature, and hopefully help you become more Rooted along the way.  

—Kristina

Get ready, because Sarah Hart is an absolute nerd (I mean that in the best way). This (very) British mathematics professor absolutely adores her math—and adores her literature, too, and delightfully, exuberantly, showcases her passion for both. From mathematical structures of poetry and narrative (and critiques thereof) to mathematically minded characters, and with a multipage list of (fiction and nonfiction) book recommendations, Once Upon A Prime is unabashedly for nerds, celebrating the wonders of numbers and words, blithely inducting any uninitiated from one world to the other.  —JOCELYN

I was drawn to this book after reading and enjoying Steve Brusatte’s previous work, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. I learned so much from this new book and kept pestering my boyfriend with random mammal facts (did you know bats are the only flying mammals, ever??!!). Brusatte’s writing is intelligent and unpretentious and imbues a freshness into a field that often comes across as stuffy and archaic. I think it's fair to compare this to The Dawn of Everything but instead of focusing only on humans, it’s about all of Mammal-kind.  —JADE