BVBook Verdict

Nonfiction

The Natural World

Nature writing and environmental reckoning, by turns lyrical and urgent.

14 books · ranked

  1. 1

    Silent Spring

    Rachel Carson · 1962 · Nature & Environment

    The book that exposed the cost of pesticides and helped launch the environmental movement; calm and devastating.

  2. 2

    The Sixth Extinction

    Elizabeth Kolbert · 2014 · Nature & Environment

    The mass extinction unfolding now, reported from the field; sobering, clear and Pulitzer-winning.

  3. 3

    Walden

    Henry David Thoreau · 1854 · Nature & Environment

    Two years living simply by a pond; the founding text of American nature writing and self-reliance.

  4. 4

    Underland

    Robert Macfarlane · 2019 · Nature & Environment

    A journey into the worlds beneath our feet, from caves to catacombs; gorgeous, profound nature writing.

  5. 5

    H Is for Hawk

    Helen Macdonald · 2014 · Nature & Environment

    Training a goshawk while grieving a father; a fierce, beautiful memoir of nature and loss.

  6. 6

    The Hidden Life of Trees

    Peter Wohlleben · 2015 · Nature & Environment

    How forests communicate and cooperate; a charming popular-science look at the woods.

  7. 7

    Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

    Annie Dillard · 1974 · Nature & Environment

    A year of close, ecstatic attention to a Virginia valley; meditative nature writing of the highest order.

  8. 8

    A Girl of the Limberlost

    Gene Stratton-Porter · 1909 · Nature & Environment

    Wherein Elnora goes to high school and learns many lessons not found in her books

  9. 9

    A New Voyage Round the World

    William Dampier · 1697 · Nature & Environment

    " An unabridged and unaltered republication of the work published... in 1927." Bibliographical footnotes.

  10. 10

    Baby Einstein

    Julie Aigner-Clark · 2001 · Nature & Environment

    Lush photographs of animals from all over the world introduce children to the wonders of nature and stimulate their interest in the world around them. Baby Noah builds on children's natural curiosity

  11. 11

    Biogeography

    C. Barry Cox · 1973 · Nature & Environment

    "Biologists searching for a resource that explores all of the exciting changes that have occurred recently in the field will turn to this eighth edition. It offers insight into the multidisciplinary n

  12. 12

    Cape Cod

    Henry David Thoreau · 1864 · Nature & Environment

    Thoreau's account of his travels and explorations on Cape Cod is considered his most genial book, and one of his most appealing. Published in 1865 after his death, Thoreau's CAPE COD remains an indisp

  13. 13

    Facundo, or, civilization and barbarism

    Domingo Faustino Sarmiento · 1868 · Nature & Environment

    "Written in political exile by one of Argentina's greatest statesmen and intellectuals and long known to English-speaking readers as Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants, Facundo

  14. 14

    Frygt og Bæven

    Søren Kierkegaard · 1843 · Nature & Environment

    Frygt og Bæven er et filosofisk værk af Søren Kierkegaard, udgivet 16. oktober 1843 under pseudonymet Johannes de Silentio. Værket er en udvidet meditation over Mosebog 22, også kendt som Isaks bindin

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