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Books chosen for our 2024 Nature Book Club discussions.

next Nature book club meeting: Jan. 29, 2024

Our next Nature Book Club meeting will be January 29, 2024, and will feature Anne LaBastille's book Woodswoman.  A young ecologist’s life in the log cabin she built herself in the Adirondack wilderness. From the back cover: Virginia Wildlife - It’s 277 pages are the kind of stuff that is just likely to turn you green with envy, send you into uncontrollable fits of daydreaming, or cause you to consider kicking yourself for not having done what she has.  Magnificent!  New Age Journal - If you like strong and successful images of womanhood, and if you like the woods, you will enjoy going backpacking with Anne LaBastille.  Dave Kowalewski will lead the discussion.
    The January 29, 2024 Nature Book Club session is free and open to the public, but it would help to know how many to expect. Please fill out the following form if you can attend the meeting:

Previously reviewed books:

  • Scott Weidensaul, A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds
  • Mitch Troutman, Bootleg Coal Rebellion
  • Marcia Bonta, Appalachian Spring
  • David Baron, The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature
  • Wallace J. Nichols, Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do
  • Eric Rutkow, American Canopy, Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation 
  • Kevin Bailey, Fishing Lessons: Artisanal Fisheries Around the World and the Future of our Oceans
  • Colin Jerolmack, Up to Heaven and Down to Hell
  • William Stolzenberg, The Heart of a Lion
  • John Vaillant: The Golden Spruce: A True Story Of Myth, Madness And Greed
  • John A. Shivik: Mousy Cats and Sheepish Coyotes: The Science of Animal Personalities
  • Kirk W. Johnson: The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
  • Abbey, Edward: Down the River
  • Fletcher, Colin:  The Man Who Walked Through Time
  • Hawkins, Paul:  The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (selected chapters)
  • Kimmerer, Robin:  Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants
  • Lose, Charles:  Vanishing Trout
  • McPhee, John:  The Founding Fish
  • Montgomery, Ben:  Grandma Gatewood’s Walk:  The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail
  • Montgomery, Sy:  The Soul of an Octopus
  • Pollan, Michael:  The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World
  • Stewart, Amy:  The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms
  • Stranahan. Susan Q.:  Susquehanna, River of Dreams
January 29, 2024: Anne LaBastille, Woodswoman 1976.  A young ecologist’s life in the log cabin she built herself in the Adirondack wilderness. From the back cover: Virginia Wildlife - It’s 277 pages are the kind of stuff that is just likely to turn you green with envy, send you into uncontrollable fits of daydreaming, or cause you to consider kicking yourself for not having done what she has.  Magnificent!  New Age Journal - If you like strong and successful images of womanhood, and if you like the woods, you will enjoy going backpacking with Anne LaBastille.  Dave Kowalewski will lead the discussion.

March 25, 2024:  Leigh Calvez, 2016. The Hidden Lives of Owls. The Science and Spirit of Nature's Most Elusive Birds.  This naturalist looks into their almost human eyes and shares her riveting and well-told adventures of owling. Informative as it is captivating, this book is a compelling window into the science and secrets of these guardians of the forest.  Sandy Costello will lead the discussion.

May 20, 2024  (a week early to avoid Memorial Day):  Douglas W. Tallamy,  Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, 2007.  Home gardens and landscaping can bridge the gaps between parks and preserves in providing habitat for native species. He explores the connections between plants and insects and how those relations are important to birds. Kathy Henne will lead the discussion.

July 29, 2024:  David Sedlak, Water for All: Global Solutions for a changing climate.  2023.  He takes a fresh look at the world's water crisis, and the existing and emerging solutions that can be used to solve the problem of too little water.  He offers an informed and hopeful approach for rethinking our assumptions about the way that water is managed;we can create a future with clean, abundant, and affordable water for all.  He writes well for a general audience.  Ann Fisher will lead the discussion.

September 30, 2024:  Cat Wars--The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer, by Peter P. Marra and Chris Santella, 2016.  The book explores why our cats are a danger to species diversity and human health.   There is mounting scientific evidence that in the U.S. alone, free-ranging cats are killing birds and other animals by the billions.  Cat Wars paints a revealing picture of a complex global problem―and proposes solutions that foresee a time when wildlife and humans are no longer vulnerable to the impacts of free-ranging cats.  Dave Hafer will lead the discussion

November 25, 2024: Mind of the Raven. Investigations and Adventures with Wolf Birds. By Bernd Heinrich. 1999. Heinrich involves the reader in his quest to get inside the mind of the raven. He adopts ravens to observe them closely and in their natural habitat. He studies their daily routines, painting a picture of the raven's world. His passion for ravens leads him around the world from New England to Germany and from Montana to Balfin Island high in the Arctic.  Barb Spaventa will lead the discussion​