Books chosen for our 2025 Nature Book Club discussions.
Next Nature book club meeting: Jan. 26, 2026
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January 26, 2026: Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, by Ben Goldfarb, 2024.
Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they’re practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb travels throughout the United States and around the world to investigate how roads have transformed our planet. A million animals are killed by cars each day in the U.S. alone, but as the new science of road ecology shows, the harms of highways extend far beyond roadkill. Creatures from antelope to salmon are losing their ability to migrate in search of food and mates; invasive plants hitch rides in tire treads; road salt contaminates lakes and rivers; and the very noise of traffic chases songbirds from vast swaths of habitat. Yet road ecologists are also seeking to blunt the destruction through innovative solutions. Goldfarb meets with conservationists building bridges for California’s mountain lions and tunnels for English toads, engineers deconstructing the labyrinth of logging roads that web national forests, animal rehabbers caring for Tasmania’s car-orphaned wallabies, and community organizers working to undo the havoc highways have wreaked upon American cities. Today, as our planet’s road network continues to grow exponentially, the science of road ecology has become increasingly vital. Written with passion and curiosity, Crossings is a sweeping, spirited, and timely investigation into how humans have altered the natural world―and how we can create a better future for all living beings. Mark Hoffman will lead discussion. Meeting at the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper office at 112 Market Street, Sunbury, PA, and on Zoom. 7 p.m. Previously reviewed books:Check out the recorded video from our Sept. 29, 2025, Nature Book Club discussion on "On Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell" by Sy Montgomery:
Check out the record video from our July 28, 2025, Nature Book Club discussion on "Eager: The Secret, Surprising Life of Beavers and Why They Matter" by Ben Goldfarb:
Check out the recorded video from our May 19, 2025, Nature Book Club discussion on "In Praise of Poison Ivy" by Anita Sanchez:
Check out the recorded video from our March 31, 2025, Nature Book Club discussion on The Chesapeake Watershed: A Sense of Place And A Call to Action by Ned Tillman:
Check out the recorded video from our January 27, 2025, Nature Book Club discussion on "Wildlife Wars: The Life and Times of a Fish and Game Warden" by Terry Grosz:
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March 30: Written in Stone, by Chet and Maureen Raymo, 2001. In this journey through 500 million years, “Written in Stone” translates the slow motion of geologic time into a gripping account of the tearing down and reconstruction of the land, fossil records, past climates, the birth of oceans, the rifting of the ocean floor, the movement of glaciers, the evolution of plants and animals, and the coming of man—the forces that shaped our familiar landscape from New Jersey to Maine. Continents collide, oceans disappear, mountain ranges rise and fall, and mass extinctions decimate entire species. Written in vivid, non-technical prose by two university professors—a father and daughter team—the book traces the geologic changes in the American northeast since the continent perched on the equator and dinosaurs were young. An indispensable reference, including charts, maps, timelines & illustrations. Kathy Henne will lead discussion. Meeting at the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper office at 112 Market Street, Sunbury, PA, and on Zoom. 7 p.m.
May 18: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong, 2023. The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving only a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into previously unfathomable dimensions - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth's magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and humans that wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile's scaly face is as sensitive as a lover's fingertips, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries which lie unsolved. Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the threads of scent, waves of electromagnetism and pulses of pressure that surround us. Because in order to understand our world we don't need to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes. Don Krech will lead discussion. Meeting at the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper office at 112 Market Street, Sunbury, PA, and on Zoom. 7 p.m. July 27: Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201 Mile Journey following the Monarch Migration by Sara Dykman, 2021. Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle alongside monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration—a round-trip adventure that included three countries and more than 10,000 miles. Equally remarkable, she did it solo, on a bike cobbled together from used parts. Sandy Costello will lead discussion. Meeting at the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper office at 112 Market Street, Sunbury, PA, and on Zoom. 7 p.m. September 28: Night Magic, by Leigh Ann Henion, 2024. In this celebration of the night, New York Times bestselling nature writer Leigh Ann Henion invites us to leave our well-lit homes, step outside, and embrace the dark as a profoundly beautiful part of the world we inhabit. Because no matter where we live, we are surrounded by animals that rise with the moon, and blooms that reveal themselves as light fades. Henion explores her home region of Appalachia, where she attends a synchronous firefly event in Tennessee, a bat outing in Alabama, and a moth festival in Ohio. In North Carolina, she finds forests alight with bioluminescent mushrooms, neighborhood trees full of screech owls, and valleys teeming with migratory salamanders. Along the way, Henion encounters naturalists, biologists, primitive-skills experts, and others who’ve dedicated their lives to cultivating relationships with darkness. Ann Fisher will lead discussion. Meeting at the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper office at 112 Market Street, Sunbury, PA, and on Zoom. 7 p.m. November 30: American Chestnut, The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree, by Susan Freinkel, 2007. The American chestnut was one of America's most common, valued, and beloved trees-a "perfect tree" that ruled the forests from Georgia to Maine. But in the early twentieth century, an exotic plague swept through the chestnut forests with the force of a wildfire. Within forty years, the blight had killed close to four billion trees and left the species teetering on the brink of extinction. It was one of the worst ecological blows to North America since the Ice Age-and one most experts considered beyond repair. In American Chestnut, Susan Freinkel tells the dramatic story of the stubborn optimists who refused to let this cultural icon go. In a compelling weave of history, science, and personal observation, she relates their quest to save the tree through methods that ranged from classical plant breeding to cutting-edge gene technology. But the heart of her story is the cast of unconventional characters who have fought for the tree for a century, undeterred by setbacks or skeptics, and fueled by their dreams of restored forests and their powerful affinity for a fellow species. LaDorna Pfaff will lead discussion. Meeting at the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper office at 112 Market Street, Sunbury, PA, and on Zoom. 7 p.m. Please note that at our Nov. 30, 2026, meeting, we will be discussing and voting on books for our 2027 book club discussions. If you have a book to recommend, please contact book club organizer Ann Fisher via email. |
