Readers, as we approached the 2020 summer reading season, I never thought that I’d do most of my “beach reading” seated in a camping chair, surrounding by birds and trees instead of soothing ocean waves. But I am here for it.
I’ve always enjoyed fresh air and beautiful scenery, but this year the outdoors feels even more vital to my mental health. Not only has camping provided a much-needed, low-risk respite from daily decision-making and pandemic-related stress—it’s also given me a greater appreciation for the beauty of my home state, simple trips that interrupt routine, and the giant exhale I feel when I’m in the woods with—crucially—terrible cell phone reception.
We’re just home from a stinking hot but still pretty great camping trip to Red River Gorge, where I thoroughly enjoyed reading an outdoorsy Appalachian novel and a not-a-bit-outdoorsy Regency romance with my feet in a blissfully chilly creek. (Did I mention it was stinking hot out?)
We’re not leaving town again anytime soon—at least not physically. But when I need a spontaneous outdoor adventure, I’ll turn again to books, as I so often do. Today I’m sharing 14 books that will take us on epic journeys, celebrate the beauty of nature, and help us connect to the natural world. With a mix of memoir, fiction, and detailed histories, this selection features a wide variety of nature experiences.
I hope you find a book (or four) that feels like a deep breath of fresh, clean air—or that vicariously takes you on a harrowing adventure.
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14 books to inspire your next outdoor adventure
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park
End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants
Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing
A Walk in the Woods
The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring
The Signature of All Things
Underland: A Deep Time Journey
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape
H Is for Hawk
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
The Overstory
Harry’s Trees
What are YOUR favorite outdoorsy reads? Share your recommendations in comments!
P.S. Enjoy 15 absorbing nonfiction books to inspire your inner scientist and 15 books for budding botanists. Plus, 20 travel memoirs to take you around the world.
84 comments
Oooh, thank you for this list! I want to read them ALL!
I recently finished Greenwood by Michael Christie, a wonderful literary, multi-generational family saga. “And throughout, there are trees…”
I read that book last year and immediately bought several copies to give to friends and family. I love that Michael Christie challenges readers to plant a tree in the afterward.
Hope is a Thing With Feathers, about vanished bird species, is a good book. The Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver, a especially good to read on a porch on summer nights. And everyone should read Rachel Carson’s classic Silent Spring.
I second Prodigal Summer!
Anything by Edwin Way Teale is delightful! The Bluebird Effect by Zickefoose is another fun read, especially if you enjoy watching the birds in your own yard/at your own feeder.
I’d like to add “Walking with Atticus” For outdoor AND dog lovers!
I meant “Following Atticus”
At the beginning of the pandemic I read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey published in 1968. The autobiography relays Abbey’s time as a park ranger in Arches National Park in the late 1950’s. The tales told within his story are interesting and his description of the park is breathtaking. I was pleasantly surprised with this book and highly recommend it.
I love that book!
Someone I just met recommended that book to me as we were talking about nature books we love. Thanks for the reminder.
Robin Wall Kimmerer was the Ologist on a recent episode of the Ologies podcast. It was the “Bryology” episode.
Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer” and also “Flight Behavior” would be great additions to this list!
Ohhh, I am SO EXCITED about this list!! I read Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods during my last camping trip; it was such a fun read (especially his commentary about his hiking partner-HILARIOUS!), but I probably shouldn’t have stayed up late reading it after everyone else had gone to bed—as funny as parts of it were, there were also some rather harrowing parts! Harry’s Trees is also one of my all time favorites (one of those rare books that I actually hugged when it ended). I can’t wait to check out some of these others!! Thanks, Anne!
I LOVED Harry’s Trees and would add the fiction novel The River, by Peter Heller as a great transport yourself to nature book with a little adventure and anxiety.
Ooooh these all look so good!
Some outdoor/nature books that I love are
* The Hidden Life Of Trees- everything you never knew about trees and forests. It’s non-fiction and based entirely on science but makes the woods magic like no other book I’ve read.
* A Walk Across America- the classic memoir of a disillusioned hippy finding himself and America by walking. A must-read in my humble opinion.
The Hidden Life of Trees is one of my favourites! It has made look at trees with whole new eyes.
I always think of myself as a fiction reader so I was surprised by how many of these I have read (completely different from each other but both beautifully written, I highly recommend both H is for Hawk and The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating). But I recently became hooked on Kathleen Jamie’s books of essays, mainly about being outdoors in Scotland – Findings, Sightlines, and Surfacing. She’s better known as a poet, but I prefer her prose. I also liked The Library of Ice: readings from a cold climate, by Nancy Campbell.
I would add A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean. A poignant story with beautiful descriptions of rivers and fly fishing.
Oh, that is one of my all time favorites.
Oh Yes! I loved ‘A River Runs Through It,’ and it’s a short read too.
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center is a great feel good novel that has a bunch of epic outdoor adventures!
Many podcasts ago, Anne recommended a nonfiction book about measuring the height of trees as one that read like a novel. I can’t remember or find that podcast or rec–anyone know the title?
Bushra, it’s here in this post! The Wild Trees by Richard Preston.
Thank you!
I just finished and recommend Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail. Please note that this is part nature story of the AT and part biography of Emma Gatewood’s personal life. Very interesting woman and history of AT.
Bringing nature inside and adding some music: Mozart’s Starling by Haupt. Mozart head a starling singing the motif of his composition and brings the bird home. Starlings are a nuisance bird for North America, but it hasn’t always been this way.
Mozart’s Starling sounds fascinating!
I loved it!
One of my favorite reads. I’m inspired by the spunk of the old gal taking on the Appalachian Trail in her 60’s -but, oh, the backstory…
The first book that came to my mind was Kristin Hannah’s “The Great Alone” for it’s beautiful depiction of the Alaskan wilderness.
I agree. Loved that one.
I recently read and really enjoyed “The Great Alone.”
I read The Overstory and Underland last year as companion reads, and they are both phenomenal–especially if you need to add a little wonder into your life. I was on a kick of reading books about trees (Harry’s Trees, The Hidden Life of Trees, and the middle grade book Wishtree were all in there). I’d also add Lab Girl to this list, especially on audio. Hope Jahren has some beautiful descriptions of the wonders of nature.
Loved I Know Where the Crawdads Sing for many things, but especially its description of nature and its inhabitants.
Just finished that one, what a great read! What spirit!!
I would add Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams (Yes, of Hitchhiker fame) and Mark Carwardine. It is about the quest to see animals that were at the time in danger of extinction. Now the situation is even more dire.
Deep Creek by Pam Houston is a memoir about her buying a remote ranch in Colorado and the struggles and beauty of living out there: Fires and animals and history and views!
For ideas on adventuring with your kids, I recommend Adventuring Together by Greta Eskeridge.
Anything by Sigurd Olsen. He spent lots of time canoeing in the wilderness and writing about his experiences.
Backpacking With the Saints by Belden C.Lane is one of my all time favorites. And I second the person who mentioned Edwin Way Teale; his series of books about traveling through the U.S. in all of the four seasons are full of information about the natural world, and also I came to love he and his wife Nellie who made all the journeys with him.
Leave Only Footprints! After reading this post, I downloaded a sample & began reading…then I promptly downloaded the audible version and headed outside for yard work. Awesome read/listen (only through chapter 4 but SO enjoying it)! So glad you shared this list! I may never visit all the National Parks but the stories help me feel like I have! Takes a bit to lean into the author’s voice but then I really appreciate hearing his story, his words in his voice.
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. It’s non-fiction and I believe won the Pulitzer. It’s amazing.
Yes! I was going to recommend that, too. Beautiful nature writing.
Great suggestion!
I read Harry’s Trees after it was recommended on your podcast. It is now one of my favourite books of all time, and I find myself recommending it to all of my reading friends. I love when books leave me with a warm sense of hope and wellbeing.
The Smithsonian will have an exhibit opening this year about Alexander von Humboldt and recently had a great podcast about him: https://www.si.edu/sidedoor/ep-2-last-man-who-knew-it-all.
Thanks for a great book list. I also recommend “Writing Wild: Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World” by Kathryn Aalto. It will keep you in book titles and authors to explore for a dozen trips.
Because of it I’m currently reading, “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains,” by Isabella L. Bird, and “Wanderlust: A History of Walking” by Rebecca Solnit. Also Nan Shepherd’s, “The Living Mountain,” a brilliant classic and Robert MacFarlane’s most recommended and lent book.
Henry David Thoreau and John Muir immediately transport me beyond my Little House on 2 1/2 acres.
My favorite recent nature book, without doubt is Sound of A Wild Snail Eating. Superb story! Although not new, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard is great. Anything by John Muir is well worth it–you can get them free for Kindle. Exceptional writing.
I was not prepared for the “other” story in H Is for Hawk. Very raw and sexual. I was not prepared to learn about in a book on Hawking. I have long admired TH White’s writings, but I could have gone a lifetime not learning some of what I learned in that book about him. The Hawk parts of the book were a magnificent look at those birds. I have re-read many of those parts of the book since.
Signature of All Things had so much prurient sexual content I nearly gave up. It should have been a great read, but had stuff put into the story to “shock” that just annoyed.
Are any of these suitable for a young (9yo) nature lover?
Try ‘My Side of the Mountain’ by Jean Craighead George.
My daughter found a copy of My Side of the Mountain at our rental cabin in the Adirondacks when she was about that age. She loved it.
I wouldn’t think so, but there are great suggestions here in the comments, like My Side of the Mountain.
Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright, about discovering a swamp that was once a lake, and the long-abandoned summer homes clustered around it. Great interactions between the kids and the elderly brother and sister who fell on hard times and returned to live there. My kids and I loved them!
Yes, Harry’s Trees was such a treat. Birds, Art, Life by Kyo Maclear is beautiful, too, a memoir about an artist who decides to spend a year birdwatching in the city.
I loved Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. Not all of it happens outdoors. But you’ll never look at trees the same way again. 🙂
Thank you for this list! The Overstory was my favorite read of 2019 because it changed how I view nature and caused me to make changes to how I live my life….a sign of a powerful book. It is not an “easy” read but it is beautifully written and worth the effort. I also really enjoyed Harry’s stress on your recommendation in another post and look forward to reading the others on this list. My other favorite nature book of the last year was Where The Crawdads Sing because of its intimate and loving exposure to me of that swampy landscape.
I loved The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, as well as anything Bill Bryson writes, and Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl. To all the books about trees, I have to add Rules for Visiting, by Jessica Francis Kane. The main character is a botanist/landscaper of sorts, and trees come into the story as personalities…a lot about trees here and a character I loved.
I would recommend The River by Peter Heller and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Looking forward to trying some of these others!
Two of my favorite nature books are A Very Small Farm by William Paul Winchester and Great Possessions by David Kline. Both books chronicle sustainable small scale farming, and the natural world the farmers interact with on a daily basis.
A much lesser known fiction book I recently read and loved is Take Me With You by Catherine Ryan Hyde. A lot of RVing involved with trips to national parks but the story itself is beautiful.
Definitely the classic young adult novel ‘My Side of the Mountain’ by Jean Craighead George, about a boy who runs away to live in a hollow tree in the Catskills.
I love this list! So many good ones, including one of my all-time favorites: Braiding Sweetgrass.
I had to stop reading The Overstory because it was stressing me out so much – it turns out that deforestation and cutting down ancient trees is a trigger for me!
I’m looking forward to diving into Leave Only Footprints as an antidote to my thwarted travel plans.
I’ve been wanting to read “The Sharp End of Life: A Mother’s Story” by Dierdre Wolownick and would love to hear if anyone else has read it. She is a runner and rock climber and became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan. Her son is Alex Honnold, who is amazing as well.
H is for Hawk was the first book our book club read. As mentioned earlier, interwoven with the story of loss and grief is another treatise on TH White and his book about training his first hawk. The book was not a favorite with anyone, but generated some great discussion, with different opinions on which parts (the personal memoir vs the literary commentary) were more enjoyable. I loved a Walk in the Woods, and keep meaning to read more of Bryson’s work, this may inspire me to search through my TBR for another of his titles.
Some of my favorite non-fiction nature reads are:
The Curious Naturalist – Sy Montgomery (also her Journey of the Pink Dolphins)
A Year in the Maine Woods – Bernd Heinrich
Birds by the Shore – Jennifer Ackerman (also The Genius of Birds)
On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor.
Part memoir of his hikes on the Appalachian trail and part science, history, philosophy, and nature writing. I found the majority of this book fascinating. The part about ants, maybe not so much.
A Place in the Woods, a memoir by Helen Hoover, of her years living with her husband in a cabin with no electricity in the Northwoods of Minnesota is a lovely and bracing read (it doesn’t sugar coat how hard the life was) that always makes me want to head out to the woods.
Hey Anne, it’s Fiona from Episode 110. I have an Australian book for the nature list – Island Home by Tim Winton. It is a ‘landscape memoir’. I hadn’t heard of that category before! It certainly speaks to the power of place and it is written incredibly beautifully.
Recommend The Salt Path, which I picked up based on a shelf talker in my local indie. It’s the middle age version of Wild set in the UK.
My husband and I read The Salt Path too. Thoroughly enjoyed that one!
Anything by John McPhee is fascinating. You need to be the kind of reader who loves lots of thorough descriptive detail to enjoy his writing, though. My favorites are Oranges, Encounters with the Archdruid, and The Control of Nature.
From your list, I’ve read A Walk in the Woods and liked it – I’d love to see the movie. My 31-year-old son hated it, though. His girlfriend, who works in a lab, hated Lab Girl and said all her co-workers disliked it, too.
I read Trace and it was hard going and far-ranging, but worthwhile. I had to read it a second time to fully appreciate it.
I abandoned The Invention of Nature after about 50 pages. Wulf writes with a scolding, school-marmish tone that I found annoying.
From the comments so far: yes to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and another Dillard book, Teaching a Stone to Talk, which has a wonderful account of a solar eclipse.
A Walk Across America was mostly enjoyable, but I wish I’d never read about what happened to his dog, Cooper. The Overstory is on my TBR shelf, but thanks for the trigger warning, Kate!
I recently read Braiding Sweetgrass and loved it. I’m definitely adding Trace to my TBR. Thanks for this list!
Thanks, Anne and everyone, for some great recommendations. Some I’ve read and some for the TBR List. I’ve been wanting to read “The Secret Life of Trees,” now I’ll have to find a copy. I was happy to see Kathleen Jamie’s books recommended; she has such a good eye and a great voice. I recommend anything by Robert Macfarlane, such a magnificent writer, though my favorites are “The Old Ways” and “The Wild Places.” Other suggestions – “The Outermost House” by Henry Beston; “The Solace of Open Spaces” by Gretel Ehrlich; “A Country Year” by Sue Hubbell; “Nature Cure” by Richard Mabey; “The Homing Instinct” by Bernd Heinrich. And, of course, there’s always “Walden.”
Yes to all of these! I love MacFarlane.
I’m Canadian and I read a lot of books written by Canadians. One that changed my life is Grass, Sky, Song by Trevor Herriot. It is part memoir, part report on the decline of songbirds in the prairies as natural prairie habitat gets used for cropland, oil wells and human habitation. It turned me into a birder and it also convinced me to source almost all of my animal protein from local producers who raise their animals on pastures instead of in buildings. Having grass fed cows, pigs and chickens is one of the best ways of keeping grassland available for birds.
I love this list, Anne! I am happy to see diverse authors included – thank you for that! There are some of my very favorite books on here including Harry’s Trees and The Overstory which you recommended to me! There are also some previous Alpine Trails Book Club picks as well.
I also want to thank you for including a link to Writing Wild in one of your emails recently, I was so excited that I ordered the book immediately and made it our August book club pick. 🙂
Barbara Kingsolver’s novels have a wonderful sense of the natural world. My favortite is “Prodigal Summer”, set in the Apalachians.
“The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben is awesome. It’s a keeper on my shelf 🙂
Oh, this is my kind of list. Thanks for sharing.
I found Harry’s Trees to be a book that stayed with me. I loved the audio version.
I would absolutely add Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery.
Such an incredible story!
I have loved a lot of books on list, but I felt compelled to leave a comment because I’m sorry, but I HATED The Signature of All Things. I was so excited for it based on the premise, although wary based on the author – and it turns out, I should have listened to my gut. It seems like Gilbert tried valiantly to do enough research to make the science plausible, but it was apparent that she doesn’t *quite* have a good enough grasp on the topics to make it work. I additionally found the protagonist unlikeable and deeply frustrating.
On a positive note – the Overstory is one of my all time favorites & I’m about halfway through Braiding Sweetgrass and enjoying it immensely.