Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Share and discuss book ideas for
Task 13: Read a nonfiction book about nature or the environment.

I plan to read Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs.

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year is what I'm reading

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes was really good.

I'll probably try to read either Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants or The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Silent Spring

I'm planning on The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World or The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth.

This is an area I want to be reading more in as I don't have as much experience as I would like with it. There's so many books in this vein I want to get to. Sincerely hoping to read multiple from this category.

Currently considering The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet by Leah Thomas, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells, There’s Something In The Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities by Ingrid R.G. Waldron, A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington, Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis by Annie Proulx... honestly, this is only the tip of the iceberg for stuff that's on my physical shelves at home and on my goodreads TBR.

I want to read The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown from my TBR

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures has been on my TBR for a while so I'm going with it.

Going to dip my toes into Mary Roach's writing for this one: "Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law."

I'm going with Atlas Obscura: Wild Life: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Living Wonders

Would An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us work for this? It's more about animals than nature although they are pretty connected.

I finished The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains and it is really well done.

I read Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther for this prompt.

Alex wrote: "Would An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us work for this? It's more about animals than nature although they are pretty connected."

This definitely looks like it would count!

Tammy wrote: "Alex wrote: "Would An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us work for this? It's more about animals than nature although they are pretty connected."

Th..."
Thank you!

I have a children's book for this one, Tsunamis & Seiches.

I've been meaning to read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and I may use this as my #9 choice.

I chose A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters for this one.

Robin wrote: "I've been meaning to read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and I may use this as my #9 choice."


Ooh, that looks like a good one for me as well. It's not a trail I've been on, but I have an interest in long trails after working crew on the Appalachian Trail right after college.

I read book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants|17465709] by Robin Wall Kimmerer. 2/22/25

I chose The Soul Of An Octopus for this prompt.

I really enjoyed The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone’s Underdog about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone

I read Walden, or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau

I read The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

Rebecca wrote: "I'm planning on The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World or The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of..."</i>

I read [book:The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. It was a short and good read.

I wasn't expecting Gender Is Really Strange to fit this category, but there's a great deal of information on the biological complexity of sex and gender that I didn't know before. I learned a lot about chromosomal variations and the rate and variations of biological intersex identities in human beings.

I read A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold

I debated which task I was going to use this for (I generally don't double dip, personally, and my local indie bookstore had it as a staff pick), but I've read The Serviceberry by Robin Wall-Kimmerer and decided to use it for this task (especially since I have a personal challenge that includes a task that will work with many of the things I had thought of reading for this task as well). I enjoyed it!