Exceptional Books discussion

So far, one of my favorite books encompasses both science and nature and much more. "A Primate's Memoir" also fits in other genres. There are many exceptional science and nature books. Which ones do you think are exceptional?

Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body and The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher are my favorites; written with humor and so that a layman can understand.

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World is a good one also.

These sound like good ones, Almeta. Exceptional Books is going to make my wishlist longer or I'll be raiding the library.

There's a new book out entitled, Bats Sing, Mice Giggle by Karen Shanor and Jagmeet Kanwal. It promises to be a good one from early reviews.

I can think of several that are really exceptional: "Tarka, the Otter" by Henry Williamson, "The Peregrine" by J.A. Baker, "The Ancestor's Tale, by Richard Dawkins, and "Krakatoa" by Simon Winchester, just to name a few.

Thanks Karen!

I love science and nature books and the ones that really stand out for me are ones where facts and ideas are explored but in a poetic, descriptive way. I especially like travel/nature memoirs where the author explores his/her reaction to a place, an event, a species/idea while travelling. This said..I would list the following as the most transcendent books I have read:
Arctic Dreams - Barry Lopez
Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek - Annie Dillard
The Bill McKibben Reader - Bill McKibben
The Secret Pulse of Time - Stefan Klein
The Whale by Moonlight - Diane Ackerman
People of the Deer - Farley Mowat
The Sixth Extinction - Terry Glavin
End of the Earth - Peter Matthiessen
The Way - Edward Goldsmith
So Shall We Reap - Colin Tudge
The Whole Hog - Lyall Watson
The Flight of the Iguana - David Quammen
The Big Year - Mark Obmascik
A People's History of Science - Clifford Connor
Hare Brain Tortoise Mind - Guy Claxton
Oak - William Bryant Logan
Carnivorous Nights - Margaret Mittelbach
Sweetness and Light - Hattie Ellis
Gum - Ashley Hay
Eve's Seed - Robert McElvaine
Seven Life Lessons of Chaos - J Briggs
The Web of Life - Fritjof Capra
By the Light of an Ancient Sun - Thom Hartmann
The Way of Ignorance - Wendell Berry
The Worst Journey in the World - Aspley Cherry Gerard
The Alphabet and the Goddess - Leonard Shlain
The Desert Smells like Rain - Gary Paul Nabhan

Thanks for this list, Lisa. A couple of these are on my To Read list or Wishlist. I'll explore the rest; I love science books, too.

Sharon wrote: "Thanks for this list, Lisa. A couple of these are on my To Read list or Wishlist. I'll explore the rest; I love science books, too."

The books I listed are all over the place, subject wise but they were all well written. They're not dry old science stuff filled with diagrams or tables ...I tend to avoid those. They make you want to go out and explore the birds, trees and rivers around you.