Reader's Corner: Nature & Environment
Looking for a good book to read but don't know where to start? This guide covers popular, award-winning, and just plain great nonfiction and fiction genres and books.
Staff Picks
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest--a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she's been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls of James Cameron's Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Now, in her first book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths--that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own. Simard writes--in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways--how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about the future; elicit warnings and mount defenses, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication, characteristics ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies--and at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them. Simard writes of her own life, born and raised into a logging world in the rainforests of British Columbia, of her days as a child spent cataloging the trees from the forest and how she came to love and respect them--embarking on a journey of discovery, and struggle. And as she writes of her scientific quest, she writes of her own journey--of love and loss, of observation and change, of risk and reward, making us understand how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology, that it is about understanding who we are and our place in the world, and, in writing of her own life, we come to see the true connectedness of the Mother Tree that nurtures the forest in the profound ways that families and human societies do, and how these inseparable bonds enable all our survival.
Call Number: SD411.52.S56 A3 2021Publication Date: 2021-05-04
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by
What's to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology. Roach tags along with animal-attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and "danger tree" faller blasters. Intrepid as ever, she travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter's Square in the early hours before the pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display. She taste-tests rat bait, learns how to install a vulture effigy, and gets mugged by a macaque. Combining little-known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and trespassing squirrels, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature's lawbreakers. When it comes to "problem" wildlife, she finds, humans are more often the problem--and the solution. Fascinating, witty, and humane, Fuzz offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat.
Call Number: QL85 .R623 2021Publication Date: 2021-09-14
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by
NATIONAL BESTSELLER The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity's transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it? RECOMMENDED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA AND BILL GATES * SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR WRITING * ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post * ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, Esquire, Smithsonian Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal * "Beautifully and insistently, Kolbert shows us that it is time to think radically about the ways we manage the environment."--Helen Macdonald, The New York Times That man should have dominion "over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it's said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. Along the way, she meets biologists who are trying to preserve the world's rarest fish, which lives in a single tiny pool in the middle of the Mojave; engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a "super coral" that can survive on a hotter globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth. One way to look at human civilization, says Kolbert, is as a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature. In The Sixth Extinction, she explored the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world. Now she examines how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation. By turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic, Under a White Sky is an utterly original examination of the challenges we face.
Call Number: GF75 .K65 2021Publication Date: 2021-02-09
Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-human Landscape by
A beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence. "[Flyn] captures the dread, sadness, and wonder of beholding the results of humanity's destructive impulse, and she arrives at a new appreciation of life, 'all the stranger and more valuable for its resilence.'" --The New Yorker Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander a long-abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere else on earth in the Korean peninsula's narrow DMZ. Cal Flyn, an investigative journalist, exceptional nature writer, and promising new literary voice visits the eeriest and most desolate places on Earth that due to war, disaster, disease, or economic decay, have been abandoned by humans. What she finds every time is an "island" of teeming new life: nature has rushed in to fill the void faster and more thoroughly than even the most hopeful projections of scientists. Islands of Abandonment is a tour through these new ecosystems, in all their glory, as sites of unexpected environmental significance, where the natural world has reasserted its wild power and promise. And while it doesn't let us off the hook for addressing environmental degradation and climate change, it is a case that hope is far from lost, and it is ultimately a story of redemption: the most polluted spots on Earth can be rehabilitated through ecological processes and, in fact, they already are.
Call Number: QH541.15.R45 F59 2021Publication Date: 2021-06-01
A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds by
New York Times Bestseller An exhilarating exploration of the science and wonder of global bird migration. In the past two decades, our understanding of the navigational and physiological feats that enable birds to cross immense oceans, fly above the highest mountains, or remain in unbroken flight for months at a stretch has exploded. What we've learned of these key migrations--how billions of birds circumnavigate the globe, flying tens of thousands of miles between hemispheres on an annual basis--is nothing short of extraordinary. Bird migration entails almost unfathomable endurance, like a sparrow-sized sandpiper that will fly nonstop from Canada to Venezuela--the equivalent of running 126 consecutive marathons without food, water, or rest--avoiding dehydration by "drinking" moisture from its own muscles and organs, while orienting itself using the earth's magnetic field through a form of quantum entanglement that made Einstein queasy. Crossing the Pacific Ocean in nine days of nonstop flight, as some birds do, leaves little time for sleep, but migrants can put half their brains to sleep for a few seconds at a time, alternating sides--and their reaction time actually improves. These and other revelations convey both the wonder of bird migration and its global sweep, from the mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China to the remote mountains of northeastern India to the dusty hills of southern Cyprus. This breathtaking work of nature writing from Pulitzer Prize finalist Scott Weidensaul also introduces readers to those scientists, researchers, and bird lovers trying to preserve global migratory patterns in the face of climate change and other environmental challenges. Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork, in A World on the Wing Weidensaul unveils with dazzling prose the miracle of nature taking place over our heads.
Call Number: QL698.9 .W455 2021Publication Date: 2021-03-30
Nature & Environmental Booklists in the BPL Online Catalog
- On Birds & BirdingWould you like to learn more about birds and bird watching in the Northeast? Check out these resources on one of America's most popular outdoor activities.
- Earth Stories: 13 Microhistories of the Natural WorldThere is a lot of history in our planet's 4.6 billion years. Check out a book below and read up on topics like rain, coyotes, salt, and colors! These titles may be available in other languages or formats. Check our catalog for availability.
- Wild & Beautiful BeastsAnimals are the most beautiful beasts on earth. From colorful birds to incredible sea creatures, this list offers a glimpse into their fascinating, natural worlds, including their relationships with humans. They are wild, but absolutely beautiful, and deserve our respect. Become an animal lover!
- Our Natural World: 23 Contemporary Titles for the Nature LoverA selection of contemporary titles that showcase the diversity of our world.
- The National Park ServiceAugust 25, 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service (NPS). Join in celebrating the centennial by learning more about the NPS; planning a trip to one of the many parks, monuments, and historic sites the NPS takes care of; or enjoying some armchair travel with this collection of histories, guides, memoirs, biographies, and fiction works.
- Mother Nature SpeaksLately, it seems, Mother Nature has been trying to get our attention. So why aren't we heeding her warnings? This list brings you the wonders of nature, along with ways to listen to Mother Earth--before it's too late.
- Boston's Parks, Gardens, and Green SpacesBoston urban planners have always recognized the health, environmental, social, and economic benefits of retaining open space for the use of the citizens. In 1634, the Boston Common was assigned to be used by the inhabitants as a cow pasture and training ground. In the nineteenth century, a system of interconnected parks known as the "Emerald Necklace" was developed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Stretching from the Back Bay to Dorchester, they were designed to connect people to nature. In contemporary times, support has been give to the development of community gardens, urban farms, green roofs, and more, Use the resources below to find out more about the history, and current uses, of Boston's green spaces.
- Elephants: 11 Books About the World's Largest Land MammalElephants are fascinating creatures that have a lot to teach us about their lives and culture, as well as our own. These books chronicle the lives of both wild and captive elephants as well as the people whose lives they have changed. Borrow one for an eye-opening read today!
- On Nature: EssaysExplore the natural world with these essay collections from classic and contemporary nature writers.
- At Home in the Wild: Nature Documentaries10 great nature documentaries that will introduce you to some of the wonders of the natural world.