Books About Nature for Readers Who Find Magic in the Outdoors
Why Nature Books Speak to the Little Infinite Bleeding Hearts
At Little Infinite, we believe the natural world is one of the greatest sources of creativity and calm. Books about nature capture that feeling — the breath between pages, the quiet reflection, the grounding sense of presence. This curated list blends bestselling nonfiction with a touch of atmospheric fiction, offering readers a chance to reconnect with wonder, observation, and meaning.
Whether you’re drawn to poetic reflections on the environment, moving personal narratives, or immersive stories shaped by the wild, this list is crafted for the contemplative, creative Little Infinite audience who craves resonance, intention, and beautifully written prose.
This Rich Mix of Books About Nature Include:
Bestselling nature nonfiction from beloved writers
Meditative books about solitude, seasons, healing, and connection
A few fiction selections with strong nature-driven settings or themes
Voices that blend lyricism, personal growth, and environmental insight
- Environmental Activism
Step into the Wild:
Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature
by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * TIME 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2025
“An antidote to the loneliness of our species.”-ROBIN WALL KIMMERER
“A master class in how to love the world.”–MARGARET RENKL
A thrilling book about the abounding queerness of the natural world that challenges our expectations of what is normal, beautiful, and possible.
Growing up, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian felt most at home in the swamps and culverts near her house in the Hudson Valley. A child who frequently felt out of place, too much of one thing or not enough of another, she found acceptance in these settings, among other amphibious beings. In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her–and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.
Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing
by Lili Taylor
Eye-opening essays about searching for peace in the cacophony of birds and discovering a world of meaning in small moments–from award-winning actor Lili Taylor.
“By turns introspective, inquisitive, and funny, the book is a love letter to nature and the solace it can provide.”–The New Yorker
Most people don’t really know birds–or rather, they aren’t aware of them. Lili Taylor used to be one of those people. She knew birds existed. She thought about them, maybe even more than the average person. But she didn’t know them. And then something happened.
During a much-needed break from her work as an actor, Lili sought silence and instead found the bustling, symphonic world of birds that had always existed around her. Since then, she has kept a keen eye pressed to her binoculars in search of vivid stories that elevate the everyday, if only one pays attention.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
by Amy Tan – David Allen Sibley
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – From the author of The Joy Luck Club comes a gorgeous and witty exploration of birding and nature. This inspiring work cultivates hope and connection, revealing the rhythms of our world and uncovering its beauty hidden in plain sight. – With a foreword by David Allen Sibley
Tracking the natural beauty that surrounds us, The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birding and the natural wonders of the world.
In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world: Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater–an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.
What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird
by Sy Montgomery
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A charming and eye-opening exploration of the special relationship between humans and chickens from Sy Montgomery, “one of our finest chroniclers of the natural world” (The New York Times).
For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery–whose The Soul of an Octopus was a National Book Award finalist–has kept a flock of chickens in her backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality (outgoing or shy, loud or quiet, reckless or cautious) and connects with Sy in her own way.
In this short, delightful book, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals all the things that make chickens such remarkable creatures: only hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run, and peck; relationships are important to them and the average chicken can recognize more than one hundred other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information through at least twenty-four distinct calls. Visitors to her home are astonished by all this, but for Sy what’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially considering there are about twenty percent more chickens on earth than people.
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.
As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth–its abundance of sweet, juicy berries–to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
Yuck: The Birth & Death of the Weird & Wondrous Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia
by Barret Baumgart
Are you headed to Joshua Tree this summer? Get ready to hate your life. It’s not the heat that will wilt your spirit, nor the choke of traffic waiting to trample the park, but the enduring grotesquerie of its cherished namesake, the Joshua Tree.
“One can scarcely find a term of ugliness that is not apt for this plant… A landscape filled with Joshua Trees has a nightmare effect even in broad daylight: at the witching hour it can be almost infernal.” -Joseph Smeaton Chase, 1919
Similarly, few terms exist that do not fit Barret Baumgart’s appalling YUCK. Part prose poem, pamphlet, collage, history, essay, memoir, and fiction, YUCK is a grotesque malformation beset with uncanny connections, jarring juxtaposition, and a buried true history that will have you asking yourself the big questions, particularly… Why am I here?
In the Circle of Ancient Trees: Our Oldest Trees and the Stories They Tell
by Valerie Trouet – Blaze Cyan
“In these exquisitely illustrated pages, we hear from ten explorers who clamber down cliffs, traverse bogs, and dodge killer bees to study the world’s greatest plants.”–Oliver Uberti, author of Atlas of the Invisible and Where the Animals Go
From the Giant Sequoia to the Bald Cypress, this captivating book explores the stories of 10 species of ancient trees, their unique environments, and what they have to tell us about the history of our world.
Ingrained and encrypted in the growth rings of every tree are stories of its environment and the events to which it bore witness. In the Circle of Ancient Trees presents the stories of ten ancient tree varieties in engrossing chapters written by ecologists with specialist knowledge. From the Bosnian pine to the giant sequoia, from the United States, to Europe, to South America, these essays explore how human and environmental history share common roots, while drilling down into the ecology, persistence, and resilience of trees.
Beautifully designed, and illustrated with wood-engravings and graphics that visualize each tree’s chronology and geography, In the Circle of Ancient Trees considers what lessons for our future might be discovered in our planet’s past.
What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds
by Jennifer Ackerman
An instant New York Times bestseller!
A New York Times Notable Book of 2023
Named a Best Book of 2023 by Publishers Weekly
From the author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific investigation into owls–the most elusive of birds–and why they exert such a hold on human imagination
With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Some two hundred sixty species of owls exist today, and they reside on every continent except Antarctica, but they are far more difficult to find and study than other birds because they are cryptic, camouflaged, and mostly active at night. Though human fascination with owls goes back centuries, scientists have only recently begun to understand the complex nature of these extraordinary birds.
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
by Sy Montgomery
A New York Times bestseller from the author of The Good Good Pig
Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction * New York Times Bestseller * A Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year * One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodreads * Library Journal Best Sci-Tech Book of the Year * An American Library Association Notable Book of the Year
In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities–gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food.
Is a River Alive?
by Robert MacFarlane
Hailed in the New York Times as “a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence with the breathless ease of a master angler,” Robert Macfarlane brings his glittering style to a profound work of travel writing, reportage, and natural history. Is a River Alive? is a joyful, mind-expanding exploration of an ancient, urgent idea: that rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law.
Macfarlane takes readers on three unforgettable journeys teeming with extraordinary people, stories, and places: to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacular wild rivers of Canada–imperiled respectively by mining, pollution, and dams. Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream a mile from Macfarlane’s house, a stream who flows through his own years and days.
Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie
by Dave Hage – Josephine Marcotty
A vivid portrait of the American prairie, which rivals the rainforest in its biological diversity and, with little notice, is disappearing even faster
“This book describes–in loving, living prose–one of the world’s greatest and most important landscapes. And it does so while there’s still time to save some serious part of it.”–Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
The North American prairie is an ecological marvel, a lush carpet of grass that stretches to the horizon, and home to some of the nation’s most iconic creatures–bison, elk, wolves, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and bald eagles. Plants, microbes, and animals together made the grasslands one of the richest ecosystems on Earth and a massive carbon sink, but the constant expansion of agriculture threatens what remains.
The Possibility of Tenderness: A Jamaican Memoir of Plants and Dreams
by Jason Allen-Paisant
Finalist for the 2025 Wainwright Prize in Books about Nature Writing
From an exciting new voice in international literature, a profoundly moving memoir that explores the Black experience in the natural world and the transformative power of plants.
Jason Allen-Paisant grew up in the May Day Mountains of Jamaica. The cycles of his boyhood revolved around tending the plots of cabbage, tomatoes, and yams dotting the clay hillsides; playing beneath the cavernous roots of cotton trees; and climbing trunks of the fruit trees that fed him and his grandmother. But as a student of the literature of colonial England, in which the landscape of heather and moors has long been thought of as ideal, these years of subsistence and community evoked more shame than pride, and a language for the natural world that surrounded him remained elusive.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Readers Pick
#1 New York Times Bestseller
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings–asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass–offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
by Margaret Renkl
REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“A beautiful love letter to nature and the world around us.”–Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club September ’24 Pick)
THE PERFECT GIFT FOR NATURE LOVERS, BIRDERS, AND GARDENERS, WITH ORIGINAL COLOR ART THROUGHOUT * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * INDIE NEXT PICK
From the beloved New York Times opinion writer: a luminous book that traces the passing of seasons, both personal and natural.
In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons–from a crow spied on New Year’s Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year, to the lingering bluebirds of December, revisiting the nest box they used in spring–what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer.
Startlement: New and Selected Poems
by Ada Limón
A Los Angeles Times “Most Anticipated”
A USA TODAY “Must Read Poetry”
An essential collection spanning nearly twenty years of emphatic, fearlessly original poetry from one of America’s most celebrated living writers.
Drawing from six previously published books about nature–including widely acclaimed collections The Hurting Kind, The Carrying, and Bright Dead Things–as well as vibrant new work, Startlement exalts the mysterious. With a tender curiosity, Ada Limón wades into potent unknowns–the strangeness of our brief human lives, the ever-changing nature of the universe–and emerges each time with new revelations about our place in the world.
If you’re searching for books about nature that nourish the mind, spark creativity, and offer a moment of quiet in a busy world, this list delivers the perfect blend of poetry, reflection, and immersive storytelling. From bestselling nonfiction to nature-rich fiction, each title invites Little Infinite readers to step outside, look closer, and rediscover the beauty waiting in every leaf, river, and horizon.
