Nature

A gripping story about a man-eating Amur tiger in Russia’s remote Far East and the people tasked with stopping it. Vaillant sets the story in the frozen wilderness of Primorye in 1997, where a tiger begins stalking and killing humans in what appears to be an act of calculated revenge. Yes, really. It’s incredible.

You might be surprised to learn that there was a time in the US when people thought that grizzly bears were harmless to humans; just giant mischievous Yogis that tried to steal picnic baskets from campers and otherwise left them alone. And you wouldn’t be surprised to hear about how that worked out. But the story of how it all came together in a single night with multiple bears in different locations is unreal. It’s like reading a slow-motion car crash where you know what’s coming and you can’t stop it. One of our coaches, Brad Overstreet, recently met Bert Gildart, one of the rangers in the book, on a hike in Montana. Bert, now around 85 years old, was four miles into a trail, by himself, using a walker.

I swear this book is so much more interesting than it sounds. Koeppel traces the journey that bananas take from tropical plantations to supermarket shelves, detailing how a single variety (the Cavendish) came to dominate the world market after the near-extinction of its predecessor, the Gros Michel. Along the way, he discusses the political power of “banana republics,” the environmental and labor costs of industrial agriculture, and the looming threat posed by plant diseases that could wipe out today’s monocultures.

A memoir of resilience and transformation by Australian Navy diver Paul de Gelder, who lost his right arm and leg in a shark attack during a training exercise in Sydney Harbor. De Gelder recounts his rough upbringing, his military career, and the harrowing 2009 incident, describing both the physical ordeal and the mental battle to rebuild his life.

An argument for rewilding, the practice of returning landscapes to a more natural state by allowing ecosystems to restore themselves and reintroducing lost species. Monbiot weaves personal adventure stories, from free diving to exploring remote Welsh hills, with ecological science and policy critique. He challenges conventional conservation methods that aim to freeze nature in a specific “managed” state, and instead advocates for wilder, self-regulating systems.

An investigation into the ongoing, human-driven mass extinction event, the sixth in Earth’s history. Kolbert combines field reporting from rainforests, oceans, and remote research stations with clear explanations of ecology and paleontology, tracing how species across the globe are disappearing at an unprecedented rate due to habitat loss, climate change, ocean acidification, and other human impacts.

This book argues that the health of our soils is crucial to addressing many of today’s most pressing challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, and food insecurity. Schwartz explores regenerative grazing, water cycles, and microbial life in the soil to demonstrate how restoring land through improved stewardship can serve as a powerful carbon sink and stabilize ecosystems. Similar to how Hidden Order or Complexity frames emergent systems, Schwartz shows how soil is a hidden driver of planetary stability. For those interested in ecological resilience and sustainability, it pairs well with other works on food and environment like Pollan’s Cooked or Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, but it’s focused less on the kitchen and more on the ground beneath our feet.

A classic work of environmental history that digs into the Dust Bowl as a human tragedy and an ecological and economic reckoning. Worster traces how farming practices, market pressures, and short-sighted policies turned the Southern Plains into a wasteland, and how those lessons reverberate into today. It’s less a personal narrative than Egan’s The Worst Hard Time and more an analysis of how culture, economy, and environment collide. Essential if you want to understand the Dust Bowl as a historical disaster and a case study in the unintended consequences of human ambition.

This is a treatise on climate change and how it’s not a distant, abstract issue. A section I found interesting is on agricultural systems, and how methods like “agroecology” that more closely mimic real, dynamic ecosystems with livestock intermixed with perennial plants can produce better food while improving the productivity of land and its resistance to extreme weather, while sequestering greater amounts of carbon and using less water.

Recounts Peter Matthiessen’s two-month trek through the Himalayas with field biologist George Schaller in search of the elusive snow leopard. Set in 1973, the journey takes them into remote, high-altitude regions of Nepal, where Matthiessen weaves vivid descriptions of the landscape and wildlife with insights into Tibetan Buddhism, grief, and self-discovery (his wife had recently died of cancer).

This book, recommended by Dr. Krista Scott Dixon (episode 67 of our podcast), teaches you how to see more in the forests around you. Gooley shows how to read what a tree’s shape, bark, branches, and surroundings reveal about its history, the local environment, and even weather patterns. It's filled with practical tips and clear explanations, and is perfect for nature lovers, hikers, or anyone who wants to sharpen their observational skills and deepen their connection to the wild.

Another KSD recommendation, this one is about how trees share resources, warn neighbors of danger, and even support aging or weaker members of their group. Scientific and gentle, this book transforms the woods into a living, social organism. It'll help you see that a forest is really an interconnected network, rather than a group of individual plants. It's a good companion to books about mycelial webs, such as Mycelium Running and Fantastic Fungi, by Paul Stamets.