Here are 100 books that Eat, Poop, Die fans have personally recommended if you like
Eat, Poop, Die.
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In Vermont’s Green Mountains, wildlife, forests, ponds, and rivers were a given. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love animals, exploring wild places, and, in my case, drawing. Inspiring eye rolls from my grandfather, when he took us fishing, I was often more interested in the Lilliputian worlds along the shorelines. That led to biology, and the rapid development Vermont experienced in the ‘60s stirred a deep concern for conservation. However, graduate school plans were sidetracked when my lab drawings unexpectedly launched me into art. Along the way, hiking, camping, canoeing, cross-country and track gave me the skills and conditioning to tackle big adventures – and here I am.
I loved this book for its adventure and humor, but mostly for its authenticity (aside from some artistic license).
In the 1940s, Canadian and provincial governments were looking to scapegoat wolves for caribou declines. Mowat, a young biologist (like I was when I read it), was sent to prove the assumption, documenting an excuse to kill wolves. Instead, he confirmed indigenous knowledge while running afoul of the scientific orthodoxies and political aims of his government employers.
The authenticity that struck me in this book, apart from Mowat’s stick in the eye of the Establishment, came from Mowat’s research method: living for extended periods with his subjects. The idea of immersing yourself in your subject, whether as a biologist or a wildlife artist, made an indelible impression on me.
Maxim Gorky, born Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov in 1868 to the low stratum of Russian society, rose to prominence early in life as a writer and publicist. Gorky, who did not have a formal education, became famous in his country and abroad. Writing could not satisfy the rebellious Gorky who soon became involved in revolutionary movements. After a short period with the populist/narodnik movement, Gorky became disillusioned with the peasant class, and, instead, he chose the nascent class of workers as the vehicle for change. It is as if Gorky and capitalism arrived in Russia together. In his view the intelligentsia…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
In Vermont’s Green Mountains, wildlife, forests, ponds, and rivers were a given. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love animals, exploring wild places, and, in my case, drawing. Inspiring eye rolls from my grandfather, when he took us fishing, I was often more interested in the Lilliputian worlds along the shorelines. That led to biology, and the rapid development Vermont experienced in the ‘60s stirred a deep concern for conservation. However, graduate school plans were sidetracked when my lab drawings unexpectedly launched me into art. Along the way, hiking, camping, canoeing, cross-country and track gave me the skills and conditioning to tackle big adventures – and here I am.
Ben Goldfarb’s fabulous 2018 book provided me with a huge morale boost and encouragement for volunteer work I had recently undertaken on wildlife issues at our Statehouse.
I grew up next to Preston Pond (and live there again), which had beavers living in it for almost all my life. Yet, despite that and having a degree in biology, I didn’t know a great deal about beavers until a trapper (the first since probably the 18th Century) killed the family in 2016.
I didn’t even think that trapping was a thing in Vermont. That pointless killing is what got me involved in state and local wildlife management. Eager not only solidified and expanded what I was learning, but it proved that a wider audience was learning about this keystone species that creates the most biodiverse habitats in the northern forests.
WINNER of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
Washington Post "50 Notable Works of Nonfiction"
Science News "Favorite Science Books of 2018"
Booklist "Top Ten Science/Technology Book of 2018"
"A marvelously humor-laced page-turner about the science of semi-aquatic rodents.... A masterpiece of a treatise on the natural world."-The Washington Post
In Eager, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America's lakes and rivers.…
In Vermont’s Green Mountains, wildlife, forests, ponds, and rivers were a given. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love animals, exploring wild places, and, in my case, drawing. Inspiring eye rolls from my grandfather, when he took us fishing, I was often more interested in the Lilliputian worlds along the shorelines. That led to biology, and the rapid development Vermont experienced in the ‘60s stirred a deep concern for conservation. However, graduate school plans were sidetracked when my lab drawings unexpectedly launched me into art. Along the way, hiking, camping, canoeing, cross-country and track gave me the skills and conditioning to tackle big adventures – and here I am.
I read this book as a young boy, about the time I started deer hunting, and it made an enormous and everlasting impression because it validated my intrinsic empathy for animals, and Seton was the perfect messenger: a wildlife artist and naturalist, but also a hunter and trapper.
I grew up in a hunting culture (Vermont in the ‘60s), so reading such emotional accounts from someone who had hunted and trapped (I never trapped) resonated deeply. 60 years after reading it, I can still tear up thinking of Lobo and Silverspot.
Like Seton, I gave up hunting decades ago (though I acknowledge the ecological necessity of deer hunting where we have eliminated natural predators) and am now a wildlife artist and advocate for animals.
Meet Old Lobo, a gigantic gray wolf whose death-defying predations on sheep and cattle herds are the scourge of farmers and ranchers in the Currumpaw region of northern New Mexico. This great wolf is just one of the animals whose true stories come to life in this engrossing collection of tales by the celebrated naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton (1860–1946). Combining scientific observations of animals in their natural habitats with a romantic vision of nature and the narrative skills of a born storyteller, Seton created an extraordinary collection of tales that gave the animal story new force and believability as a…
Almost Home is a fictional retelling of the last great tragedy of the Civil War.
In late April 1865, almost 2,000 newly freed Union prisoners of war are packed onto the steamer Sultana, in poor repair and with a listed capacity of 376 passengers. Among them are four Indiana soldiers…
In Vermont’s Green Mountains, wildlife, forests, ponds, and rivers were a given. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love animals, exploring wild places, and, in my case, drawing. Inspiring eye rolls from my grandfather, when he took us fishing, I was often more interested in the Lilliputian worlds along the shorelines. That led to biology, and the rapid development Vermont experienced in the ‘60s stirred a deep concern for conservation. However, graduate school plans were sidetracked when my lab drawings unexpectedly launched me into art. Along the way, hiking, camping, canoeing, cross-country and track gave me the skills and conditioning to tackle big adventures – and here I am.
Rather, it is an adventure story with all of the wilderness canoeing tips and lessons you need woven into it, along with a good dose of humor (including the Black Fly Song).
The book is a firsthand account of Davidson's and Rugge's descent of the Moise River in Quebec, using the challenges of the journey to explain and demonstrate how to safely plan and execute such an adventure.
A combination of detailed instruction and text (based on actual adventures) of all the techniques of canoe camping and wilderness cruising. You learn how to "find a river," navigate, cope with accidents and much more. With 65 drawings and 11 maps.
I’ve been fascinated with the natural world for as long as I can remember, spending many happy hours in my childhood exploring forests, splashing in creeks, and hiking in parks with my family. Devouring books from the local library and participating in workshops at our local science center fed my interest and built a strong foundation in science. As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more and more fascinated by the tension between science’s goal to neatly classify and nature’s riotous complexity. It’s the exceptions, the grey, that keep me interested and draw in my students. I am an experienced science teacher and award-winning author of books for teachers and kids.
Every living thing deserves to be celebrated. I’ve read a lot of children’s books about superlative animals: the fastest, the biggest, the most deadly. But where’s the love for the others? The oddballs, weirdos, eccentrics?
I love to root for an underdog, and reading about how these unusual animals survive was both informative and inspiring.
I’m secretly eight years old inside. I love fascinating animal and science stuff, especially cool, weird, and gross facts. Readers of my children’s books see this passion in action. My best-selling and award-winning nonfiction animal books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide since 2000. I focus particularly on reaching reluctant, struggling, and English-language-learning readers by packing my books with lots of action and high-interest topics to keep them turning pages. I’m recommending these top-five narrative nonfiction animal books for adults because these authors have influenced my research and thinking—and because they’re terrific stories!
Are you ready to change the way you see the world forever? Reading Peter Wohlleben’s three-book Mysteries of Nature series will do just that.
This second volume focuses on animal emotions and making connections with human behavior. Until fairly recently, most serious scientists focused only on observable behavior and didn’t try to imagine or determine what animals’ actions tell us about their feelings.
However, all animal lovers can benefit, as I did, from questioning our assumptions, better understanding our similarities, and becoming more aware of how much there is to learn about the inner life of animals. Get ready for some surprises!
Can horses feel shame? Do deer grieve? Why do roosters deceive hens?
We tend to assume that we are the only living things able to experience feelings but have you ever wondered what's going on in an animal's head? From the leafy forest floor to the inside of a bee hive, The Inner Life of Animals opens up the animal kingdom like never before. We hear the stories of a grateful humpback whale, of a hedgehog who has nightmares, and of a magpie who commits adultery; we meet bees that plan for the future, pigs who learn their own names…
"An enormous amount of fun. Wholly fresh and original. Wickedly funny...a hot, sweaty, magic- and murder-infused rollercoaster...I loved it." - David Moody, author of Hater
Once, Steve was a hero. Now he’s running from the law. And he’s just become a killer, stumbling upon a woman being assaulted by the…
I am an award-winning children’s author who has always been fascinated by the natural world. My many published children’s books include ones about animals and ocean life. Scholastic Book Clubs and the Children’s Book of the Month Club have featured my work, and translations of my fiction and nonfiction titles can be found in several languages, including Spanish, Japanese, and Hebrew. My National Geographic title Ocean Counting was named an Outstanding Science Trade Book by the National Science Teachers Association and Walrus Song has been named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
Each spread in this memorable book offers beautiful illustrations and a feast of information for curious kids. Featured animals include prairie dogs, trapdoor spiders, satin bower birds, coral, and others. The text focuses on these species as builders—of cozy homes, traps for prey, special spots to attract mates, and more. Starting with the book title on the cover (the reader can see how it was “built” with cross-hatch lines guiding letter placement!), I was totally engaged. So much information, so well shared! I fell in love with the teeny, tiny harvest mouse.
This fascinating nonfiction picture book about animal construction projects will captivate young scientists and naturalists—and have them looking for more in their own backyards!
Did you know the natural world is a construction zone? All over Earth, on land and at sea, animals are building the most amazing things. From tricky trapdoors to undersea cities to palaces of pebbles and more, come see the incredible creations of animal architects.
I’m a comic fan first, then a comic creator. I grew up on the classics—Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side and excitedly watched as new comics popped up online. I love comic strips and have rows of collections lining my bookshelves. The coolest part of starting my own series has been becoming a member of a cartoonist community that I have always been a huge fan of.
Joshua has a really unique sense of humor that’s accompanied by absolutely stunning art.
The comics are really worth admiring in print, not to get lost amongst the sea of online ‘content’.
Both Joshua and I write comics that give readers a glimpse into the animal kingdom and I love seeing how our interpretations of the same world can differ, through our comedic voices and art… and yes, his work is art.
Based on Joshua Barkman's popular webcomic by the same name, False Knees is animal humor taken to a very absurd, darkly delightful place.
In Barkman's debut print collection, False Knees fans will find old favorites along with an abundance of all-new material. Featuring creatures found in the author's native Ontario, this always sharp, sometimes head-scratchingly bizarre collection of comics offers a view into the secret, surprisingly insightful world of blue jays, squirrels, geese, wolves, and rabbits.
I am writing this list because I am a sea monster. I’m the sort of sea monster who loves merpeople, pirates, sharks, dolphins, octopuses, shipwrecks, and…did I miss anything? Oh yes, piranhas. Some people have pointed out that I look like a regular adult human, but really it’s just a trick of the light. I like to make stories, draw pictures, and build miniature environments for stop motion animated films. My typical day is spent gluing miniature flowers to miniature rocks, or screwing miniature chairs to miniature floors. It’s the sort of job that makes you feel like magic is around every corner. Because it is, probably.
This book is so delightfully silly! Poor little Brian tries to convince the other piranhas that they’d probably love to try some fruit—but alas, they would rather eat feet, or knees, or…well…bum! It’s definitely a book that feeds your inner sea monster!
David Fletcher needs a surgeon, stat! But when he captures a British merchantman in the Caribbean, what he gets is Charley Alcott, an apprentice physician barely old enough to shave. Needs must, and Captain Fletcher takes the prisoner back aboard his ship with orders to do his best or he’ll…
I have lived primarily in Vermont, but my relationship to a remote portion of Maine wilderness is the one geographical consistency in my 81 years. Trained as an academic, I did have literary influences, but my chief influences derived from my early decades among men and women whose arduous existences in the great North Woods preceded electricity, power tools, and modern household conveniences. These men and women had to make their own entertainment, and they did so by way of storytelling, and their stories became a kind of community property. Whatever the genres of my 24 books, I have sought to emulate the timing and precision that these masters commanded.
One of biologist Heinrich’s books, an extended nonfiction essay, may seem an eccentric choice here, but–like other works of this writer’s–it has had a profound effect on the way I regard the natural world in northern New England, my home territory.
There are life-scientists who write well and ones who command a patent, deep knowledge of their subject matter. None comes to my mind who so magnificently combines a fine novelist’s sensitivity to language with so broad and detailed a scientific awareness as Heinrich does. And he is bold. It takes a mind and writer of his caliber, for instance, to make a thumb-sized golden-crowned kinglet the hero—and a doughty one at that, one obliged to eat thirteen times his body weight to survive subzero nights–of his study.
The particularity of Heinrich’s vision is exemplary, something that I, a writer obsessed with the ecology of the region he shares with…
From flying squirrels to grizzly bears, and from torpid turtles to insects with antifreeze, the animal kingdom relies on some staggering evolutionary innovations to survive winter. Unlike their human counterparts, who must alter the environment to accommodate physical limitations, animals are adaptable to an amazing range of conditions.
Examining everything from food sources in the extremely barren winter land-scape to the chemical composition that allows certain creatures to survive, Heinrich's Winter World awakens the largely undiscovered mysteries by which nature sustains herself through winter's harsh, cruel exigencies.
