10 Of The Best Spring Nature Nonfiction Books To Read This Year

---

“We are neither the cancer of the Earth nor its cure. We are its progeny, its poetry, and its mirror.”

---

Spring is the best time to slow down, step outside, and reconnect with the natural world – and there’s no better way of doing that than through a great book. This collection of spring nature nonfiction books brings together some of the most engaging writing about the environment, wildlife, and the beauty of the outdoors. From lyrical reflections on changing seasons to eye-opening explorations of ecosystems and climate, these nature nonfiction reads are perfect for anyone looking to bring a sense of calm and curiosity to their TBR pile. Whether you’re drawn to books about forests, oceans, birds, or the hidden science of everyday landscapes, this selection of spring books about nature offers something for every kind of reader. Perfect for quiet mornings, garden afternoons, or mindful evenings, these books celebrate the natural world in all its complexity and wonder. 

---

The Glorians – Terry Tempest Williams

First up on our list of new spring nature nonfiction books is Terry Tempest Williams’ acclaimed work, The Glorians. Journeying through encounters with the Glorians (overlooked presences across our planet that reveal our shared vulnerability and connectedness), Williams’ tale weaves a story of astonishing personal and societal insight. 

Wise and lyrical, The Glorians is a testament to the power of witness, a field guide to finding grace in the unexpected, and a moving invitation to engage with one another and our surroundings with renewed intention. In a modern world full of increasing noise and anxiety, Williams offers honest sustenance for the mind and spirit and distinguishes herself again as a trusted voice to whom we can turn to more fully understand our times. 

Good Nature – Kathy Willis

In Good Nature, Dr Kathy Willis takes us, readers, on a journey with her to dig out all the experiments around the world that are exploring the incredible things that happen to our bodies and our minds when our senses interact with the natural world. From how different scents can boost your immune system, to the “Hidden Sense” that delves into how touching organic soil has a significant effect on the healthiness of our microbiome, the lessons here make sense but are sadly so often overlooked by our modern society. 

However small these individual actions may be, overall they have the potential to provide a large number of health benefits. And, through this evocative and timely read, we’re shown how nature is far more than just something that is useful to our health. It is not a disposable commodity. It is an inherent part of us. 

The Salt Stones – Helen Whybrow

In the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains, Helen Whybrow and her partner are presented with the opportunity to steward a two-hundred-acre conserved farm. Six months after purchasing Knoll Farm, they unload a flock of Icelandic sheep onto the field, and Whybrow becomes a shepherd and begins experiencing all the unexpected lessons that come along with it. 

The challenging and profoundly rewarding work unfolds for Whybrow in the everyday rituals of farmsteading and caring for her family while instilling the lessons of the land in her daughter and caring for her mother. As life at Knoll Farm endures years both abundant and lean, she learns that true stewardship is about accepting change and adapting. She embraces a transcendent rhythm of blood and bone, milk and muck. At once inspiring and brave, deeply felt yet gorgeously written, The Salt Stones is a loving look at the world through a shepherd’s interconnected ethos. 

Junglekeeper – Paul Rosolie

One of the best spring nonfiction nature books, Junglekeeper is for any reader yearning to be led on an expedition into the wild of life in that strange world on which all lie on Earth – and in that wild, into discovering the deepest truths of human existence. Rosolie found himself immersed in the drama of an entirely different world, the Amazon, and joining with indigenous people and organisations across the world in an existential struggle to protect it from the encroaching threat of industrial society. 

While taking readers along on his adventure of how he and some of the unlikeliest people on Earth have successfully protected over eighty thousand acres of Amazon rainforest, Rosolie invites readers to reflect on the power of saying yes to one’s calling. He shows that the vitality we long for is found when we discover who we are between dirt and sky, among the creatures out there who are far more mysterious and alive than we can imagine. 

Raising Hare – Chloe Dalton

In February 2021, Chloe Dalton stumbled upon a newborn hare that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home without appreciating how impossible it is to rear a wild hare. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret. Eventually, it becomes her constant companion. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that confining it to her home would be its own kind of death. 

Raising Hare chronicles their journey together, while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness first-hand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things and most beautiful experiences arise when we least expect them. 

---

Check Out These New Non-Fiction Books To Read This Spring

---

The Underworld – Susan Casey

For her acclaimed nature nonfiction novel, The Underworld, Susan Casey traversed the world, joining scientists and explorers on dives to the deepest places on our planet, interviewing the marine geologists, marine biologists, and oceanographers who are searching for knowledge in this vast unseen realm. She takes us readers on a fascinating journey through the history of deep-sea exploration to help us understand the mind-blowing complexity and ecological importance of this part of our planet. 

Throughout this journey, she learned how vital the deep is to the future of the planet, and how urgent it is that we understand it in a time of increasing threats from climate change, industrial fishing, pollution, and the mining companies that are exploiting its depths. The Underworld is Susan Casey’s most thrilling and beautiful book yet, a gorgeous evocation of the natural world and a powerful call to arms for us all. 

---

Check Out These Classic Non-Fiction Books About The Ocean

---

How To Read A Tree – Tristan Gooley

Trees are keen to tell us so much. They’ll tell us about the land, the water, the people, animals, the weather, and time. And they will tell us about their lives, the good bits and the bad. Trees tell a story, but only to those who know how to read it. 

In his fascinating nature book, How to Read a Tree, Tristan Gooley uncovers the clues hiding in plain sight: in a tree’s branches and leaves; its bark, buds, and flowers; even its stump. Leaves with a pale, central streak mean water is nearby. Young, low-growing branches show that a tree is struggling. And reddish or purple bark signals near growth. Like snowflakes, no two trees are ever the same. Every difference reveals the epic story each of them has lived – if we stop to look closely. 

Entangled Life – Merlin Sheldrake

In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi: endlessly surprising organisms that sustain nearly all living systems. From stretching traditional definitions of intelligence to the role of fungi in breakthrough technologies, the ‘Wood Wide Web’ is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet they live their lives largely out of sight, and over ninety per cent of their species remain undocumented. 

Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less it makes sense without them. 

An Immense World – Ed Young

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into a previously unfathomable dimension – the world as it is truly perceived by other animals. 

In An Immense World, author and acclaimed science journalist Ed Young coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure s that surround us. Because in order to understand our world, we don’t need to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes. 

Becoming Earth – Ferris Jabr

Humans are one of the most extreme examples of life-changing Earth. Through fossil fuel consumption, agriculture, and pollution, humans have radically altered more aspects of the planet in less time than any other species, pushing the planet to a crisis point. Yet we are also in a unique position to understand and protect the planet’s wondrous ecology and self-stabilising processes. 

In Becoming Earth, Ferris Jabr introduces us, readers, to a diverse cast of fascinating characters doing precisely this. Through compelling, evocative descriptions and lucid explanations, he shows us how Earth became the world we know today, how it is rapidly becoming a very different world, and how we will determine what sort of planet our descendants will inherit from us in years to come. 

---

Check Out These Beautiful Travel Books For Nature Lovers

---