Recommended Reading

Braiding the microscopic with the universal in her memoir essay collection, World of Wonders, the award-winning poet and American-raised daughter of a Filipina mom and Indian father writes of nature as an elemental part of who we are. With imaginative prose dipping from joyful to bittersweet, Nezhukumatathil reveals lessons about identity, race, love, and family distilled from the navigation of an indigo bunting, the echolocation of a narwhal, or the defensive moves of the touch-me-not plant. This beautifully illustrated little book is one of the best things ever to happen to nature writing.

If you’ve only skimmed headlines about Spanish mountain athlete Kilian Jornet, you probably think he’s obsessed with speed. After all, the two-time National Geographic Adventurer of the Year holds the fastest known time for climbing and descending the Matterhorn, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, Denali, and Everest. Yet in his new memoir, Above the Clouds, which revolves around a year on Everest, Jornet says, “I ran fast to live a slow lifestyle.” Endurance athletes will like the book’s insight into training and nutrition, but it’s Jornet’s ruminations on the “why” of adventure and the siren song of nature that make this a must-read for any mountain lover.

Many dream of the camping trip that never ends. Surely our best selves are found in nature, right? In Diane Cook’s novel The New Wilderness, a mother saves her daughter from pollution-induced asthma by moving to the Wilderness State, an experimental preserve where a small group of volunteers live nomadically as hunter-gatherers. The air is clean, the water runs clear, and the night sky sparkles. There’s also a Manual, capital M, a sort of Leave No Trace set of rules to keep the Wilderness State pristine, and Rangers for reinforcement. All effort is toward survival; when a person dies—from a cougar mauling, river crossing, or simply being left behind due to injury—there are no funerals. As years go by, the utopian vision oozes into disturbing desperation. Fans of Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood will love this dark, all-too-real story of our relationship with nature and each other.

How Jack Lost Time is the tale of a sea captain’s obsession with finding his son, Julos, who disappeared into the mouth of a gray whale years ago. Jack, the captain, is so dedicated to his search he pays little attention to weather, gear, or catching fish. To stay at sea as long as possible, he even grows food on his boat, with carrots, turnips, and potatoes aboard. In his self-reliant quest, he believes there is no time for anything or anyone else, and we are reminded that it “is possible to get lost on water, on land, or in the air.” Charmingly illustrated by Delphie Côté-Lacroix, this poignant fable by award-winning Canadian author Stéphanie Lapointe is for readers of all ages, a moving meditation on how our passions, no matter how noble, can come at great cost if we’re not careful.