The Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society Book Club has been meeting since January of 2013 to discuss books that focus on the natural history of the Pacific Northwest and related topics. Our book selections have primarily been narrative non-fiction, but we have also read fiction, essay collections, poetry, and memoirs that relate to our shared interest in natural history. We meet on the 4th Monday of each month from 3-4:30. During good weather we meet in person at Illahee Nature Preserve. During the cold months, we meet via zoom. If you would like to join our reading group, please e-mail book club coordinator, Linda Rhines, at linda.rhines@gmail.com.

To find out more about books selected for upcoming months, click here.

To see a list of recommended titles, click here.

The list below is history of titles we’ve read in our group since 2013, and the asterisk * indicates that the book is in the Natural History Society collection at the Jefferson Land Trust Office:

June 2024: Hope Matters by Elin Kelsey
July 2024: Becoming Wild by Carl Safina
May 2024: What Your Food Ate by David Montgomery and Anne Bikle
April 2024: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
March 2024: Salmon, Cedar, Rock and Rain by Tim McNulty
February 2024: Fen, Bog & Swamp by Annie Proulx
January 2024: Take Heart by Kathleen Dean Moore
December 2023: Horizon by Barry Lopez
November 2023: *Cascadia Field Guide: art, ecology, poetry
October 2023: Atlas of a Lost World by Craig Childs
September 2023: I Sing the Salmon Home: poems about salmon by Washington State poets
August 2023: A Natural History of the Future by Rob Dunn
July 2023: Natural History: Stories by Andrea Barrett
June 2023: The Mind of a Bee by Lars Chittka
May 2023: An Immense World: how animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us by Ed Yong
April 2023: *The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben
March 2023: Earth’s Wild Music by Kathleen Dean Moore
February 2023: *The End of Ice by Dahr Jamail
January 2023: *The Treeline by Ben Rawlence
December 2022: *Walking in the Beauty of the World by Joe Arnett
November 2022: Spineless by Juli Berwald
October 2022: *Not on my Watch by Alexandra Morton
September 2022: *A World on the Wing: the global odyssey of migratory birds by Scott Weidensaul
August 2022: *Fox and I: an uncommon friendship by Catherine Raven
July 2022: *Fastest Things on Wings: rescuing hummingbirds in Hollywood by Terry Masear
June 2022: Beloved Beasts by Michelle Nijhuis
May 2022: In Search of Meadowlarks by John Marzluff
April 2022: Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid by Thor Hanson
March 2022: After the Blast: the ecological recovery of Mount St. Helens by Eric Wagner
February 2022: Rooted by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
January 2022: Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
November 2021:Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home by Lynda Mapes
October 2021: *The Blossoms are Ghosts at the Wedding by Tom Jay
September 2021: *Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall
August 2021: *Cod by Mark Kurlansky
July 2021: Pacific Flyway by Benedict, Hammerson & Butler
June 2021: *The Wave by Susan Casey
May 2021: *The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
April 2021: The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen
March 2021: Passings by Holly Hughes
February 2021: *Nature Obscura by Kelly Brenner
January 2021: *The Overstory by Richard Powers
December 2020: The Restless Northwest by Hill Williams
November 2020: *The Animal Dialogues by Craig Childs
October 2020: *Snakes, Sunrises and Shakespeare by Gordon Orians
September 2020: Cat Attacks: True Stories and Hard Lessons From Cougar Country by Dean Miller & Jo Deurbrouck
September 2020: Stalked by a Mountain Lion: Fear, Fact, and the Uncertain Future of Cougars in America by Jo Deurbrouck
September 2020: Soul Among Lions: The Cougar as Peaceful Adversary by Harley G. Shaw
August 2020: Walking the High Ridge by Robert M. Pyle
July 2020: *Naturalist by E. O. Wilson
May 2020: *Any book by Bernd Heinrich
April 2020: A Whale Hunt by Robert Sullivan
February 2020: The Last Wilderness by Murray Morgan
January 2020: What the Robin Knows by Jon Young
December 2019: Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
October/November 2019 *On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor
September/October 2019 Wintergreen: Listening to the Land’s Heart by Robert M. Pyle
August 2019 *Mountain in the Clouds by Bruce Brown
July 2019 The Soul of the Octopus by Sy Montgomery
June 2019 Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
May 20 2019 Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers by Ben Goldfarb
April 2019  Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Story of Ed Ricketts by Eric Enno Tamm
March 2019 What A Plant Knows by Daniel Chamovitz
February 2019 Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator by Jason   Colby
January 2019 Nature’s Temples: The Complex World of Old Growth Forests by Joan Maloof
December 2018 *Upstream: Searching for the Wild Salmon, From River to Table by Langdon Cook
October 2018 Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees by Thor Hanson
September 24, 2018 The Wonder of Birds by Jim Robbins
August 2018 Return of the Sea Otter by Todd McLeish
July 2018 Saving Tarboo Creek by Scott and Susan Leopold Freeman
June 2018 The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
May 2018 *Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
April 2018 The Last Wild Edge by Susan Zwinger
March 2018 Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods by David Alt
February 2018 The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
January 2017 One Square Inch of Silence by Gordon Hempton
December 2017 Shadows of Our Ancestors by Jerry Gorsline
October 2017 The Olympic Rainforest: An Ecological Web by Ruth Kirk and Jerry Franklin
September 2017 The Oyster War by Summer Brennan
August 2017 Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean by Jonathan White
July 2017 Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature by Linda Lear
June 2017 Elwha: A River Reborn by Lynda Mapes
May 2017 The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wolleben
April 2017 King of Fish by David R. Montgomery
March 2017 *Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
February 2017 Astoria: Astor and Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
January 2017 The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
December 2016 *Winter Brothers by Ivan Doig
October 2016 The Mushroom Hunters by Langdon Cook
September 2016 The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf
August 2016 *Two in the Far North by Margaret Murie
July 2016 Urban Bestiary by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
June 2016 Ancient Places by Jack Nisbet
May 2016 Seeds by Thor Hanson
April 2016 The Sea Runners by Ivan Doig
March 2016  Rosalie Edge: Hawk of Mercy by Diana Furmansky
February 2016 Feathers by Thor Hanson
January 2016 Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
December 2015 Beyond Words by Carl Safina
October 2015 The Wild Trees by Robert Preston
September 2015 The Northwest Coast by James G. Swan
August 2015 The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
July 2015 The Living, by Annie Dillard
June 2015 Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold
May 2015 Holdfast, by Kathleen Dean Moore
April 2015 The Final Forest, by William Dietrich
March 23, 2015 The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson
February 23, 2015 *The Big Burn, by Timothy Egan
January 26, 2015 The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch
December 15, 2014 The Jump-Off Creek, by Molly Gloss
November 2014 Of Men and Mountains, by William O. Douglas
October 2014 In Earshot of Water: Notes from the Columbia Plateau, by Paul Lindholdt.
September 2014 Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness, by Lyanda Lynn Haupt.
August 2014 Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature, by Kathleen Dean Moore
July 2014 Northwest Passages, by Bruce Barcott
June 2014 *The Collector, by Jack Nisbet
May 2014 Dirt, the Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, by William Bryant Logan
April 2014 A Year in Paradise, by Floyd Schmoe
March 2014 Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose
February 2014 Passage to Juneau, by Jonathan Raban
January 2014 Wolves in the Land of Salmon,  David Moskowitz
November 2013 Closer to the Ground,  Dylan Tomine
October 2013 Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, Timothy Egan
September 2013 Olympic National Park: A Natural History, Tim McNulty
July 2013 Klee Wyck, Emily Carr
June 2013 The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest, Timothy Egan
May 2013 *The Curve of Time, M. Wylie Blanchet
April 2013 Tree: A Life Story, David Suzuki and Wayne Grady
March 2013 Natural Grace; The Charm, Wonder and Lessons of Pacific Northwest Animals and Plants, William Dietrich
February 2013 The Island Within, Richard Nelson
January 2013 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard