Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always had a passion for animals since I was nine years old and wrote my first ‘book’ on animals for a school library competition. I went on to study animal behavior at university and complete a doctorate in conservation biology and seabirds in the Scottish Outer Hebrides. I’ve worked in zoos and museums, written twelve books on animals as various as killer whales and koalas, extinct megafauna, and marine reptiles. Learning more about the natural world, the people who study it, and the importance of protecting it, has been the driving force behind all of my books and a joy to share with readers. 


I wrote

Killers In Eden: The True Story of Killer Whales and their Remarkable Partnership with the Whalers of Twofold Bay

By Danielle Clode,

Book cover of Killers In Eden: The True Story of Killer Whales and their Remarkable Partnership with the Whalers of Twofold Bay

What is my book about?

For a century, the ‘killer whales’ of Twofold Bay herded baleen whales towards the harpoons of local whalers, helping them…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Mammals of Australia

Danielle Clode Why did I love this book?

The Mammals of Australia is one of the go-to books on my bookshelf. It covers all the mammals in Australia with great pictures, maps, simple summaries, and readable and interesting facts. When it was published, it summarized all the latest information in one place and has been an invaluable reference ever since. Every time I pick it up I find myself reading about some other fascinating species as well as the one I was looking up.

It covers everything from koalas and quolls to dugongs and dingoes, to monotremes and marsupial moles. It covers bats and seals and introduced mammals (although not whales). I wish I had a book like this for every major taxonomic group. 

By Ronald Strahan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mammals of Australia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Written in a style readily understood by the general reader, this book surveys the rich and varied world of Australian mammals, including such creatures as koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, dingos, and wombats. Because of the continent's isolation, Australian mammals have developed as no where else on earth. The native fauna is composed largely of marsupials (pouched mammals) and monotremes (egg-laying mammals).
A magnificent photographic record, this book provides an account of every native species as well as introduced species now living in a wild state. Each species account summarizes behavior and habitat, diet, reproduction and growth, and factors that lead…


Book cover of The Silver Brumby

Danielle Clode Why did I love this book?

A kid’s novel about wild horses (known as brumbies in Australia) might seem a strange choice for recommendations about Australian animals, but Elyne Mitchell’s The Silver Brumby was the first book I read that really captured the Australian landscape and its plants and animals. It was also one of the few books that told a story from the perspective of a wild animal without anthropomorphizing.

It’s a wonderfully evocative homage to the Australian alps and the creatures that live there and it reflects a lot of the dilemmas facing Australian conservation today. Wild horses, or brumbies, do a huge amount of environmental damage in Australia and yet a lot of people love them. In some ways, this book is symbolic of the difficult decisions we have to make to rectify some of the damage we have done, and continue to do, to our wildlife.

By Elyne Mitchell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Silver Brumby as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

"The Silver Brumby took me cantering into the world's wilder places." - Geraldine McCaughrean

A silver brumby is a rare and special creature, prized both by other horses and by men...

A silver brumby is special, but he will be hunted by man and horse alike, and must be stronger than both.

Thowra, the magnificent silver stallion, becomes king of the brumbies. But he must defend his herd from the mighty horse, The Brolga, in the most savage of struggles.

That is not the only danger. Thowra needs all his speed and cunning to save his herd from capture by…


Book cover of Koala: A Historical Biography

Danielle Clode Why did I love this book?

Koalas are one of Australia’s most loved and most well-recognized animals, and yet it’s surprising how little is known about them.  They feature prominently in Australian Indigenous stories, and yet were rarely used for clothing or artwork. When Europeans first arrived, it took them over 10 years before they even noticed these strange animals living in the trees above them and they have continued to bemuse scientists ever since. Ann Moyal, one of Australia’s most eminent historians of science, tackles the story of how we know what we do about koalas in an intriguing story about our patchy history with the koala, from neglect and exploitation and near extinction, to protection and international fame as the poster-child for Australian conservation.

By Ann Moyal,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Koala as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The koala is both an Australian icon and an animal that has attained 'flagship' status around the world. Yet its history tells a different story. While the koala figured prominently in Aboriginal Dreaming and Creation stories, its presence was not recorded in Australia until 15 years after white settlement. Then it would figure as a scientific oddity, despatched to museums in Britain and Europe, a native animal driven increasingly from its habitat by tree felling and human settlement, and a subject of relentless hunting by trappers for its valuable fur. It was not until the late 1920s that slowly emerging…


Book cover of Diary of a Wombat

Danielle Clode Why did I love this book?

There are loads of great picture books that feature Australian animals but one of my favorites is Diary of a Wombat. It’s a very simple story told from the perspective of a wombat and it highlights their adorable, but also irascible and fairly destructive personalities. It’s incredibly difficult to pull off an ‘animal voice’ without it sounding like a person or a bit patronising, but Jackie French really nails it in this book, probably because of her extensive experience with looking after wombats. And the illustrations by Bruce Whatley are full of fun and joy. It makes me laugh every time I read it.

If wombats read books, I think this is the one they would love best, and what book about animals needs a better endorsement than that? 

By Jackie French, Bruce Whatley (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Diary of a Wombat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

A wombat's work is never done...

Take a trip with a wombat, and discover the ins and outs of her day in this modern classic Australian picture book. There are holes to be dug and territory to be defended - and don't forget all the eating and sleeping that needs to be squeezed in too!


Book cover of Flames

Danielle Clode Why did I love this book?

This genre-busting debut novel by Tasmanian writer Robbie Arnott defies all attempts to describe or classify it. The writing is vibrant and beautiful. It’s a book that fills your lungs with a blast of fresh air, the scents of the cool southern rainforests and dazzles you with clouds and sun and rain and fire. It seamlessly blends realism with a spirit world, binding the human to the animal in an evocatively magical and disturbing story that brings Australian nature and animals into focus in an entirely new literary landscape. I defy anyone to read this book and not fall in love with the Rakali and weep a little the next time it rains. Quite the most remarkable book I’ve read.

By Robbie Arnott,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Flames as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A strange and joyous marvel" Richard Flanagan

Robbie Arnott's mad, wild debut novel is rough-hewn from the Tasmanian landscape and imbued with the folkloric magic of the oldest fireside storytellers.

A young man named Levi McAllister decides to build a coffin for his twenty-three-year-old sister, Charlotte-who promptly runs for her life. A water rat swims upriver in quest of the cloud god. A fisherman named Karl hunts for tuna in partnership with a seal. And a father takes form from fire.

The answers to these riddles are to be found in this tale of grief and love and the bonds…


Explore my book 😀

Killers In Eden: The True Story of Killer Whales and their Remarkable Partnership with the Whalers of Twofold Bay

By Danielle Clode,

Book cover of Killers In Eden: The True Story of Killer Whales and their Remarkable Partnership with the Whalers of Twofold Bay

What is my book about?

For a century, the ‘killer whales’ of Twofold Bay herded baleen whales towards the harpoons of local whalers, helping them hunt and sharing the rewards. It was a life of industry, adventure, and a strange and unique partnership between orcas and humans. All that remains today, are the stories, and the massive skeleton in the local museum of the legendary prankster, Old Tom, who stayed long after the rest of the pod left. 

Killers in Eden explores how this relationship between whaler and orca developed. Using modern knowledge of orcas to untangle fact from myth, helped me uncover a truly remarkable history of the killers in Eden.

Book cover of The Mammals of Australia
Book cover of The Silver Brumby
Book cover of Koala: A Historical Biography

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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Mimi Zieman Author Of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an OB/GYN, passionate about adventuring beyond what’s expected. This has led me to pivot multiple times in my career, now focusing on writing. I’ve written a play, The Post-Roe Monologues, to elevate women’s stories. I cherish the curiosity that drives outer and inner exploration, and I love memoirs that skillfully weave the two. The books on this list feature extraordinary women who took risks, left comfort and safety, and battled vulnerability to step into the unknown. These authors moved beyond the stories they’d believed about themselves–or that others told about them. They invite you to think about living fuller and bigger lives. 

Mimi's book list on women exploring the world and self

What is my book about?

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up the East Face without the use of supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.


By Mimi Zieman,

Why should I read it?

26 authors picked Tap Dancing on Everest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, which had only been successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first large team, Mimi Zieman and her team would climb without using supplemental oxygen or porter support. While the unpredictable weather and high altitude of 29,035 feet make climbing Everest perilous in any condition, attempting a new route, with no idea of what obstacles lay ahead, was especially audacious. Team members were expected to push themselves to their…


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Interested in Australia, koalas, and World War 1?

Australia 334 books
Koalas 6 books
World War 1 933 books