33 books like How Far the Light Reaches

By Sabrina Imbler,

Here are 33 books that How Far the Light Reaches fans have personally recommended if you like How Far the Light Reaches. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed

Anne Louise Burdett Author Of Dirt Gems: Plant Oracle Deck and Guidebook

From my list on nerdy science books that break your heart and put it back together again.

Why am I passionate about this?

Working with the natural world has long been my life’s compass. I have been dedicated to conservation, education, and management of terrestrial and marine ecosystems for my entire career. I strongly believe we must approach the crisis that we now live in with humor, joy, and devotion, and we must be able to fall in love with this world over and over again, even if it breaks our hearts. This is why I write, and this is how I live. I love reading science books that allow this connection, that lead me into the complexities of why we must never stop feeling wonder at this magnificent world.

Anne's book list on nerdy science books that break your heart and put it back together again

Anne Louise Burdett Why did Anne love this book?

This book is absolutely fascinating. This author makes me wish that I could take her classes. She provides the sweet release of wonder, the gloriousness of the deep sea, the alien, and the mysterious and the magical.

She walks us through the world of the unknown, the struggle of the scientist to try to understand something we can never truly know. She also shatters us with the many ways that we must watch this world disappear, even when we never really knew it existed in the first place. We get a tiny glimpse as humans into the Wild West that is the deep, and yet our impact reaches far beyond our knowledge. We are destroying something so rich and vast it’s akin to outer space.

Break my heart, but keep putting it back together. 

By Helen Scales,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The deep sea is the last, vast wilderness on the planet. For centuries, myth-makers and storytellers have concocted imaginary monsters of the deep, and now scientists are looking there to find bizarre, unknown species, chemicals to make new medicines, and to gain a greater understanding of how this world of ours works. With an average depth of 12,000 feet and chasms that plunge much deeper, it forms a frontier for new discoveries. The Brilliant Abyss tells the story of our relationship with the deep sea - how we imagine, explore and exploit it. It captures the golden age of discovery…


Book cover of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis

Arushi Raina Author Of When Morning Comes

From my list on teens fighting for their future.

Why am I passionate about this?

Youth play such a significant role in the history of our struggles for justice–and yet most teenagers I meet in the classroom have limited access to these important stories. These stories are more relevant than ever as we see current youth-led activism for #BlackLivesMatter and Youth4Climate Marches. When I talk to youth about historical youth-led protests, their eyes light up–they make these connections lightning fast and say–why aren’t we being taught about things like this more in school?

Arushi's book list on teens fighting for their future

Arushi Raina Why did Arushi love this book?

This book, an anthology from women on the frontline of addressing Climate Change, is a must-read for our teams, including essays from a number of young women leading the charge, including Xiye Bastida Patrick and Alexandria Villaseñor. The book is remarkable in how clear-sighted each writer/storyteller is and how each essay rings with hope.

By Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (editor), Katharine K. Wilkinson (editor),

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked All We Can Save as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.

“A powerful read that fills one with, dare I say . . . hope?”—The New York Times
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE

There is a renaissance blooming in the climate movement: leadership that is more characteristically feminine and more faithfully feminist, rooted in compassion, connection, creativity, and collaboration. While it’s clear that women and girls are vital voices and agents of change for this planet, they…


Book cover of Watership Down

Sharman Apt Russell Author Of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

From my list on communing respectfully with wild animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a nature writer living in the magical realism of the American Southwest. The seminal environmentalist Aldo Leopold said, “There are some who can live without wild animals and some who cannot.” I am the latter. In rural New Mexico, I have looked up from my writing to see so many animals pass by my window. Fox. Bobcat. Javelina. Deer. Once—a mountain lion! These are all gifts. I’ve also learned to enjoy the tracks and signs left by wild animals, their presence still palpable and resonant. For me, recognizing the endearingly small print of a spotted skunk or pocket mouse is deeply satisfying—a cure for all kinds of existential angst. 

Sharman's book list on communing respectfully with wild animals

Sharman Apt Russell Why did Sharman love this book?

I read this children’s classic as an adult and loved it for the many reasons that both adults and children love this book: the characters, the adventures, and the deep satisfaction of imagining oneself as an animal that is not a human animal. For me, especially, the entrance into the world of European rabbits was extraordinary.

Where I live, we have desert cottontails and black-tailed jackrabbits (a species of hare), but our lagomorphs do not live in warrens or social groups. This is a story you can give yourself up to and live in, forgetting your own life and daily problems, as I often did when I was a child reading. So, there was also that return to this transcendental experience. 

By Richard Adams,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Watership Down as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

One of the best-loved children's classics of all time, this is the complete, original story of Watership Down.

Something terrible is about to happen to the warren - Fiver feels sure of it. And Fiver's sixth sense is never wrong, according to his brother Hazel. They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them.

And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all .…


Book cover of Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

Erin Zimmerman Author Of Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save An Old Science

From my list on memoirs by women talking biology.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an evolutionary biologist and an advocate for women, and in particular, mothers in the sciences, I love to read about the stories of other female scientists talking about their work and the challenges they’ve faced. We need more accounts of what it’s like to grapple with both the idea and the actuality of becoming a mother in a competitive, male-dominated field that requires so much of its scholars.

Erin's book list on memoirs by women talking biology

Erin Zimmerman Why did Erin love this book?

Lulu Miller is a woman looking to the past, and specifically to an early 20th century taxonomist, for inspiration in the face of disappointment in her own life. As someone who also looks to historical figures for inspiration, this premise always gets me.

Miller, however, gets more than she bargained for in learning about the life of this taxonomist and spends the rest of her book grappling with the good and evil that can reside within the same person, alongside her exploration of the science of time.

This book was so unique and entrancing that I couldn’t put it down. A must-read for those with an interest in science history.

By Lulu Miller,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Why Fish Don't Exist as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Best Book of 2020: The Washington Post * NPR * Chicago Tribune * Smithsonian

A “remarkable” (Los Angeles Times), “seductive” (The Wall Street Journal) debut from the new cohost of Radiolab, Why Fish Don’t Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and—possibly—even murder.​

“At one point, Miller dives into the ocean into a school of fish…comes up for air, and realizes she’s in love. That’s how I felt: Her book took me to strange depths I never imagined, and I was smitten.” —The New York Times Book Review

David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist,…


Book cover of The Vaster Wilds

Sharman Apt Russell Author Of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

From my list on communing respectfully with wild animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a nature writer living in the magical realism of the American Southwest. The seminal environmentalist Aldo Leopold said, “There are some who can live without wild animals and some who cannot.” I am the latter. In rural New Mexico, I have looked up from my writing to see so many animals pass by my window. Fox. Bobcat. Javelina. Deer. Once—a mountain lion! These are all gifts. I’ve also learned to enjoy the tracks and signs left by wild animals, their presence still palpable and resonant. For me, recognizing the endearingly small print of a spotted skunk or pocket mouse is deeply satisfying—a cure for all kinds of existential angst. 

Sharman's book list on communing respectfully with wild animals

Sharman Apt Russell Why did Sharman love this book?

I listened to this book with increasing amazement, chapter after chapter of beautiful prose and a compelling story. More and more, I began to understand what being an animal in the wild might feel like, particularly the vulnerable state of being frightened, cold, hungry, ill, and desperate to survive.

I have lived some forty years in rural New Mexico, and my own observations confirm that life can be hard for any wild animal—violent and short. To see this told from the perspective of a young girl was breathtaking. I loved this character, with her innate spirituality and growing understanding of the beauty and mystery of her existence. 

By Lauren Groff,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Vaster Wilds as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

'Exhilarating' GUARDIAN
'Her writing has a timeless quality' THE TIMES
'[Has] a visionary quality' OBSERVER

A profound and explosive novel about a spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive

A servant girl escapes from a settlement. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief of everything that her own civilization has taught her.

The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power…


Book cover of Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea

Anne Louise Burdett Author Of Dirt Gems: Plant Oracle Deck and Guidebook

From my list on nerdy science books that break your heart and put it back together again.

Why am I passionate about this?

Working with the natural world has long been my life’s compass. I have been dedicated to conservation, education, and management of terrestrial and marine ecosystems for my entire career. I strongly believe we must approach the crisis that we now live in with humor, joy, and devotion, and we must be able to fall in love with this world over and over again, even if it breaks our hearts. This is why I write, and this is how I live. I love reading science books that allow this connection, that lead me into the complexities of why we must never stop feeling wonder at this magnificent world.

Anne's book list on nerdy science books that break your heart and put it back together again

Anne Louise Burdett Why did Anne love this book?

I loved this book because it inspired me to keep an adventurous and exploratory attitude. It really made me want to be Edith Widder.

I am completely fascinated by bioluminescence, a large topic in this book, and while I learned a ton, it only drove me to want to learn more and pursue my interests in this field further.

Learning about wondrous creatures and what we are trying to understand about them in the context of conservation allows us the lens to prioritize our work and resources and keep moving forward. I found myself underlining every other line of this book; there is so much to be amazed by.

By Edith Widder,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Below the Edge of Darkness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A pioneering marine biologist takes us down into the deep ocean in this 'thrilling blend of hard science and high adventure' (New York Times)

LONGLISTED FOR THE SNHN NATURAL HISTORY BOOK PRIZE

Edith Widder grew up determined to become a marine biologist. But after complications from a surgery during college caused her to go temporarily blind, she became fascinated by light as well as the power of optimism.

Below the Edge of Darkness explores the depths of the planet's oceans as Widder seeks to understand bioluminescence, one of the most important and widely used forms of communication in nature. In…


Book cover of The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild

Sharman Apt Russell Author Of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

From my list on communing respectfully with wild animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a nature writer living in the magical realism of the American Southwest. The seminal environmentalist Aldo Leopold said, “There are some who can live without wild animals and some who cannot.” I am the latter. In rural New Mexico, I have looked up from my writing to see so many animals pass by my window. Fox. Bobcat. Javelina. Deer. Once—a mountain lion! These are all gifts. I’ve also learned to enjoy the tracks and signs left by wild animals, their presence still palpable and resonant. For me, recognizing the endearingly small print of a spotted skunk or pocket mouse is deeply satisfying—a cure for all kinds of existential angst. 

Sharman's book list on communing respectfully with wild animals

Sharman Apt Russell Why did Sharman love this book?

Reading Craig Child’s encounters with wild animals made me feel closer to the animals where I live. I have also had intriguing and potent experiences with ravens and mountain lions, and his descriptions brought back these powerful memories.

So many of us resonate with the wildlife winding through our lives—secretly passing through our gardens and backyards, on the trails we walk in national forests, or in the city parks where we picnic. I resonated, certainly, with this author’s reverence and awe toward nature, as well as his lively prose and sense of fun and self-deprecation.

By Craig Childs,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

THE ANIMAL DIALOGUES tells of Craig Childs' own chilling experiences among the grizzlies of the Arctic, sharks off the coast of British Columbia and in the turquoise waters of Central America, jaguars in the bush of northern Mexico, mountain lions, elk, Bighorn Sheep, and others. More than chilling, however, these stories are lyrical, enchanting, and reach beyond what one commonly assumes an "animal story" is or should be. THE ANIMAL DIALOGUES is a book about another world that exists alongside our own, an entire realm of languages and interactions that humans rarely get the chance to witness. "The author has…


Book cover of Into That Forest

Sharman Apt Russell Author Of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

From my list on communing respectfully with wild animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a nature writer living in the magical realism of the American Southwest. The seminal environmentalist Aldo Leopold said, “There are some who can live without wild animals and some who cannot.” I am the latter. In rural New Mexico, I have looked up from my writing to see so many animals pass by my window. Fox. Bobcat. Javelina. Deer. Once—a mountain lion! These are all gifts. I’ve also learned to enjoy the tracks and signs left by wild animals, their presence still palpable and resonant. For me, recognizing the endearingly small print of a spotted skunk or pocket mouse is deeply satisfying—a cure for all kinds of existential angst. 

Sharman's book list on communing respectfully with wild animals

Sharman Apt Russell Why did Sharman love this book?

As a child growing up in apartments in Phoenix, Arizona—usually blessed with a small patch of Bermuda grass and a small, highly chlorinated swimming pool—I loved reading stories about wild animals and wilderness survival. This is an absolutely wonderful tale about two young girls surviving a flood and being raised by Tasmanian tigers (also known as Tasmanian wolves) in nineteenth-century Australia.

It’s strangely believable and also deeply poignant. I listened to this as I went running on the trails and dirt roads where I live today, close to the Gila National Wilderness in southern New Mexico. I felt the presence of those now-extinct animals!

By Louis Nowra,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Following a ferocious storm, Hannah and Becky find themselves lost in the dangerous Tasmanian bush. Recused and adopted by a pair of Tasmanian tigers, the girls must adapt to a new life in the wild, where every day is a brutal fight for survival.


Book cover of The Blobfish Book

Cassandra Federman Author Of This Is a Sea Cow

From my list on children’s stories about ocean animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been fascinated by the ocean and all of its inhabitants for as long as I can remember. When I was little, I discovered my dad’s SCUBA license and it blew my mind that I was related to someone who was allowed to explore the underwater world! Later, when I got to college, I took advantage of two exciting opportunities. First, I got my own scuba license. Second, I studied abroad in Belize, where I conducted manatee research by tagging, tracking, and rescuing manatees. I enjoyed the time I spent with the animals, but not the lab work. Now I express my passion for sea creatures in the books I write.

Cassandra's book list on children’s stories about ocean animals

Cassandra Federman Why did Cassandra love this book?

This was one of the first meta picture books I ever read and I completely fell in love with the style and voice. In fact, it heavily influenced my own picture books, This Is a Sea Cow and This Is a Seahorse. Contrary to what the title would have you believe, The Blobfish Book doesn’t focus on blobfish facts alone. It also highlights other really interesting deep sea animals. The blobfish character provides a hilarious commentary throughout the book that is sure to get readers laughing. I have a special place in my heart for books that get children laughing and learning at the same time.

By Jessica Olien,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Blobfish Book 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?


Perfect for fans of Battle Bunny and Z Is for Moose, this irresistible book within a book introduces us to Blobfish, known as the "ugliest fish in the sea"...or is he actually the fish who will steal our hearts

Did you know that the deepest parts of the ocean are over one mile deep-too far down for any sunlight to reach That's where Blobfish lives. But this book isn't about Blobfish...or is it

This true (clever) story about the (misunderstood) Blobfish is sure to make you smile. Full of fun facts about sea creatures in the deepest reaches of the…


Book cover of Sex in the Sea: Our Intimate Connection with Sex-Changing Fish, Romantic Lobsters, Kinky Squid, and Other Salty Erotica of the Deep

Danna Staaf Author Of Nursery Earth: The Hidden World of Baby Animals and the Amazing Ingenuity of Life

From my list on babies and parenthood throughout the animal kingdom.

Why am I passionate about this?

Like most children, I adored baby animals from an early age. I bonded deeply with a pet kitten; I campaigned (unsuccessfully but perennially) for a puppy; I delighted in caterpillars. In college, my biology classes introduced me to a profusion of marine larval forms, and a fascination with the true diversity of animal babies fully gripped me. I eventually earned a PhD in the biology of squid babies and, shortly afterward, produced two human babies of my own. I now live with my human family, a cat, and a garden full of grubs, caterpillars, maggots, and innumerable other babies. I read and write about science and nature, especially the intersection of the weird and the adorable.

Danna's book list on babies and parenthood throughout the animal kingdom

Danna Staaf Why did Danna love this book?

Similar to Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice, this book made me laugh and gasp at scandalous true stories of reproductive biology. What really captured my attention, though, were the unexpected ways that human actions are affecting the courtship, mating, and spawning of animals that might seem beyond our reach.

Knowing that we can unintentionally inhibit the intimate lives of other species through pollution and climate change really brings home the importance of reforming our behavior.

By Marah J. Hardt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sex in the Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Forget the Kama Sutra. When it comes to inventive sex acts, just look to the sea. There we find the elaborate mating rituals of armored lobsters; giant right whales engaging in a lively threesome whilst holding their breath; full moon sex parties of groupers and daily mating blitzes by blueheaded wrasse. Deep-sea squid perform inverted 69s, while hermaphrodite sea slugs link up in giant sex loops. From doubly endowed sharks to the maze-like vaginas of some whales, Sex in the Sea is a journey unlike any other to explore the staggering ways life begets life beneath the waves. Beyond a…


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