Fans pick 100 books like Trophy Hunting

By Nikolaj Bichel, Adam Hart,

Here are 100 books that Trophy Hunting fans have personally recommended if you like Trophy Hunting. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Man-Eaters of Kumaon

Keith Somerville Author Of Humans and Lions: Conflict, Conservation and Coexistence

From my list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since childhood, I have been fascinated by African wildlife. When I worked in Africa as a journalist, I always found ways to view wildlife and to meet those who lived alongside dangerous and charismatic animals and those who conserved them. When I moved into academia, I started researching human-wildlife relations in detail, examining sustainable conservation approaches and how to control the illegal wildlife trade. It is a passion, almost an obsession, and as I finish researching and writing one book, another is already fixed in my brain.

Keith's book list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation

Keith Somerville Why did Keith love this book?

Published 80 years ago and based on the author’s experiences hunting man-eating tigers and leopards in northern India, I read this book repeatedly. Well and sensitively written, it is not a book of boasting, hunting, and bravado but a nuanced account of efforts to protect local people from the ravages of seriously dangerous wildlife.

Corbett, part of the British occupation machinery in India, projects a love of the people of northern India and the wildlife. He is deeply committed to both and laments the need to kill tigers but accepts that protecting ordinary people is the priority.

He provides a wealth of wildlife information and always explains how and why a tiger became a man-eater–often the result of a bad encounter with a porcupine, the breaking of canines in older tigers, or injuries received hunting or being hunted.

By Jim Corbett,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Man-Eaters of Kumaon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Her tracks now–as she carried away the girl–led into the wilderness of rocks, some acres in extent, where the going was both difficult and dangerous. The cracks and chasms in between the rocks were masked with ferns, blackberry vines, and a false step, which might easily have resulted in a broken limb, would have been fatal. Progress under these conditions was of necessity slow, and the tigress was taking advantage of it to continue her meal. A dozen times I found where she had rested, and after each of these rests, the blood trail became more distinct.

This was her…


Book cover of Sacred Nature 2: Reconnecting People to Our Planet

Keith Somerville Author Of Humans and Lions: Conflict, Conservation and Coexistence

From my list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since childhood, I have been fascinated by African wildlife. When I worked in Africa as a journalist, I always found ways to view wildlife and to meet those who lived alongside dangerous and charismatic animals and those who conserved them. When I moved into academia, I started researching human-wildlife relations in detail, examining sustainable conservation approaches and how to control the illegal wildlife trade. It is a passion, almost an obsession, and as I finish researching and writing one book, another is already fixed in my brain.

Keith's book list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation

Keith Somerville Why did Keith love this book?

This book is an amazing collection of stunning pictures – I loved the outstanding photographs of wildlife, landscapes, people and the vast but fragile web of nature taken by photographers and naturalists Jonathan and Angela Scott.

I found the combination of the impact of the images, the quotations about nature, and the narrative accompanying the pictures to be incredible – joyful and sombre. I was joyful as I enjoyed the entrancing pictures (such as the sunrise in the Maasai Mara) and sombre as I considered the narrative and the reality of human degradation and destruction of nature and the whole web of life of which we are far from the positive strand.

By Angela Scott, Jonathan Scott,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sacred Nature 2 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sacred Nature Volume 2: Reconnecting People to Our Planet is a beautiful 288-page fine art wildlife photography book, supporting the protection of our planet and its priceless wild places. This book takes the ethos of the first volume and applies it to the whole planet - to our savannas, forests, deserts, mountains, oceans and polar regions. Jonathan and Angela's intention is to reveal the wonder and beauty of our world, instilling a sense of awe and concern for its well being. In 2016 Jonathan and Angela Scott published their award-winning book Sacred Nature: Life's Eternal Dance (HPH Publishing 9780994692405). This…


Book cover of Security and Conservation: The Politics of the Illegal Wildlife Trade

Keith Somerville Author Of Humans and Lions: Conflict, Conservation and Coexistence

From my list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since childhood, I have been fascinated by African wildlife. When I worked in Africa as a journalist, I always found ways to view wildlife and to meet those who lived alongside dangerous and charismatic animals and those who conserved them. When I moved into academia, I started researching human-wildlife relations in detail, examining sustainable conservation approaches and how to control the illegal wildlife trade. It is a passion, almost an obsession, and as I finish researching and writing one book, another is already fixed in my brain.

Keith's book list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation

Keith Somerville Why did Keith love this book?

Rosaleen Duffy, who ran the BIOSEC project at the University of Sheffield, established and funded it “to explore whether concerns about biodiversity protection and global security are becoming integrated” and has spent years examining the increasing militarisation of conservation globally.

Her work has been a great source of inspiration for me as I have delved into these complex issues. In this important and excellent book, Duffy skillfully expounded and analyzed the topic's core. Duffy discovered many private military companies involved directly in anti-poaching and indirectly in training. 

These include Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife (VETPAW), Veterans4Wildlife, Chengeta Wildlife, International Anti Poaching Foundation (IAPF), Ecological Defense Group, Inc (EDGE), and Maisha Consulting.

Militarisation and military training are controversial subjects in conservation, with over-militarisation leading to human rights abuses and the feeling among local communities that anti-poaching units are armies of occupation. Duffy examines this in great detail and, for me,…

By Rosaleen Duffy,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An exploration of the scale, practical reality, and future implications of the growing integration of biodiversity conservation with global security concerns

"Offers a thorough overview of an aspect of conservation that has become increasingly important but often unfortunately fails to make the nightly news."-Well-Read Naturalist

Debates regarding environmental security risks have generally focused on climate change and geopolitical water conflicts. Biodiversity conservation, however, is increasingly identified as a critical contributor to national and global security. The illegal wildlife trade is often articulated as a driver of biodiversity losses, and as a source of finance for organized crime networks, armed groups,…


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Book cover of I Am Taurus

I Am Taurus By Stephen Palmer,

The constellation we know as Taurus goes all the way back to cave paintings of aurochs at Lascaux. This book traces the story of the bull in the sky, a journey through the history of what has become known as the sacred bull.

Each of the sections is written from…

Book cover of The Spotted Hyena: A Study of Predation and Social Behavior

Keith Somerville Author Of Humans and Lions: Conflict, Conservation and Coexistence

From my list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since childhood, I have been fascinated by African wildlife. When I worked in Africa as a journalist, I always found ways to view wildlife and to meet those who lived alongside dangerous and charismatic animals and those who conserved them. When I moved into academia, I started researching human-wildlife relations in detail, examining sustainable conservation approaches and how to control the illegal wildlife trade. It is a passion, almost an obsession, and as I finish researching and writing one book, another is already fixed in my brain.

Keith's book list on human-wildlife conflict and sustainable conservation

Keith Somerville Why did Keith love this book?

I read this book after working in Malawi and carrying out my first safaris in Kenya and Zimbabwe. I saw hyenas and found them fascinating despite the generally held view that they were despicable parasites and vermin. 

Kruuk’s book opened my eyes to their success as hunters, not mere scavengers, to their complex, matriarchal social systems, and to the role, when not hunting, as what one could call the sanitary engineers of the eco-systems in which they live.  It influenced me to research them and eventually write a book on human attitudes toward hyenas.

By Hans Kruuk,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In this seminal study, Hans Kruuk redefines the image of the spotted hyena, not as a common scavenger, but as a complex matriarchal predator with links to human evolution. The Spotted Hyena is the first study to capture the true behavior and ecology of these formidable predators, who instinctively adapt their social structure to meet their ecological needs. Kruuk's research reveals for the first time that hyenas combine carnivorous habits with group territoriality, thus drawing parallels between their existence and that of wolves, lions, and arguably early humans.

In addition to being lovable rogues, spotted hyenas are sophisticated hunters that…


Book cover of Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility

Jonathan Birch Author Of The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI

From my list on change the way you think about animal minds.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always thought of myself as someone who “cares about animals,” but I came to see that I was thinking mainly about mammals and birds and overlooking the vast majority of animal life: fishes and invertebrates. I’m a philosophy professor at the London School of Economics, and for almost 10 years now, I’ve also been part of an emerging international community of “animal sentience” researchers—researchers dedicated to investigating the feelings of animals scientifically. In 2021, a team led by me advised the UK government to protect octopuses, crabs, and lobsters—and the government changed the law in response. But there is a lot more we need to change.

Jonathan's book list on change the way you think about animal minds

Jonathan Birch Why did Jonathan love this book?

How much do we need to change our ways of life to treat other animals with respect and compassion?

I’m convinced there is a lot we need to change, and I really admire Martha Nussbaum’s grand vision for a future in which all sentient animals have basic “entitlements” written into the Constitution. Is it utopian? A little bit, yes—we are so far away from Nussbaum’s ideal future. But it’s good to have something to aim for.

By Martha C. Nussbaum,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A revolutionary new theory and call to action on animal rights, ethics, and law from the renowned philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum.

Animals are in trouble all over the world. Whether through the cruelties of the factory meat industry, poaching and game hunting, habitat destruction, or neglect of the companion animals that people purport to love, animals suffer injustice and horrors at our hands every day.

The world needs an ethical awakening, a consciousness-raising movement of international proportions. In Justice for Animals, one of the world's most influential philosophers and humanists Martha C. Nussbaum provides a revolutionary approach to animal rights,…


Book cover of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

Stacy Hoult Author Of The Mythology of the Animal Farm in Children's Literature: Over the Fence

From my list on inspire compassion for farmed animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up on a small family farm in the Midwest, I was immersed in a world of animals: pets, free-ranging wildlife, and “food” animals (pigs and cows). As an adult and academic professional, I longed for a way to bridge my vocation (teaching college students and writing about literature) and my deep commitment to the care and stewardship of all beings. These books have opened my eyes to the lived experiences of farmed animals and to the mythologies we use to hide these experiences from ourselves and, especially, our children. I hope you find them as moving and insightful as I do!

Stacy's book list on inspire compassion for farmed animals

Stacy Hoult Why did Stacy love this book?

Scully's tour de force investigates the state of humanity's relationship with animals through a Scriptural lens, exploring the multifaceted concept of "dominion" from the Biblical creation story as he takes on industrial farmers, trophy hunters, and others who gain fame and fortune on the backs of suffering nonhuman creatures.

I continue to be moved by the author's courage in using his voice as a well-known Republican speechwriter to dismantle the notion that compassion for animals is a "liberal" cause. His immersive research into the full range of manifestations of animal cruelty makes this one of the most shocking and compelling texts I have read on the subject of our treatment of other beings. 

By Matthew Scully,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In the Book of Genesis, God grants mankind "dominion" over other animals. But with such power comes an important responsibility: To treat them with kindness. Part investigative journalism and part call to action, DOMINION explores how we have disregarded and even perverted that duty towards animals. Building a case that avoids the extremes of more radical animal rights advocates, Matthew Scully argues against the popular and "scientifically proven" notions that animals cannot feel pain, experience no emotions and are not conscious of their own lives. Moving from that biblical injunction to a safari convention and a hellish factory farm, and…


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Book cover of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

What Walks This Way By Sharman Apt Russell,

Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks…

Book cover of Animal Liberation Now: The Definitive Classic Renewed

Jonathan Birch Author Of The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI

From my list on change the way you think about animal minds.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always thought of myself as someone who “cares about animals,” but I came to see that I was thinking mainly about mammals and birds and overlooking the vast majority of animal life: fishes and invertebrates. I’m a philosophy professor at the London School of Economics, and for almost 10 years now, I’ve also been part of an emerging international community of “animal sentience” researchers—researchers dedicated to investigating the feelings of animals scientifically. In 2021, a team led by me advised the UK government to protect octopuses, crabs, and lobsters—and the government changed the law in response. But there is a lot more we need to change.

Jonathan's book list on change the way you think about animal minds

Jonathan Birch Why did Jonathan love this book?

Are things getting better or worse for farmed animals? I greatly appreciate the honesty of Peter Singer’s update to his 1975 classic. His dream was to inspire a movement that would end cruel “factory farming” by boycotting its products. And he did inspire a movement—but the industry has only got bigger, more intensive, more brutal, more ruthless.

It’s wrecking our environment, our health, and other animals’ lives all at once. The enemy was tougher to beat than he thought. Where do we go from here if we care about other animals? I think this book is a really powerful place to start.

By Peter Singer,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

THE UPDATED CLASSIC OF THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, NOW WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY YUVAL NOAH HARARI

“The indispensable foundational text for the movement, new and updated with the honesty and philosophical depth characteristic of all of Singer’s work.” —J.M. Coetzee, author of The Lives of Animals and Disgrace

“Peter Singer may be the most controversial philosopher alive; he is certainly among the most influential.”—The New Yorker

Few books maintain their relevance – and have remained continuously in print – nearly 50 years after they were first published. Animal Liberation, one of TIME’s “All-TIME 100 Best Non-Fiction Books” is one such…


Book cover of Real Impact: The New Economics of Social Change

Kusi Hornberger Author Of Scaling Impact: Finance and Investment for a Better World

From my list on investing for impact.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Partner at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, where I lead a lot of our finance and investment advisory work with development finance institutions, family offices, and impact investors. I also serve on several impact investment and field-building organization advisory boards and regularly contribute to the ecosystem through thought leadership and speaking engagements at leading conferences. Over the course of my 20+ year career, I have played the role of advisor, investor, and technical assistance provider on more than 200 individual projects across the globe.   

Kusi's book list on investing for impact

Kusi Hornberger Why did Kusi love this book?

This is an inspiring read from a real changemaker.

Morgan is also someone I have had the pleasure of getting to know through the impact investing conference circuit, and I enjoyed reading her firsthand account of how she combined her social activist desires with the practical tools of finance and investment to create ‘real impact.’

One of my favorite sections of the book was on her early days and successes with shareholder activism. This book and her story are ones that many impact-minded leaders can learn from. 

By Morgan Simon,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Impact investment, the support of social and environmental projects with a financial return, has become a hot topic in the world's philanthropy and development circles, and is growing exponentially: in the next decade, it is poised to eclipse traditional aid by ten times. Yet for all the excitement, there is work to do to ensure it actually realizes its potential. Will impact investment empower millions of people worldwide, or will it just replicate the same failures that have plagued the aid and antipoverty industry?

Enter Morgan Simon. When she was a twenty-year-old college student at Swarthmore, Simon compelled Lockheed Martin…


Book cover of What It Is Like to Go to War

John A. Dailey Author Of Tough Rugged Bastards: A Memoir of a Life in Marine Special Operations

From my list on memoirs from five wars.

Why am I passionate about this?

My entire life has revolved around the military. At seven years old, I decided that I would serve my country as a Marine, so my formative years were spent reading as much as I could about the ideas of service, leadership, combat, and sacrifice. I joined the Corps at seventeen and spent the next twenty-one years trying to live up to those stories I read as a child. Now, I divide my time between training special operations Marines for combat, writing about my experiences, and encouraging veterans of all services to put their stories on paper as a senior editor for the Lethal Minds Journal. I share the lessons I’ve learned in my weekly substack, Walking Point.

John's book list on memoirs from five wars

John A. Dailey Why did John love this book?

I was still a child when the Vietnam War ended, but for some reason, I always felt it was my war. It’s what I read about; it filed the movies I watched in high school. It was the war we trained for when I joined the Marines.

Marlantes arrived in Vietnam about the time I was born. Like the three preceding it, his memoir was written with a great deal of time for reflection. I feel that this interval between the action and the recounting of it adds a level of complexity to remembrances of a very harrowing time.

By Karl Marlantes,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked What It Is Like to Go to War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Matterhorn" author Karl Marlantes' nonfiction debut is a powerful book about the experience of combat and how inadequately we prepare our young men and women for the psychological and spiritual stresses of war. One of the most important and highly-praised books of 2011, Karl Marlantes' "What It Is Like to Go to War" is set to become just as much of a classic as his epic novel "Matterhorn". In 1968, at the age of twenty-two, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or…


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Book cover of Diary of a Citizen Scientist: Chasing Tiger Beetles and Other New Ways of Engaging the World

Diary of a Citizen Scientist By Sharman Apt Russell,

Citizen Scientist begins with this extraordinary statement by the Keeper of Entomology at the London Museum of Natural History, “Study any obscure insect for a week and you will then know more than anyone else on the planet.”

As the author chases the obscure Western red-bellied tiger beetle across New…

Book cover of The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology

Sally Adee Author Of We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds

From my list on the history and future of bioelectricity.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a science and technology journalist who has reported on neurotech and bioelectricity for over 15 years, for publications including New Scientist, IEEE Spectrum and Quartz. After a formative experience in a DARPA brain-stimulation experiment, I began to dig into the history and science of bioelectricity, trying to understand both the science at the level of membrane biophysics, and the history and psychology of how biology lost custody of electricity. My resulting book is an effort to create a repository of the real, rigorous studies that have advanced our understanding of this fascinating science at an accelerating rate in the past 20 to 40 years - and what the new science means about the future.

Sally's book list on the history and future of bioelectricity

Sally Adee Why did Sally love this book?

They say the law is perpetually at least five years behind new developments in technology.

Nowhere is it more important to reverse this phenomenon than in neurotechnology. We may not understand the brain, but that hasn’t stopped neurotech startups and big tech companies from trying to eavesdrop on and interpret its bioelectric signals.

Farahany, a bioethics professor at Duke University, says that this market is expected to reach $21 billion by 2026 largely because it will be a boon for surveillance capitalism. The devices don’t even have to actually tell you what a person is thinking or feeling for the information to be used that way by companies and governments.

People become credulous when AI tells them something, whether it’s a policing or recidivism algorithms. Wearable says you are about to commit a crime or have an affair? 

Farahany makes an impassioned argument to build the legal framework that will…

By Nita A. Farahany,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Battle for Your Brain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A new dawn of brain tracking and hacking is coming. Will you be prepared for what comes next?

Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to learn your political beliefs, your thoughts can be used as evidence of a crime, and your own feelings can be held against you. A world where people who suffer from epilepsy receive alerts moments before a seizure, and the average person can peer into their own mind to eliminate painful memories or cure addictions.

Neuroscience has already made all of this possible today, and neurotechnology will soon become the “universal controller” for…


Book cover of Man-Eaters of Kumaon
Book cover of Sacred Nature 2: Reconnecting People to Our Planet
Book cover of Security and Conservation: The Politics of the Illegal Wildlife Trade

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