The most recommended books on biodiversity

Who picked these books? Meet our 28 experts.

28 authors created a book list connected to biodiversity, and here are their favorite biodiversity books.
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Book cover of Half-Earth

Dave Goulson Author Of The Garden Jungle

From my list on rewilding and the biodiversity crisis.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have loved insects and other wildlife for all of my life. I am now a professor of Biology at the University of Sussex, UK, specializing in bee ecology. I have published more than 400 scientific articles on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees and other insects, plus seven books, including the Sunday Times bestsellers A Sting in the Tale (2013), The Garden Jungle (2019), and Silent Earth (2021). They’ve been translated into 20 languages and sold over half a million copies. I also founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006, a charity that has grown to 12,000 members. 

Dave's book list on rewilding and the biodiversity crisis

Dave Goulson Why did Dave love this book?

EO Wilson died just a few weeks ago, at the age of 92. It was a sad day for me, as he has always been one of my great heroes. “E.O.” was a fantastic scientist, a world authority on ants, and sometimes known as the “father of biodiversity”. In this book, he argues that we have no right to drive millions of species extinct and that our own future depends upon setting aside half the Earth for nature.    

By Edward O. Wilson,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Half-Earth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

History is not a prerogative of the human species, Edward O. Wilson declares in Half-Earth. Demonstrating that we blindly ignore the histories of millions of other species, Wilson warns us that a point of no return is imminent. Refusing to believe that our extinction is predetermined, Wilson has written Half-Earth as a cri de coeur, proposing that the only solution to our impending "Sixth Extinction" is to increase the area of natural reserves to half the surface of the earth. Half-Earth is a resounding conclusion to the best-selling trilogy begun by the "splendid" (Financial Times) The Social Conquest of Earth…


Book cover of Design for Biodiversity: A Technical Guide for New and Existing Buildings

Sian Moxon Author Of Sustainability in Interior Design

From my list on sustainable design (from an architect).

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an architect, academic, and author, who is passionate about sustainable design. At London Metropolitan University I conduct design research on urban rewilding, and teach sustainable design to architecture and interior design students. I founded the Rewild My Street campaign, which aims to inspire and empower city residents to reverse biodiversity decline by transforming their homes, gardens, and streets for wildlife. My work combines my expertise in sustainable design; architectural-practice experience in housing, building conservation, and urban regeneration; and passion for wildlife. I am driven by designing and helping others design sustainable, biodiverse buildings, and cities.

Sian's book list on sustainable design (from an architect)

Sian Moxon Why did Sian love this book?

Many books now address designing low-energy buildings to mitigate climate change, but few focus on designing buildings to benefit wildlife. Given the global biodiversity crisis and modern buildings’ lack of accidental gaps to shelter birds, bats, and insects, more guidance on safely incorporating wildlife habitat within buildings and outdoor spaces is crucial. This was one of the inspirations behind my urban-rewilding campaign, Rewild My Street.

By Carol Williams, Brian Murphy, Kelly Gunnell

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The creation of highly insulated and sealed buildings, necessitated by the shift towards designing and building low-carbon buildings, has had a negative effect on biodiversity. The potential niches for biodiversity such as spaces in open roof voids, generous overhangs and cracks and crevices that can be home for a wide range of birds, bats, insects and plants, are now being designed out through the desire to develop airtight buildings.

The first edition of this book showed how you can make provision for building-reliant species when designing new low or zero carbon buildings. This second edition remains true to that need…


Book cover of Brief Eulogies for Lost Animals

Mike Shanahan Author Of Gods, Wasps and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees

From my list on biodiversity, ecology, and extinction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a tropical ecologist turned writer and editor focused on biodiversity, climate change, forests, and the people who depend on them. I did my doctoral research in rainforests in Borneo and Papua New Guinea and have since worked for media organizations and research institutes, and as a mentor to journalists around the world who report on environmental issues. Ecology taught me that everything is connected. Rainforests taught me that nature can leave a person awe-struck with its beauty, complexity, or sheer magnificence. I try to share my passion for these subjects through my writing.

Mike's book list on biodiversity, ecology, and extinction

Mike Shanahan Why did Mike love this book?

I happened to be at a conference of scientists trying to conserve endangered species when I first heard about Daniel Hudon’s book. It struck a chord. It is a beautiful little collection of one hundred eulogies for lost animal species. Some are brief—just a few lines long. Others are more expansive, taking in literature and reportage. But all are poignant reminders of the permanence of extinction. Hudon’s aim is simply to acknowledge that these species existed, to recognize them and make them better known. It is a beautiful and unique collection, stunning in the cumulative force of his poetic words. A perfect gift, Hudon’s tales are both tragic and inspirational. 

By Daniel Hudon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Brief Eulogies for Lost Animals as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this collection of one hundred brief eulogies, science writer and poet Daniel Hudon gives a literary voice to the losses stacking up in our present-day age of extinction. Natural history, poetic prose, reportage, and eulogy blend to form a tally of degraded habitats, and empty burrows, and of the songs of birds never to be heard again.


Book cover of The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living

Yuha Jung Author Of Transforming Museum Management: Evidence-Based Change through Open Systems Theory

From my list on encouraging readers to question the status quo.

Why am I passionate about this?

My areas of expertise are museum management and arts administration. More specifically, I study structures of arts organizations and how they are connected or disconnected to their communities and larger societies using the systems theory and concept of mutual causality. In the process, I point out where the systems (i.e., museums) become stagnant and find a leverage point to address that stagnation by bringing in new input and different ways of thinking about the culture and structure of the organization. In most of my research, I try to find blindspots of following or doing “what was just there (i.e., status quo)” instead of evaluating what it did and how it can be improved. 

Yuha's book list on encouraging readers to question the status quo

Yuha Jung Why did Yuha love this book?

This is a book that got me thinking about how biodiversity is so important in the ecosystem and that includes people and societies we created. We try to separate ourselves from “nature” but this very thinking creates wicked issues. Capra argues that in order to solve the most pressing issues of our society, our way of life must reflect that of nature, leading to an ecologically sustainable future. It helps people think about their positioning and relationships to nature and how interconnected we all are. The value system and hierarchical thinking of humans above nature can be rethought, especially helpful in the times of climate change and subsequent social issues.

By Fritjof Capra,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A fierce attack on globalism - and a manifesto for change - by one of the world's leading scientific writers.

Recent scientific discoveries indicate that all life - from the most primitive cells, up to human societies, corporations and nation-states, even the global economy - is organised along the same basic patterns and principles: those of the network.

However, the new global economy differs in important aspects from the networks of life: whereas everything in a living network has a function, globalism ignores all that cannot give it an immediate profit, creating great armies of the excluded. The global financial…


Book cover of Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature Is Thriving in an Age of Extinction

Michael Sheldon Author Of The Violet Crow

From Michael's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Writer Photographer Bird watcher Skeptical optimist

Michael's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Michael Sheldon Why did Michael love this book?

Inheritors of the Earth is the best book on biodiversity and conservation I’ve read. That’s because Chris Thomas takes a balanced approach to the survival of the world’s species. He finds reasons for optimism, without ignoring the serious challenges ahead.

Why do I love this book? I discovered it on Shepherd.com and soon found it provided invaluable background for my novel in progress.

But most of all Chris’s writing is so engaging, passionate, and funny. His hands-on research has taken him to far corners of the world and, while his currency is scientific, his views are grounded in a philosophy that humanity is part of nature, and that changes in the environment are both inevitable and not necessarily bad. 

By Chris D. Thomas,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Inheritors of the Earth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE TIMES, ECONOMIST AND GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017

It is accepted wisdom today that human beings have irrevocably damaged the natural world. Yet what if this narrative obscures a more hopeful truth?

In Inheritors of the Earth, renowned ecologist and environmentalist Chris D. Thomas overturns the accepted story, revealing how nature is fighting back.

Many animals and plants actually benefit from our presence, raising biological diversity in most parts of the world and increasing the rate at which new species are formed, perhaps to the highest level in Earth's history. From Costa Rican tropical forests to the thoroughly…


Book cover of We Are the ARK: Returning Our Gardens to Their True Nature Through Acts of Restorative Kindness

Caro Feely Author Of Cultivating Change: Regenerating Land and Love in the Age of Climate Crisis

From my list on biodiversity, plants and natural magic.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a published author specializing in nature, travel, and wine writing, and I have been an organic farmer for nearly two decades on an award-winning estate in France. I’ve written four books about the transformation of our organic farm. In my latest, Cultivating Change, I explore how biodiversity helps us address climate change and how important it is to the health of the land. It is also a human story; like the books below, stories are key to bringing these subjects to life. My list is women authors, not because I set out to do that, but because these books are beautiful, intuitive, and deep, like the women who wrote them.

Caro's book list on biodiversity, plants and natural magic

Caro Feely Why did Caro love this book?

This beautifully illustrated book is a biodiversity manifesto. Mary Reynolds is an Irish garden designer who became the youngest woman ever to win a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show. Her biggest contribution to gardening is her new initiative to bring biodiversity to gardens through this book and her organization, We Are The Ark.

Her mission is to move people from being gardeners to being guardians. Echoing a message in my latest book, Mary says we can’t wait for politicians to change things; we can start right away, in a back garden or a window box for apartment dwellers. This is an uplifting book that offers magical prose and illustrations. It guides the reader through how to rewild your patch (or your community patch/ school/ shared space), no matter the size, and why transforming from gardener to guardian is so crucial to us all. The book’s title, ‘ARK,’ stands…

By Mary Reynolds, Ruth Evans (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked We Are the ARK as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Reynolds gives us a much-needed reason for hope. The gardener, the conservationist, the city planner,and the nature lover will all be inspired for this wonderful book shows how thousands of even small wildlife friendly gardens can provide habitat for embattled wildlife around the world.” —Jane Goodall, Phd, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace 

Individuals can’t save the world alone. But if millions of us work together to save our own patch of earth—then we really have a shot. How do we do it?  With Acts of Restorative Kindness (ARK). An ARK is a restored,…


Book cover of Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People

Jeff Stookey Author Of Dangerous Medicine

From Jeff's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Historical fiction writer Gay male Reader History buff Curious human

Jeff's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Jeff Stookey Why did Jeff love this book?

Evolution’s Rainbow made me happy and excited because I write about sexuality and gender in my books. In a time when the LGBTQ+ community is being attacked, especially by criminalizing transgender people, this scientifically based book by a trans woman is a cause for celebration.

She presents numerous compelling examples from nature demonstrating that homosexuality and gender diversity/mutability are not uncommon. In later parts of the book, Roughgarden examines the various genetic and physiological origins of transgenderism in humans and the existence of homosexuality and gender variation across human cultures and eras.

I learned a great deal from this book. It’s a book that every politician and judicial officer should read.

By Joan Roughgarden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Evolution's Rainbow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this innovative celebration of diversity and affirmation of individuality in animals and humans, Joan Roughgarden challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. A distinguished evolutionary biologist, Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science - and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. Evolution's Rainbow explains how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Roughgarden reconstructs primary…


Book cover of The Forgotten Pollinators

Jeff Ollerton Author Of Pollinators and Pollination: Nature and Society

From my list on bees and other pollinators.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a kid growing up in the northeast of England I became fascinated by the insects, flowers, birds, geology, and seashore life around me. That fascination with natural history never left me and I had the fortune to turn my childhood interests into a professional career as a research scientist, teacher, and writer. My work on pollinators and plants has taken me around the world, from the grasslands of Oxfordshire to the deserts of Namibia and the mountains of Nepal, from the rainforests of Brazil and Australia to the thorny shrublands of Tenerife. The result has been more than 135 articles plus a couple of books. I must get back to writing the next one…

Jeff's book list on bees and other pollinators

Jeff Ollerton Why did Jeff love this book?

For me, this is the book that really started the current drive to conserve pollinators in our rapidly changing world. Other authors had written about bees in particular, and how pesticides and habitat destruction were affecting them, but Steve Buchmann and Gary Nabhan were the first to bring all of the evidence together for a wide range of pollinators, including hummingbirds and bats as well as insects. This was an enormously influential book that helped to shape public opinion, global policies, and actions around pollinator conservation. It also influenced the research direction, and subsequently professional careers, of many ecologists and naturalists, myself included.

By Stephen L Buchmann, Gary Paul Nabhan, Paul Mirocha (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

This work looks at the human impact on plants and the animals they depend upon for reproduction. As an increasing number of species are erased by pesticides or habitat disruption, 80 per cent of the human diet is threatened.


Book cover of E. O. Wilson: Biophilia, the Diversity of Life, Naturalist

Edward Struzik Author Of Swamplands: Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bogs, and the Improbable World of Peat

From my list on nature and the environment.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've spent a good part of my life exploring the outdoor world for the national parks service, for books, newspapers, and magazines. Each trip down a river, across a lake, up a mountain, or through a desert or swampland reminds me, as Wallace Stegner once suggested, that wilderness is as much a state of mind as it is a complex set of ecosystems. Wilderness is the geography of hope. Without the hope that comes with the wilderness experience, we would be lost. In my explorations, I've come to appreciate how much we still do not know about the natural world and how much hope there is that we can get through the challenges that climate change brings.

Edward's book list on nature and the environment

Edward Struzik Why did Edward love this book?

I took a course from Ed Wilson when I was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and Harvard. Each one of his classes was a revelation, as were his books. He won the Pulitzer twice for On Human Nature and The Ants. But I particularly enjoyed The Diversity of Life. It was engaging and so prophetic – a sequel, as someone once said, to Darwin’s Origin of the Species.

By Edward O. Wilson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A landmark collected edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and world-renowned biologist, illuminating the marvels of biodiversity in a time of climate crisis and mass extinction.

Library of America presents three environmental classics from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner E. O. Wilson, a masterful writer-scientist whose graceful prose is equal to his groundbreaking discoveries. These books illuminate the evolution and complex beauty of our imperiled ecosystems and the flora, fauna, and civilization they sustain, even as they reveal the personal evolution of one of the greatest scientific minds of our age. Here are the lyrical, thought-provoking essays of Biophilia, a field biologist's…


Book cover of The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's Salvation

Menno Schilthuizen Author Of Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution

From my list on biology in the Anthropocene.

Why am I passionate about this?

Menno Schilthuizen is a Dutch evolutionary biologist and ecologist with more than thirty years of research experience under his belt, feeling at home in tropical rainforests as well as in urban greenspaces. He writes in a humorous and accessible manner for the general public about the ways in which the world's ecosystems are shifting and evolving under an increasing human presence. He works and teaches at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands.

Menno's book list on biology in the Anthropocene

Menno Schilthuizen Why did Menno love this book?

Fred Pearce, veteran editor of New Scientist, takes on an exploration of what invasive species really are. In doing so, he reveals that many of our engrained opinions regarding these 'exotics' is based on flawed ecology, ecological xenophobia, and ill-founded conservatism. Sure, some invasive species should be fought to save cherished native species from extinction, but Pearce shows us that this should never be the knee-jerk reaction to any immigrant species.

By Fred Pearce,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce used to think of invasive species as evil interlopers spoiling pristine 'natural' ecosystems. Most conservationists would agree. But what if traditional ecology is wrong, and true environmentalists should be applauding the invaders?

In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey to rediscover what conservation should really be about. He explores ecosystems from Pacific islands to the Australian outback to the Thames estuary, digs into the questionable costs of invader species, and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature.

Keeping out alien species looks increasingly flawed. The new ecologists…


Book cover of Half-Earth
Book cover of Design for Biodiversity: A Technical Guide for New and Existing Buildings
Book cover of Brief Eulogies for Lost Animals

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