5 Books to Expand Your Ideas on Nature

Whether you’re a lifelong outdoor enthusiast or just starting out, there is always more to learn. Having a deeper understanding of the outdoors and our place in them helps to strengthen and grow our personal outdoor ethic. Here are five reads to expand your ideas and understanding about nature and outdoor recreation. 

1. The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light, by Paul Bogard

Light pollution is all around us, and in modern society, eight out of ten Americans will never live somewhere they can view the Milky Way. So what does that mean? In The End of Night, Bogard explores the ins and outs of light and darkness, and how both affect humans and nature. 

2. The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors, by James Edward Mills 

The Adventure Gap tells the story of the first all-African American summit attempt on Denali (as well as some other awesome adventures), and addresses the diversity gap in outdoor recreation, the reasons behind it, and its far reaching ramifications.

3. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

What can we learn from other living things? In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer draws on her experience as an indigenous scientist to help explore this question and its potential answers to help us understand our place in nature.

4. Ranger Confidential: Living, Working, And Dying In The National Parks, by Andrea Lankford 

Being a National Park Service ranger is more than it appears. In Ranger Confidential, Lankford explores the challenges of those working to protect some of our most high profile public lands, and tells an honest story about her experiences as one of them. 

5. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv

Last Child in the Woods explores the relationship, or lack thereof, between modern children and nature. Louv makes the argument that children are suffering from nature-deficit disorder and details what the implications of that may be. (Find out more about our efforts to address this with Leave No Trace for Every Kid)

While you’re in the reading mood, check out Five Books for Your Kid’s First Camping Trip. What books have changed the way you look at nature?

Leave No Trace’s Erin Collier and Brice Esplin are part of the 2019 Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Program that provides free, mobile education to communities across the country. Proud partners of this program include Subaru of America, REI, Eagles Nest Outfitters, Deuter, Thule,Fjällräven and Klean Kanteen.