For Readers: Blog

It's Only Natural

It’s that wonderful — but brief — time of year when the world is beckoning you to get outside and enjoy nature. In northern Illinois, we’re lucky to be surrounded by plenty of beautiful forest preserves and parks with walking paths and picnic areas to make the most of the changing fall foliage and brisk weather. If you’d like to delve a little more into the serenity and science behind the nature all around, check out some of these fascinating recent reads.

Looking for motivation to get some fresh air? The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams breaks down the latest research about nature’s positive effects on health, work, and mood, and is a simple but compelling push to get outside.

For local interest, you can’t go wrong with The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan. After a summer of high water levels in our region, this timely and accessible read takes a look at the very real dangers facing the "inland seas" we often take for granted.

If you’ve ever been awestruck by a monumental old tree or if you find peace in the forested path, catch up on the latest scientific findings about the wonder of trees in The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben.

Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson’s love for all things creepy-crawly is hard to resist: her Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects is a witty and highly readable ode to bugs. 

Andrea Wulf takes readers back to the 1800s with The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World, delving into the life of the now little-known naturalist and explorer who influenced some of the great thinkers, including Charles Darwin and Henry David Thoreau.

Film star Leonardo DiCaprio has already snapped up the film rights to Nate Blakeslee's American Wolf: A Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, a powerful look at the struggle to protect the endangered wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park.

Venture far beyond the confines of the Midwest in Carlos Magdalena’s The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World’s Rarest Species and learn about the superheroes of botany who are working to save species from extinction.

In H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald uses a blend of nature writing and memoir to process her grief over the loss of her father. She takes readers along on her road to recovery, which leads her deep into the world of falconry.

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel, a book club favorite, is far from the typical nature memoir. Part investigative journalism, part debate about morality, solitude, and loneliness, this book might leave you with more questions than when you began reading (but in the best possible way!).

--Laura