The Best Nature Books 2025

1. Bonsai Basics

Bonsai Basics covers everything from pruning and wiring to repotting and winter care. This book is the perfect compliment to any tree.

Bonsai Basics: A step by step guide to growing, training and care supported with many full color photos and illustrations Learn about selecting trees, pruning, wiring, aging, styling and groupings of trees and more By Pessy and Samson

2. Growing Bonsai Indoors

Growing Bonsai Indoors will be a great aid to anyone wanting success with an indoor, tropical tree.

Growing Bonsai Indoors: A step by step guide to growing, training and care supported with many full color photos and illustrations Learn about selecting trees, pruning, wiring, aging, styling and groupings of trees and more By Pat Lucke Morris

3. Fox Chapel-Pyrography Patterns

DESIGN ORIGINALS-Pyrography Patterns. Award-winning pyrography artist Sue Walters offers 30 dynamic North wildlife patterns to use in woodburning projects. These engaging animal subjects (including geese, eagles, bear, deer, wolves, fox, owls, chipmunks, cougars and more) are presented in harmonious natural settings. Author: Sue Walters. Softcover, 79 pages. A.

Brand New 023863080071 Fox Chapel Publishing FOX-23819

4. Arboretum America : A Philosophy of the Forest (Paperback)

A passionately intelligent, exquisitely illustrated guide to the native trees of the North American continent that offers an informative and entertaining blueprint for rebuilding the biosphere

Combining both hands-on practicality and garden philosophy, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, a self-described "renegade scientist," appeals to the hearts and minds of gardeners everywhere. Arboretum America's goal is both lofty and down to earth: the salvation of the planet---through the planting of trees. There are many books on both of these subjects. Some warn, some inform, while others meditate on the disappearance of the forests or the meaning of trees. Few books, though, touch on so many aspects of trees, including ways to use them in garden design, as Arboretum America does. Beresford-Kroeger's remedy is what she calls the Bioplan. The plan consists of how each of twenty different tree groups relates to its natural environment and how these specific trees can be used to promote health or to counteract the effects of pollution and global warming. The plan also reveals the fascinating history of these trees in Native American culture, including their medicinal uses. Finally, the Bioplan offers practical design ideas and tips---where to plant these trees, what season they look best in, what native plants complement them---as well as organic care and how to grow them. Beresford-Kroeger captures the magic spell that trees cast over us. Yet her holistic approach urges us to think big while acting locally, so that we may someday restore the forest primeval. Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist, medical and agricultural researcher, lecturer, and self-defined "renegade scientist" in the fields of classical botany, medical biochemistry, organic chemistry, and nuclear chemistry. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

5. Peterson First Guide to Forests (Paperback) by John C. Kricher

9780395971970. Paperback. Language: English. Pages: 128. 128 p. Contains: Unspecified. Includes unspecified. This guide describes and illustrates the 50 different kinds of forest and related habitats found throughout the United States and Canada, from the boreal forests and tundra of the north to the mangrove swamps, desert scrub, and giant saguaro forests of the south. 55 color plates.

9780395971970. Paperback. Language: English. Pages: 128. 128 p. Contains: Unspecified. Includes unspecified. This guide describes and illustrates the 50 different kinds of forest and related habitats found throughout the United States and Canada, from the boreal forests and tundra of the north to the mangrove swamps, desert scrub, and giant saguaro forests of the south. 55 color plates.

6. Dry River : Stories of Life, Death, and Redemption on the Santa Cruz (Paperback)

Poet and writer Alison Deming once noted, "In the desert, one finds the way by tracing the aftermath of water . . . " Here, Ken Lamberton finds his way through a lifetime of exploring southern Arizona's Santa Cruz River. This river--dry, still, and silent one moment, a thundering torrent of mud the next--serves as a reflection of the desert around it: a hint of water on parched sand, a path to redemption across a thirsty landscape. With his latest book, Lamberton takes us on a trek across the land of three nations--the United States, Mexico, and the Tohono O'odham Nation--as he hikes the river's path from its source and introduces us to people who draw identity from the river--dedicated professionals, hardworking locals, and the author's own family. These people each have their own stories of the river and its effect on their lives, and their narratives add immeasurable richness and depth to Lamberton's own astute observations and picturesque descriptions. Unlike books that detail only the Santa Cruz's decline, Dry River offers a more balanced, at times even optimistic, view of the river that ignites hope for reclamation and offers a call to action rather than indulging in despair and resignation. At once a fascinating cultural history lesson and an important reminder that learning from the past can help us fix what we have damaged, Dry River is both a story about the amazing complexity of this troubled desert waterway and a celebration of one man's lifelong journey with the people and places touched by it.

Poet and writer Alison Deming once noted, “In the desert, one finds the way by tracing the aftermath of water . . . ” Here, Ken Lamberton finds his way through a lifetime of exploring southern Arizona’s Santa Cruz River. This river—dry, still, and silent one moment, a thundering torrent of mud the next—serves as a reflection of the desert around it: a hint of water on parched sand, a path to redemption across a thirsty landscape. With his latest book, Lamberton takes us on a trek across the land of three nations—the United States, Mexico, and the Tohono O’odham Nation—as he hikes the river’s path from its source and introduces us to people who draw identity from the river—dedicated professionals, hardworking locals, and the author’s own family. These people each have their own stories of the river and its effect on their lives, and their narratives add immeasurable richness and depth to Lamberton’s own astute observations and picturesque descriptions. Unlike books that detail only the Santa Cruz’s decline, Dry River offers a more balanced, at times even optimistic, view of the river that ignites hope for reclamation and offers a call to action rather than indulging in despair and resignation. At once a fascinating cultural history lesson and an important reminder that learning from the past can help us fix what we have damaged, Dry River is both a story about the amazing complexity of this troubled desert waterway and a celebration of one man’s lifelong journey with the people and places touched by it.

7. FoldingGuides: Sibley's Common Trees in the Cities & Towns of the Northeast & Upper Midwest (Other)

These laminated, fold-up identification guides-- FoldingGuides-- speak for themselves. Written and illustrated by local experts who know their stuff, waterproof and indestructible, theyre the perfect choice for beginners and intermediates who want to know what theyll encounter in their particular locale. Written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley, America's most widely respected bird and now tree illustrator. Includes 45 of the most common trees found in the cities and towns of the Northeast and Upper Midwest region. Entries include illustrations and abridged text from his bestselling The Sibley Guide to Trees (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 2009). The range includes the following US states: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, MI, WI, MN, ND, and SD, as well as the following Canadian provinces: Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba.

FoldingGuides: Sibley's Common Trees in the Cities & Towns of the Northeast & Upper Midwest (Other)