4 nature books I enjoyed in 2024

Hi readers! Before we’re too far into 2025, I’d like to share a few books I read last year. Most of my reading in 2024 was nature-themed, but the books varied quite a lot in style and focus. Here is a selection of the ones I enjoyed the most¹!

Soundings (Doreen Cunningham)

This beautifully written memoir describes a journey the author undertakes with her young son. Taking flights, trains and many boat trips, the pair follow the yearly migration of grey whales along the Pacific coast from Mexico to Alaska. This book is about whale natural history and about motherhood, both in whales and in humans – but it is also about relationships, climate change, and indigenous culture: The author’s journey not only follows the whales but is also her return to the Iñupiat community in the northernmost town of Alaska. She lived there years ago, reporting on climate change as a journalist, building a deep connection with the local people and their way of living, and eventually also falling in love.

This book is multi-layered, switching between the whale journey, the author’s time in Alaska, and other stages of her life; it is hard to adequately describe in a short review. So, I will only mention two aspects that stood out to me. First, as a memoir, I found the book incredibly brave and touching. The author writes about the ups and downs of her life, her failed relationships and insecurities more openly and candidly than many of us would talk to our friends. It felt special to get this much insight into the complexities of another human being. Second, I really liked the description of life in the Arctic community, with the author becoming part of a local family and joining their hunts on the ice. The book captures the beauty and simplicity of a life that is still filled with old traditions, but is also changed, challenged and sometimes broken by the influence of the “modern” world.

I picked up this book randomly while travelling, in a bookstore that had only a few English books, and it was such a nice surprise. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The Nature of Winter (Jim Crumley)

“The nature of winter” is part of a series of four books, written by famous Scottish nature writer Jim Crumley, each focusing on the nature of one season. In poetic language (and interspersed with the occasional actual poem), the writer describes his observations of swans, ravens, rooks, and deer in the Scottish winter. For example, I especially remember a scene where he quietly observes a group of red deer feeding on the plants beneath the snow and reflects on their intimate knowledge of the landscape.

The author also gets into the effects of climate change on the Scottish winters (there is not as much snow in the book as one might wish for) and the negative impacts of human interference (e.g. conifer plantations, hunting of native predators) on the local ecosystems. Crumley is an advocate of rewilding and extensively discusses re-introductions of the wolf. I appreciated how the book mixes nature writing with these more argumentative sections on conservation.

“The nature of winter” is nature writing in the narrow sense – it does not contain much of a personal narrative. I usually prefer books that connect the stories of individual humans and nature, so it started out with a bit of a disadvantage (I am embarrassed to tell you, but pure nature writing sometimes bores me…). Indeed, the book isn’t exactly a page-turner. But it is so well-written that it has taught me a bit about how to read this genre: Once I got into it, I began enjoying the book in the same way I enjoy nature itself – I imagined myself in the places described and became absorbed in the surroundings without expecting something exciting to happen all the time.

This book is a clear example of the connection with nature that many of us strive for. The author has a deep knowledge and understanding of his environment, and he finds beauty and stories where many people would probably just walk past. I also appreciated the subtle humour and occasional grumpiness toward humankind.

Hidden Nature: A Voyage of Discovery (Alys Fowler)

In this memoir, the author recounts her exploration of the Birmingham canal network in an inflatable pack raft over a period of time – the same period during which she also falls in love with another woman and leaves her husband. In the canal network, she finds tunnels, rubbish, living and dead animals, interesting people, and lots of plants (she is a horticulturist – British readers might know her from BBC gardening programmes). In her personal life, she deals with the guilt of leaving a chronically ill partner and the struggles of changing her life dramatically in her 30s. I found both threads interesting, but their combination in the book felt slightly arbitrary to me – a bit as if two separate books were merged.

The main reason I liked this book very much is how the author finds a new perspective on a seemingly familiar landscape. Countless people live and work in Birmingham and see its canal network every day, but most of them never actually enter it, don’t travel to the hidden areas behind buildings and tunnels, and don’t notice the variety of the plants by the water. This story is a great reminder that we can find adventure on our doorstep and don’t always need to travel far – we just need some imagination and the ability to see beauty where it isn’t most obvious. Quite a unique book!

Underland (Robert Macfarlane)

This book is a substantial non-fiction journey to “underland” places. The author explores various sites rich in subterranean stories, delving into their history and meeting people deeply connected to them. These places cover a fascinating range: An underground lab in the UK where dark matter is researched. Glacier tunnels in Greenland. The limestone caves of the Carso region (Slovenia/Italy) with their dark war history. Soils containing huge networks of fungi…

I am including this book here because it contains a lot of nature writing, but it goes beyond that, including science, history, and deep (no pun intended) reflections. The subterranean stories serve as a lens through which to explore the relationship between humans and their environment – including how we change the world in the Anthropocene, using the ground both for greedy extraction (of e.g. oil) and to get rid of the mess we have created (e.g. nuclear waste).

One aspect of this book that I liked is that the author interweaves the stories of fascinating people and fascinating places (sorry, but I have to say “fascinating” multiple times when describing Underland!) – this makes the book extremely vivid and readable.

Another aspect I’d like to highlight: the chapter “Invisible cities”. Beneath the city of Paris, there is a network of tunnels, with streams and caves, artwork, catacombs, and illegal parties. Similar to the story of “Hidden Nature”, this chapter reveals a secret world in a seemingly familiar place, and the atmosphere is so captivating that I could not put the book down. One reason this book drew me in so much is certainly that the author does not just have a small peek into places such as this one – he goes on real adventures, spends long periods of time (sometimes days) underground, and truly experiences the fear and awe the underground places instil.

Have you read any of these books? I’d like to know your thoughts! Other nature book recommendations are of course also welcome in the comments. Looking forward to many interesting reads in 2025,

Hannah

1. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that they do not vary in terms of nationality of the authors! I have only recently really understood what type of writing I like most, and almost all the books I find are by British (or sometimes American) authors. I am on a mission to find others!