Silverback Mountain Gorilla in Uganda by Alice Perry. Seeing such a magnificent animal in the wild is easy but to get to know Mountain Gorillas it is best to read the gripping Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey.
TOP BOOKS
about wildlife/travel
First and foremost for anyone passionate about the planet we live on and the way we live on it the book to read is ...
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
Oxford, 2008. First published in 1854.
Followed by the nearest anyone has ever got to Thoreau ...
- Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.
Touchstone, 1990. First published in 1968.
And the almost as good ...
- A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold.
OUP USA, 1968. First published in 1949.
Then there are the books below which I have done my best to sort into those which are mainly about wildlife and those which mainly concern travel.
(Travel Guides, Field Guides and the like are listed under the relevant destinations, not here).
Mainly Wildlife
- Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin. Penguin Classics, 2003. First published in 1839.
- The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace. John Beaufoy, 2010. First published in 1869.
- Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey. Phoenix, 2001. First published in 1983.
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen. Vintage Classics, 2010. First published in 1979.
- The Tree Where Man Was Born by Peter Matthiessen. Penguin, 2010. First published in 1972.
- The Wind Birds by Peter Matthiessen. W W Norton & Co., 1996. First published in 1967.
- Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. First published in 1997.
- Wild Wings to the Northlands by Stan Bayliss Smith. H F & G Witherby Ltd, 1970.
- Wild America by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher. Houghton Mifflin, 1998. First published in 1956.
- The Birds of Siberia by Henry Seebohm. Alan Sutton Publishing, 1985 (Two volumes). First published in 1901.
Mainly Travel
- The Faber Book of Exploration edited by Benedict Allen. Faber & Faber, 2004.
- Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa by Mungo Park. FrontList Books, 2005. First published in 1799.
- Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley. The Echo Library, 2008. First published in 1897.
- The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Vintage, 2010. First published in 1922.
- Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. Phoenix, 2000.
- Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley. The Collins Press, 2010. First published in 1940.
- The Kon-Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl. George Allen & Unwin, 1950.
- The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier. Sheridan House, 2003. First published in 1971.
- The Way to an Island by R. M. Lockley. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1947. First published in 1941.
- My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir. WLC Books, 2009. First published in 1911.
- The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck. Penguin Classics, 2001. First published in 1941.
- A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby. HarperPress, 2010. First published in 1958.
- Into The Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon. Penguin, 2005. First published in 1984.
- The Field-Book of a Jungle-Wallah by Charles Hose. OUP, 1986. First published in 1929.
- The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. Canongate Books, 2011. First published in 1977 (written in the 1940s).
- In Search of Sparrows by Denis Summers-Smith. Poyser, 2010. First published in 1992.
- Biographies for Birdwatchers by Barbara and Richard Mearns. Academic Press, 1988.
- The Bird Collectors by Barbara and Richard Mearns. Poyser, 2002.
- Audubon to Xantus by Barbara and Richard Mearns. Poyser, 2003.
Fiction
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