Wildlife Book Club

Every other month, the Center selects a book related to wildlife, ecology, or natural history to read and discuss.

The text-based bi-monthly sessions take place on the Critter Cam moderated discussion. Simply select any of our Critter Cam pages and click on the moderated discussion on the right-hand side of the page.  There is no video or audio of the book club; simply read along and type your thoughts and reactions about the book.  Anyone is welcome to join - whether you've read the book or not!

April 2 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern

For our next meeting, join the Wildlife Center of Virginia in reading: Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Animals Can Transform Our Lives―and Save Theirs by Richard Louv

And, we've already selected our book for our June meeting! For June, join us in reading Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future by Gloria Dickie. 

 


Previous Wildlife Book Club Meetings:

2024

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard [February 2024]

2023

An Immense World by Ed Yong [February 2023] 
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt [April 2023] 
The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities by Peter S. Alagona [June 2023]
What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. [August 2023] Looking to purchase this book? It's available in the Wildlife Center's online shop! 
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah [October 2023] 
Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery [December 2023] 

2022

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach [February 2023] 
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman [April 2022] 
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson [June 2022] 
Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg [August 2022]
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams [October 2022] 
The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas W. Tallamy [December 2022] 

2021

Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy [February 2021]
The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker [April 2021]
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer [June 2021]
Being Caribou by Karsten Heuer [August 2021]
The Overstory by Richard Powers [October 2021]
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake [December 2021]

2020

How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery [February 2020]
Two in the Far North by Margaret Murie [April 2020]
What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World by Jon Young [June 2020]
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens [August 2020]
Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey [October 2020] 
Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World by Todd McLeish [December 2020]

2019

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb [December 2019] 
Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery by Jennie Erin Smith [October 2019] 
Spiders: Learning to Love them by Lynne Kelly [August 2019]
Eye of the Albatross by Carl Safina [June 2019] 
The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife by Lucy Cooke [April 2019]
Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben [February 2019]

2018

Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird by Katie Fallon [December 2018]
Zooburbia: Meditations on the Wild Animals Among Us by Tai Moses [October 2018]
Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur by Carl Safina [August 2018]
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson [June 2018]
Watership Down by Richard Adams [April  2018]
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald [February 2018]

2017

Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder's Fork and Lizard's Leg: The Lore and Mythology of Amphibians and Reptiles by Marty Crump [December 2017]
Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History by Dan Flores [October 2017]
Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators by William Stolzenburg [August 2017]
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery [June 2017]
Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy: The Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists by Dyana Furmansky [April 2017]
The Rhino with Glue-on Shoes by Lucy H. Spelman and Ted Y. Mashima [February 2017]

2016

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal [December 2016]
The Secret Lives of Bats by Merlin Tuttle [October 2016]
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver [August 2016]
The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey by Deborah Cramer [June 2016]
The Wilderness World of John Muir by John Muir [April
2016]
Gifts of the Crow by John Marzluff and Tony Angell [February 2016]

2015

The Great Penguin Rescue by Dyan deNapoli [December 2015] 
The Bees by Laline Paull [October 2015]
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold [August  2015]
Plastic Ocean by Charles Moore [June 2015]
Red-tails in Love by Marie Winn [April 2015] 
Winter World by Bernd Heinrich [February 2015]

2014

Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat [December 2014]
Silence of the Songbirds by Bridget Stutchbury [October 2014]
Smiling Bears by Else Poulsen [August 2014]

Keep track of past books, future books, and books-of-interest on our Goodreads account.