Please enjoy Skagit Land Trust Staff’s book recommendations. We hope that you enjoy these titles as much as we do! Please consider supporting local businesses during this time. At the end of the recommendation list there is a list of local bookstores and how they are operating.
- Braiding Sweetgrass -- Robin Wall Kimmerer
Indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative.
- Braving the Wilderness-- Brene Brown
Nature, philosophy and wisdom.
- Citizen Science: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction -- Mary Ellen Hannibal
Hope. This book is encouraging and full of positive things that people are doing all over the world. From tales of monitoring whales to measuring snails. This book is a reminder of all the good there is in the world and why citizen science is so important.
- Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness -- Lyanda Lynn Haupt
As a crow lover, It’s a one my favorite books about these clever corvids.
- The Death of Grass -- John Christopher
A classic. Virus infects grass strains causing massive disruption in the world.
- Defending WILD Washington-- Edward A. Whitesell with Students from Evergreen State College
- Eager: The surprising, secret life of beavers and why they matter -- Ben Goldfarb
About beaver, healthy landscapes, history from before the fur trade until now. Winner of 2019 PEN/EO Wilson Award.
- Earthing-- C. Ober, S. Sinatra M.D.
Want to change the way you feel about walking barefoot? An interesting study about the potential benefits of grounding and connecting with Mother Earth.
- The Feather Thief- Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century -- Kirk Wallace Johnson.
True crime story quite unlike any you have read.
- Forest Bathing - How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness -- Dr Qing Li.
It’s the rage!
- Gathering Moss-- Robin Wall Kimmerer.
A mixture of biology and Indigenous cultural experiences that provides a view of moss and our natural world.
Having Everything Right: Essays of Place - Kim Stafford
A book of essays about the “history, folklore and physical beauty of the Pacific Northwest”. I can’t pick out a favorite, but especially liked “The Barn and the Bees” and “A Walk in Early May”.
- The Hidden Forest: The Biography of an Ecosystem -- Jon Luoma.
A really great local ecosystem snapshot.
- Impressions of the North Cascades: Essays about a NW Landscape
These essays, some written by Trust members, partners and friends, look at the North Cascades from a past, present and future perspective. You will be reminded why we are passionate in protecting this area we call home.
- Land Use, Environment, and Social Change: The Shaping of Island County -- Richard White
An interesting and in depth look at the environmental and social history of Whidbey and Camano Islands. Much of this book also applies to the greater Washington State area and provides fascinating details about past human environment relationships, logging, early homesteaders, and Coast Salish peoples.
- Lewis and Clark’s Green World, The Expedition and its Plants -- A. Scott Earle and James L. Reveal
The book begins in Winter 1804 and tracks the party westward, and provides collecting information, photos, and drawings of the “new” plants along the route. A different perspective of many plants we know and love!
- Natural Grace: The Charm, Wonder, & Lessons of Pacific Northwest Animals and Plants -- William Dietrich.
- Natural History of the Pacfiic Northwest Mountains -- Daniel Matthews
(Formerly known as the Cascade-Olympic Natural History) This is the most “readable” field guide I’ve ever picked up. Wonderfully written entries on everything from Marmots to glacial geology. I go back to it again and again. Not so much a reference book, as a lovingly written guide to our alpine landscapes.
- The Overstory -- Richard Powers
Book club favorite- a very readable story about trees and forests, activism. Short-listed for Booker prize 2018.
- Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds -- Lyanda Lynn Haupt
Lovely short book with amusing and informative chapters on our most common birds -- the ones we live with day in and day out.
Poems on nature and everyday life. “ For years, every morning, I drank from Blackwater Pond. It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt, the feet of ducks.” - From Mornings at Blackwater.
- A Sand County Almanac -- Aldo Leopold
A must read for all nature lovers. A great look at the way we live and shape our relationships with nature. This book has a great message about reconnecting with the environment while helping the reader understand their own.
- Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants -- Jane Goodall
One of my all time favorite books. This book gives you an inside look to Jane Goodall’s relationship with the natural world, which is a really special one.
- The Soul of an Octopus - A surprising Exploration of the Wonder of Consciousness -- Sy Montgomery.
A page turner, an adventure and you may never order “octopus” again after reading this book.
- Stronghold - One Man’s Quest to Save the World’s Wild Salmon -- Tucker Malarkey
It is a very important and interesting book. The book will give your work with the Skagit Land Trust confirmation and a broader dimension.
- The Sun is a Compass -- Caroline Van Hemert
Caroline and her husband traveled 4,000 miles through the wilderness starting in Bellingham, Washington and ending in Kotzebue, Alaska. Their entire journey was human propelled traveling by rowboat, ski, foot, raft, and canoe. Caroline is an ornithologist and her husband is a woodworker so her writing is both scientific and beautiful natural fascination for the world. - I actually got to meet her and her husband at her book talk in Bellingham and they are both so humble, kind, and fascinating.
- Swell -- Captain Liz Clark
Any sailing/surfing lovers out there? This is a great read about Liz’s ten year, 20,000 mile journey across the pacific living on a 40 foot sailboat. This is definitely a fantasy of mine and her voyage to the remote south pacific islands had me really itching to get back on the water. She is world recognized surfer, sponsored by Patagonia, featured in the film Dear and Yonder, and nominated for National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2015. Her love for the environment is really shown in this journey and now in her activism online and with environmental groups and brands.
- Thirst 2600 Miles to Home -- Heather “Anish” Anderson
Heather is the first woman to complete the Triple Crown (Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails) in a calendar year. This book is about her record setting PCT hike with her hiking 40-plus miles a day. It’s her second time completing the PCT and although I have never done the PCT or hiked 40-plus miles in a day you could feel it reading her book. She’s a beast!
- Through a Green Lens: Fifty Years of Writing for Nature -- Robert Michael Pyle
One of my favorite writers. Read any of his books you can get a hold of! However, this is an introduction to his writing through essays. His thoughts on the “The Extinction of Experience” have influenced my own thinking on getting kids into nature and his essay “The Rise and Fall of Natural History” makes me want to head into the woods and learn all I can about the plants, birds and insects in my backyard, just so I can pass that knowledge onto the next generation.
- Wild- Returning Nature to our Farm -- Isabella Tree
What happens when faced with bankruptcy, a family allows 3500 acres of land, farmed for centuries to return to the wild. Based in England
Support Local Businesses
It is important to support our local businesses during this time. There are several bookstores in the area that are still shipping out books!
Easton's Booksin Mount Vernon has their inventory to browse online for shipping.
Pelican Bay Booksin Anacortes has their inventory online, purchase the book of your choice through their website.
Seaport Books in La Conner is shipping books for free! Give them a call or email them to place your order.
Village Booksin Fairhaven is doing online book orders, with shipping at just $0.99! Visit their website for more information.
Watermark Book Co.in Anacortes is doing online or over the phone book orders. They are open from 9:30am - 3:30pm Monday - Friday and 10:00am -1:00pm on Saturdays for curbside pickup.