Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds. By Joy Adamson, with an introduction by Jane Goodall. Schocken Books, anniversary edition 2000. 224pp. ISBN 0375714383.
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First published in 1960, Joy Adamson's now classic memoir Born Free continues to introduce countless young people to the wildlife of Africa. Adamson recounts her adventures as the surrogate mother of an orphaned lion cub named Elsa, whom she raised as a welcome member of her human and animal family while painstakingly teaching Elsa the skills she would need to survive in the wild. Her teaching, against all odds, was effective: three years later, the Adamsons took Elsa to a place near that of her birth and set her loose, hoping that she would find her "real pride" among other lions of the Kenya grasslands--as she soon did.

Desert Solitaire. By Edward Abbey. Ballantine Books, Reissue edition April 1991. 337pp. ISBN 0345326490.
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With language as colorful as a Canyonlands sunset and a perspective as pointed as a prickly pear, Cactus Ed captures the heat, mystery, and surprising bounty of desert life. Desert Solitaire is a meditation on the stark landscapes of the red-rock West, a passionate vote for wilderness, and a howling lament for the commercialization of the American outback.

The Diversity of Life. By Edward O. Wilson. Belknap Press, 1992. 424pp. ISBN 0674212983.
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Humans, the Harvard University entomologist Edward O. Wilson has observed, have an innate--or at least extremely ancient--connection to the natural world, and our continued divorce from it has led to the loss of not only "a vast intellectual legacy born of intimacy" with nature, but also our very sanity.

The Double Helix : A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. By James D. Watson, Lawrence Bragg. New American Library, reissue edition 1991. 143pp. ISBN 0451627873.
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"Science seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders," writes James Watson in The Double Helix, his account of his codiscovery (along with Francis Crick) of the structure of DNA. Watson and Crick won Nobel Prizes for their work, and their names are memorized by biology students around the world. But as in all of history, the real story behind the deceptively simple outcome was messy, intense, and sometimes truly hilarious. To preserve the "real" story for the world, James Watson attempted to record his first impressions as soon after the events of 1951-1953 as possible, with all their unpleasant realities and "spirit of adventure" intact.

Gorillas in the Mist. By Dian Fossey. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1st marine edition October 2000. 352pp. ISBN 0395489288.
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Although Dr. Fossey's work ended tragically with her murder, her book remains an enthralling testament to one of the longest field studies of primates, covering fifteen years in the lives of four gorilla families in Central Africa.

The Origin of Species. By Charles Darwin and Greg Suriano (Ed.). Grammercy, 1998. 459pp. ISBN 0517123207.
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This is indeed one of the most important and influential books ever written, and it is one of the very few groundbreaking works of science that is truly readable. To a certain extent it suffers from the Hamlet problem--it's full of clichés! Or what are now clichés, but which Darwin was the first to pen. Natural selection, variation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest: it's all in here.

Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park. By Marie Winn. Pantheon Books, 1998. 304pp. ISBN 0679439978.
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Nature perseveres in the strangest places, even smack-dab in the middle of Manhattan. Marie Winn, a Wall Street Journal columnist, chronicles the inspiring tale of a pair of red-tailed hawks that take up residence in the posh Fifth-Avenue neighborhood bordering Central Park, home to such celebrities as Mary Tyler Moore and Woody Allen.

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. By Aldo Leopold. (Illus. by Charles W. Schwartz.) Oxford University Press, Special edition December 1987. 228pp. ISBN 0195053052.
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Published in 1949, shortly after the author's death, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book's pages.

The Selfish Gene. By Richard Dawkins. Oxford University Press, 1990. 352pp. ISBN 0192860925.
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Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.

Silent Spring. By Rachel Carson. Houghton Mifflin Co., Reprint edition September 1994. 368pp. ISBN 0395683297.
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Silent Spring, released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work.

Sociobiology: The Abridged Edition. By Edward Osborne Wilson. (Photographs by Sarah Landry.) Harvard University Press, 1980. 366pp. ISBN 0674816242.
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E.O. Wilson defines sociobiology as "the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior," the central theoretical problem of which is the question of how behaviors that seemingly contradict the principles of natural selection, such as altruism, can develop. Sociobiology as a new field of study demanded the active inclusion of sociology, the social sciences, and the humanities in evolutionary theory. Often criticized for its apparent message of "biological destiny," Sociobiology set the stage for such controversial works as Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene and Wilson's own Consilience.