Book Club
Adkins Arboretum's Book Club promotes the Arboretum's mission through monthly book discussions about conservation issues. Readings include nonfiction, fiction, essays, biography, and poetry, and will focus on horticulture, natural history, science, ecology, history, and environmental issues.
Mission of the Adkins Arboretum Book Club
Members of the book club deepen their understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the Chesapeake Bay region’s native landscapes, including indigenous flora and wildlife, by selecting and discussing relevant literature of the region, the country, and the world.
The Book Club meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 2:45 pm at Adkins' Visitor's Center. Meetings are held every other month: January, March, May, July, September, November. The schedule is occasionally adjusted to accommodate other activities at the Arboretum.
In December, there is a special meeting which includes a potluck luncheon, special readings, and book proposals for the upcoming year Members are encouraged to bring book recommendations and voting commences.
Book Club participants must be Arboretum members. Book club selections are available for purchase in the Adkins Arboretum Gift Shop. Contact info@adkinsarboretum.org for more information.
2025 Book Club Schedule
Tuesday, January 21, 2:45 pm
What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman
Tuesday, March 18, 2:45 pm
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Book Club Selections 2004–2024
Adkins Arboretum's Book Club has existed for 20 years! The following is a complete list of the books read by the Club since its inception.
2004
Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan
Sand County Almanac, selections, by Aldo Leopold
Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean
2005
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson.
Coming Out of the Woods, by Wallace Kaufman.
Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
North with the Spring, by Edwin Way Teale
Stirring the Mud, by Barbara Hurd
Ship Fever, by Andrea Barrett
Diversity of Life, by E.O. Wilson
Encounters with the Archdruid, by John McPhee
How to Grow Wildflowers & Wild Shrubs & Trees in Your Own Garden, by Hal Bruce
2006
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
Bay Country, by Tom Horton
Plants, People, Culture, by Michael Balick and Paul Cox
Underground, by Yvonne Baskin
Book of Bees, by Sue Hubbell
Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv
Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin
Suburban Safari, by Hannah Holmes
Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
2007
Winter World, by Bernd Heinrich
Light on Snow, by Anita Shreve
Gaia's Garden, Home Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway
Beautiful Swimmers, by William Warner
Teaching the Trees, by Joan Maloof
Cloudspotters Guide, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Second Nature, by Michael Pollan
Song of the Meadowlark: Exploring Values for a Sustainable Future, by James Eggert
A Forest Journey, Role of Wood in the Development of Civilization, by John Perlin
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, by Janisse Ray
There's a Hair in My Dirt, by Gary Larson
2008
Old Herbaceous, by Reginald Arkell
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, by Barbara Kingsolver
Gathering Moss, by Robin Wald Kimmerer
Bringing Nature Home, by Douglas Tallamy
Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos, by Vincent Dethier
Letters from Eden, by Julie Zickefoose
American Chestnut, by Susan Frienkel
John and William Bartram's America, edited by Helen Gere Cruickshank
Teaming with Microbes, by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis
The Golden Spruce, by John Vaillaint
2009
Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold
The Wild Trees, by Richard Preston
Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose
Teaching a Stone to Talk, by Annie Dillard
In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
The Forgotten Pollinators, by Stephen L. Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan
The Meadow, by James Galvin
1491, by Charles Mann
The Naturalist, by E.O. Wilson
2010
What Are People For?, by Wendell Berry
Hot, Flat and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman
Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct & Science, by Carol Yoon
The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession, by Andrea Wulf
The Invisible Garden, by Dorothy Sucher
Fireflies, Honey, Silk, by Gilbert Waldbauer
Summer World: A Season of Bounty, by Bernd Heinrich
In Hovering Flight, by Joyce Hinnefeld
Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy: The Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists, by Dyana Furmansky
Footprints Across the South: Bartram's Trail Revisited, by James Kautz
2011
The End of Over-Eating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American. Appetite, by David Kessler
Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs, by Sue Hubbell
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food and Love, by Christin Kimball
In the Company of Crows and Ravens, by John Marzluff, Tony Angell, and Paul Ehrlich
Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the America Nation, by Andrea Wulf
Ant Hill: A Novel, by E. O. Wilson
Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, by William Cronon
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, by Candice Millard
Weeds: In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants, by Richard Mabey
Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology, by Lawrence Weschler
2012
People of the Mist: A Novel of North America's Forgotten Past, by Kathleen O. Gear and W. M. Gear
The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales, by Diane Ackerman
Among the Ancients: Adventures in Eastern Old Growth Forests, by Joan Maloof
Story of Charlotte's Web: EB White's Eccentric Life in Nature & Birth of an American Classic, by Michael Sims
Nesting Season, by Bernd Heinrich
Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens, by Andrea Wulf
Nabokov's Blues: The Scientific Odyssey of a Literary Genius, by Kate Johnson and Steve Coates
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, by Charles Mann
Folks, this Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World, by Joel Salatin
Essential Earthman: Henry Mitchell on Gardening, by Henry Mitchell
2013
State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild, by Craig Childs
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed
The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature, by David George Haskell
Horseshoe Crabs & Velvet Worms, by Richard Fortey
What the Robin Knows, by Jon Young
American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation, by Eric Rutkow
Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmstead, by Justin Martin
Darwin, Portrait of a Genius, Paul Johnson
My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell
2014
January - King Solomon's Ring, by Konrad Lorenz
February - The Right Hand Shore, by Christopher Tilghman
March - Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places that Inspired the Classic Children's Tales, by Marta McDowell
April - A Garden of Marvels: How We Discovered that Flowers Have Sex, Leaves Eat Air, and Other Secrets of Plants, by Ruth Kassinger
May - Ginko: The Tree That Time Forget, by Peter Crane
June - What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses, by Daniel Chamovitz
July - The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen
September - Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love, Dava Sobel
October - Good Poems/American Places, selected by Garrison Keillor
November - The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson
December - The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks, by Amy Stewart
2015
March - Elizabeth's Field: Historical Fiction, by Barbara Lockhart
April - The Trees in My Forest, by Bernd Heinrich
May - Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail, by Ben Montgomery
June - Tales from the Underground: A Natural History of Subterranean Life, by David Wolf
July - Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness, by Edward Abbey
September - The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us, by Diane Ackerman
October - Basin and Range, by John McPhee
November - A Reverence for Wood, by Eric Sloane
2016
January - Blue Mind ... water can make you happier..., by Wallace Nichols
February - Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife, by John MarzluffMarch - Elizabeth's Field: Historical Fiction, by Barbara Lockhart
March - The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World, by Andrea Wulf
April - New and Selected Poetry, Vol. 2, by Mary Oliver
May - Walking the Appalachian Trail, by Larry Luxenberg
June - Emily Dickinson's Gardens: A Celebration of a Poet and Gardener, by Marta McDowell
July - Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
September - Pawpaw: In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit, by Andrew Moore
October - Cape Cod, by Henry David Thoreau
November - Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, by Elizabeth Kolbert
2017
February - The Cracker Barrel, by Eric Sloane
March - Seeing Trees: Discovering the Extraordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees, by Nancy Ross Hugo (photographs by Robert Llewellyn)
April - How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea, by Tristan Gooley
May - How Not to Be Eaten: The Insects Fight Back, by Gilbert Waldbauer
June - A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm, by David Goulson
July - The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors, by David Haskell
September - The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, by Douglas Brinkley
October - One Wild Bird at a Time: Portraits of Individual Lives, by Bernd Heinrich
November - The End of Nature, by Bill McKibben and/or Coming of Age at the End of Nature: A Generation Faces Living on a Changed Planet, by Julie Dunlap and Susan Cohen, editors
2018
February - Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide for Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, by Thomas L. Friedman
April - The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
May - The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife, by Nancy Lawson
June - Seasons of America Past, by Eric Sloane
July - American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, by Nate Blakeslee
August - Rivers of the Eastern Shore, by Hulbert Footner
September - Charles Darwin: The Naturalist Who Started a Scientific Revolution, by Cyril Aydon and The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution, by David Quammen
October - Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, by Kim Todd
November - Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning), by Dr. Marion Nestle
December - The Lost Words, by Robert MacFarlane, illustrations by Jackie Morris
2019
January - Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape, by Jill Jonnes
February - Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist: How to Have Your Yard and Eat it Too, by Michael Judd
March - Nature’s Temples: The Complex World of Old-Growth Forests, by Joan Maloof
April - Astoria: Aster and Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire, by Peter Stark
May - Around the World in 80 Trees, by Jonathan Drori
June - Nature Wars, by Jim Sterba
July - On Trails: An Exploration, by Robert Moor
August - summer break; no reading
September - The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in our Time, by Jonathan Weiner
October - The Soil Will Save Us, by Kristin Ohlson
November - An Island Out of Time: A Memoir of Smith Island in the Chesapeake, by Tom Horton
December - Diary of the Early American Boy: Noah Blake, 1805, by Eric Sloane
2020
January - The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, by David W. Quammen
February - Naked Mountain: A Memoir, by Marcia Mabee
April - Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky, by Connie Lapallo
May - Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl, by Stacey O’Brian
June - The Overstory: A Novel, by Richard Powers
September - The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World, by Charles C. Mann
October - Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest, by Joan Maloof
November - The House Without Windows, by Barbara N. Follett; Illustrated by Jackie Morris
2021
January - Killing Mr. Watson, by Peter Mattheissen
February - The Unlikely Through Hiker, by Dereck Lugo
March - The Living Great Lakes, by Jerry Dennis
April - Weeds, by Richard Mabey
May - Slime, by Ruth Kassinger
June - The Secrets of Wildflowers, by Jack Sanders
July - Dancing with Bees, by Brigit Strawbridge Howard
September - Why Fish Don't Exist, by Lulu Miller
October - Spying on Whales, by Nick Pyenson
November - Underland: A Deep Time Journey, by Robert MacFarlane
December - Larvae of the Nearest Stars, by Catherine Carter
2022
January - The Feather Thief, by Kirk Wallace Johnson
February - The Wild Trees, by Richard Preston
March - Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard
April - A World on the Wing, by Scott Weidensaul
May - Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, by Isabella Tree
June - Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures, by Merlin Sheldrake
July - Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree: Getting to Know Trees Through the Language of Scent, by David Haskell
September - Old Growth: The Best Writing About Trees from Orion Magazine, by Robin Kimmerer
October - One Day at Teton Marsh, by Sally Carrighar
November - The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, by Jane Goodall
2023
January—Arctic Dreams, by Barry Lopez
February 21—Under the White Sky: The Nature of the Future, by Elizabeth Kolbert
March—Old Growth, selections from Orion Magazine; foreword by R.W. Kimmerer
April—The Nature of Oaks, by Douglas Tallamy
May—River of the Gods, by Candace Millard
June—The Mind of a Bee, by Lars Chittka
Our Native Bees, by Paige Embrey
July—Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, by Thor Hanson
September—Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
October—The Earth Moved, by Amy Stewart
November—Hope is the Thing with Feathers, by Christopher Cokinos
2024
March – An Immense World by Ed Yong
May – Sounds Wild and Broken by David George Haskell
July – Fen, Bog, and Swamp by Annie Proulx
September – The Journals of Lewis & Clark by Bernard Devoto, Ed.
November – The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
