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Walden
Henry David Thoreau, 1854
Two years in a cabin, asking how little a good life needs.
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A Sand County Almanac
Aldo Leopold, 1949
A year on a Wisconsin farm, and the idea of a land ethic.
Medium length, about 240 pages
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Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Annie Dillard, 1974
A year of close looking at one creek in Virginia. Dense and dazzling.
Pulitzer Prize, 1975.
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Braiding Sweetgrass
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013
A botanist and Potawatomi writer on gratitude and reciprocity with the land.
Long read, about 408 pages
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H Is for Hawk
Helen Macdonald, 2014
Grief, and training a goshawk. Fierce and tender.
Samuel Johnson Prize, 2014.
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The Peregrine
J. A. Baker, 1967
Ten winters following falcons in Essex. Some of the best prose about birds.
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