When I saw this book was coming out in June, I thought it was the perfect book to read while preparing for my summer vacation at Naturalist Camp.
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June 2025; Ten Speed Press; 978-0593835975 ebook, print (272 pages); environmental |
I read a lot of science-related books, and with each one, I learn a little something different. I have a biology degree, but I never really wanted to be a scientist. I didn't know how to go about pursuing a career as a naturalist. So I went into science administration and eventually ended up in science communications. My passion for nature and the environment has been more of a hobby. And that's okay.
Where ever your relationship with nature and the environment, this book should be in your toolkit.
Species identification has always been a weak skill for me. As a biology major, species identification was big part of my "organismal courses" (vertebrate zoology, invertebrate zoology, plant taxonomy, and wildlife biology). I would (with luck) memorize the list of species for the test, and then it would go Poof! and it was almost like I had never studied it. As I have read more about being a naturalist, I think it is because we were told what it was instead of observing what it was (though in my plant taxonomy course, I did have to collect and identify something like 25 species on my own).
I really liked this book because it gave me tools to help me identify a species. It highlighted characteristics that I should be paying attention to that will make identification easier. I liked that Lexa showed her case study notes. Journaling has been something else I've been struggling with. I like how she organizes her notes. For me, interesting facts help me remember a species I have already identified so that when I see it again, I can recall its name. A lot of the information she includes in her case study, I mentally make note of when I research a species - I just don't write it down.
She covers everything in the living world that you might want to identify when you are outside. Plants and animals are almost always focused on in the environmental books I read, but she also devotes equal time to fungi and even brings up protists and lichens. I particularly liked the fungi and lichens sections (fungi have always fascinated me, and I'm planning on taking a lichen class at camp this year).
If you are new to the naturalist life, she spends a good deal of time on getting started. She goes over field guides and other tools you will want in your field bag. It was the typical information I would expect, but she is quite thorough and gives the reader a lot to think about in terms of the tools they might want to use and when.
It is definitely a book I'll be recommending to those just getting started, but there is also a lot for the seasoned naturalist to get out of this book.
Buy The Everyday Naturalist at Amazon
Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.
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