10 Nature-Themed Nonfiction Books to Read On Your Next Camping Trip

One of the best parts of camping is relaxing in the middle of nowhere with a book (or several!)—especially if you add a hammock into the mix.

1. Healing Trees: A Pocket Guide to Forest Bathing by Ben Page

Designed to be read while surrounded by trees, this guide to mindfulness is the perfect way to start any camping trip!

2. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This memoir will either inspire you to add hiking the PCT to your bucket list or make you appreciate the luxuries of car camping.

3. Our National Parks by John Muir

This collection of essays from the "Father of the National Parks" is the perfect companion if you'll be visiting any of U.S. National Parks.

4. Crimes Against Nature by Karl Jacoby

Offering a more critical perspective on wilderness conservation, this is one of my favorites, and it's a great counter to read alongside Muir.

5. No Place for the Weary Kind by Courtney Lix

For folks headed into the Smokies, this book features stories on 19 different Smoky Mountain women, from hikers to singer-songwriters.

6. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

I'd be remiss not to include this classic. Every time I re-read Walden, I discover something I missed the time before.

7. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Another classic! This book helped spark the environmentalist movement in the 60s, and it's wild how much is still relevant today.

8. Bad Environmentalism by Nicole Seymour

If you're tired of guilt-centric environmental campaigns, you'll love Seymour's celebration of shameless, "trashy" environmentalism.

9. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

One such trashy environmentalist (and my problematic fave), Abbey has a rowdy sense of humor, and his love for the desert is infectious.

10. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This book combines scientific knowledge with Indigenous wisdom to offer compelling insights into a land ethic based in reciprocity.

Have you read any of these? Let me know what you think!

Also: what kinds of books do you like to read while camping?

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