“There’s always a hidden owl in ‘knowledge’.”
E I Jane
We live in a world of unimaginable beauty. This allure lives in its wild denizens, a riotous collection of life of which we know nothing. They lie obscured in mist that often pervades their jungle homes.
Yet there are some who have persevered through the haze of the unknown, and studied these creatures. Their findings reside here, in the numerous books and essays they’ve written.
Here you will find those books that best capture the rapture of the natural world. Tucked away in its pages is all the wisdom our wild cousins have to offer us. Go ahead and immerse yourself in them.
Categories
The books included here fall under these broad categories. (Note that one book can fall under multiple categories).
- Journal accounts, Field Notes, Anthologies (A)
- Biographies (B)
- Science/Academia/Environmental Journalism (C)
(This is a compilation of the best works I have found after years of reading about wildlife. I continually update this page. Note that they are not in order of preference)
My Wild Reading List
- Wild Fire by Valmik Thapar (A)
- Love, Life and Elephants: An African Love Story by Daphne Sheldrick (B)
- Tiger Fire by Valmik Thapar (A)
- Tiger! by Kailash Sankhala (A)(B)
- Field Days by AJT Johnsingh (A)
- Whispers from the Wild by ERC Davidar (A)(B)
- To The Elephant Graveyard (A/B)
- Tripwire for Tiger by FW Champion (A)
- The Oxford Anthology of Indian Wildlife: Volume 2: Watching and Conserving by Mahesh Rangarajan (A)
- Leopard Diaries by Sanjay Gubbi (A)(C)
- The Way of the Tiger by Ullas Karanth (C)
- The Rise and Fall of The Emerald Tigers by Dr. Raghu Chundawat (C)
- From Soup to Superstar by Kartik Shanker (C)
- Wild and Wilful By Neha Sinha (C)
- The Fall of the Sparrow by Salim Ali (C)
- Living with Tigers by Valmik Thapar (A/C)
- Saving Wild India by Valmik Thapar (B/C)
- Every Creature has a Story: What Science Reveals about Animal Behaviour by Janaki Lenin (C)
- Jim Corbett Omnibus Volume 1
- Rewilding by Bahar Dutt (C)
- Elephas Maximus: A Portrait of the Indian Elephant by Stephen Alter
- The Deer and the Tiger by George B Schaller
- Indian Mammals: A Field Guide by Vivek Menon
- Birds of the Indian Subcontinent ( A Field Guide)
- The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony (B)
- Mother of God by Paul Rosolie (B)
- The Life of Mammals by David Attenborough (C)
- Born Free by Joy Adamson (B)
- The Great Soul of Siberia by Sooyong Park (B)
- The Black Panther of Sivanipalli by Kenneth Anderson (A)
- The Hidden Lives of Owls by Leigh Calvez (A/B)
- Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson (B)
- The Vanishing-India’s Wildlife Crisis by Prerna Singh Bindra (C)
- Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony (B)
- Adventures of a Young Naturalist by David Attenborough (B)
- On Jim Corbett’s Trail and Other Tales from the Jungle by AJT Jognshingh (A)
- Man Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett (A)
- Sprint of the Blackbuck: Writings on Wildlife and Conservation in South India by Theodore Bhaskaran (A)
- The Illustrated Tigers of India by Valmik Thapar (A/B)
- My Husband and other Animals by Janaki Lenin (C)
- My Husband and other Animals: The Wildlife Adventure Continues by Janaki Lenin (C)
- Snakes of India (A Field Guide)
- Tigers/My Life: Ranthambore and Beyond by Valmik Thapar (A/B)
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen (A)
- Tiger Tales: Tracking the Big Cat Across Asia by Ullas Karanth (A)
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Ishan Shanavas 