When journalist and travel writer Bill Bryson returned to the United States after 20 years in England, he could think of only one way to reacquaint himself with his native country: hike the Appalachian Trail. This best-selling book is his hilarious record of the dangers, quirky characters, and awe-inspiring scenery he encountered on his trek from Georgia to Maine. Stocking up for his journey at the sporting goods store, Bryson suspects he is getting...

The enduring appeal of the desert is strikingly portrayed in this poetic study, which has become a classic of the American Southwest. First published in 1903, it is the work of Mary Austin (1868–1934), a prolific novelist, poet, critic, and playwright, who was also an ardent early feminist and champion of Indians and Spanish-Americans. She is best known today for this enchanting paean to the vast, arid, yet remarkably beautiful lands that lie east...

Nature writings of Aldo Leopold, one of the foremost conservationist of our century.

"In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt designated the nation's first National Monument and opened the door for all future Presidents to join him in his quest to recognize the diverse depth and breadth of this great nation. Roosevelt's purpose was to preserve significant parcels of American history and geology for future generations of Americans to experience. Hence forth, each National Monument has been designated by a sitting U.S. President as...

"Bird Cloud" is the name the author gave to 640 acres of Wyoming wetlands and prairie and four hundred foot cliffs plunging down to the North Platte River. On the day she first visited, a cloud in the shape of a bird hung in the evening sky. She also saw pelicans, bald eagles, golden eagles, great blue herons, ravens, scores of bluebirds, harriers, kestrels, elk, deer and a dozen antelope. She fell in love with the land, then owned by the Nature Conservancy,...

"Over the centuries, natural history museums have evolved from being little more than musty repositories of stuffed animals and pinned bugs, to being crucial generators of new scientific knowledge. They have also become vibrant educational centers, full of engaging exhibits that share those discoveries with students and an enthusiastic general public. At the heart of it all from the very start have been curators. Yet after three decades as a natural...

Cuba's unspoiled tropical terrain, closed for decades by a U.S. trade embargo, escaped the commercialization of its Caribbean island neighbors. A title wave of hotels, asphalt, and pollution may be just ahead, if tourism experts are right. Look inside the long-closed paradise to see what the future holds for Cuba's unusual species of amphibians, reptiles, and fresh water fish.

"In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane's distinctive voice,...