Kimmerer, Robin Wall. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Scribner. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781668072240. 112p. $20. NATURE

Kimmerer, an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and author of the bestselling Braiding Sweetgrass, offers lessons and inspiration from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world as she considers the serviceberry, which embodies reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. She posits that the serviceberry symbolizes a better way to live, in contrast to an economy based on scarcity, competition, and hoarding of resources.

Lightman, Alan. The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature. Pantheon. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9780593701485. 208p. $36. NATURE

Lightman, a physicist, bestselling author, and host of the PBS TV show, Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science, pens essays about the universe’s fascinating natural phenomena. Accompanied by full-color photos, the essays explore the science of the natural world and answer questions such as why rainbows make an arc and how hummingbirds fly.

Montgomery, Sy. What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird. Atria. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781668047361. 96p. $21.99. NATURE

Author of the bestselling Of Time and Turtles, Montgomery focuses on chickens in her latest. She’s kept a flock of chickens in her backyard for years, and in this short book, with a mix of narrative and science, she shares what makes these birds so remarkable.

Oakes, Lauren E. Treekeepers: The Race for a Forested Future. Basic. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781541603349. 336p. $30. NATURE

Conservation scientist Oakes (author of the multi-best-booked In Search of the Canary Tree) considers climate change and forests. Wondering about the impacts of tree-planting efforts, Oakes travels the world to meet with scientists, innovators, and locals to better understand the role of forests in the fight against a warming world.

Rundell, Katherine. Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures. Doubleday. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9780385550826. 224p. $26. NATURE

In this illustrated book of essays, originally published in the UK as The Golden Mole, bestselling and award-winning Rundell (Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne) showcases 23 amazing endangered animals from across the world, from the seahorse to the American wood frog to the lemur.