Nature Trails: What Wildlife Conservationists Read

From organising nature walks to identifying different birds, they contribute to protection and preservation of nature. Here’s a list of books that inspired these wildlife conservationists.

Bittu Sahgal

Bittu Sahgal is founder of Sanctuary Nature Foundation and editor of Sanctuary Asia.

1. Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind By Yuval Noah Harari

The book helps place humans within the biosphere in a way that is not just easy to understand, but also enjoyable and compelling. As one who has spent a lifetime trying to shift the mindset of powerful global leaders and their constituencies away from a self-inflicted, futile conflict with nature, I found several linkages in the book that help me reach out to the young who have been so distanced from nature as to imagine they are in fact, aliens who know and can improve the functioning of Planet Earth's biosphere.

2. A Sense Of Wonder By Rachel Carson

As a child I was always fascinated by natural things. As I grew older, I found myself tagging along with people smitten by and knowledgeable about nature as they explored some of India's most remote wildernesses. I was in my mid-20s when I read A Sense of Wonder and one line still defines my life’s purpose as I work with over a million children through Sanctuary's Kids for Tigers programme: “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder… he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.” That is what I do today.

3. The Superannuated Man By Charles Lamb - From The Essays Of Elia

I had planned on being a professional cricketer at the age of 16, but my father decided that I was to be a chartered accountant. I acquiesced. Charles Lamb's The Superannuated Man was part of my Bachelor of Commerce curriculum. Before I finished 10 pages, I realised that I was headed straight towards life-imprisonment. I resigned within the hour after reading his essay. The first line of Lamb's book says it all: “If peradventure, Reader, it has been thy lot to waste the golden years of thy life — thy shining youth — in the irksome confinement of an office.”

Bikram Grewal

Bikram Grewal is a renowned ornithologist, author, birdwatcher and conservationist.

1. Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide By Pradip Krishen

Designed in the Dorling Kindersley signature style, this heavily illustrated guide came as a boon to all tree watchers and covers practically all the trees found in the capital and its environs. The author has achieved what no botanist so far has been able to do: he built the portrait of the city through its trees.

2. The Weight Of A Petal Ars Botanica Edited By Sita Reddy

Starting from the first major work Hortus Malabaricus, this book covers most of the major movements like Mughal Court paintings though the Company School and all the major botanists who studied the plant life of India. Many of the contemporary botanical painters like Hemlata Pradhan, Neera Joshi and Meena Subramanium too are covered. It is a visual delight.

3. Birds Of South Asia By Pamela Rasmussen

This two-volume work on the birds of the region, by the American scientist Pamela Rasmussen, is arguably the finest work ever produced, and an essential tool for any serious ornithologist.

Usha Desai

Usha Desai has co-founded The Tree Appreciation Walks in Mumbai.

1. The Book Of Indian Birds By Dr. Salim Ali

I first came across this book when I wanted to identify a small sparrow-sized bird, which has a beautiful green, yellow and red colour. This book helped me fall in love with birds.

2. Butterflies Of India By Thomas Gay, Issac Kehimkar, Jagdish Punetha

My love for birds also made me appreciate butterflies, and I joined an entomology course and learned to identify butterflies. In 2001, the only book that helped me was Butterflies Of India and rearing caterpillars and raising butterflies became my passion. But one can't rear butterflies unless you know your plants well. For instance, I realised that a Tailed Jay caterpillar will eat only leaves from Annonaceae family.

3. Trees Of Delhi By Pradip Krishen

This is how I started reading about wild flowers and trees and the book that inspired me the most was Trees Of Delhi by Pradip Krishen. “Once you know a tree, you start appreciating it and once you appreciate something, you start loving it and then naturally you want to protect it, and I realised that the best way to make people fall in love with trees is by taking tree walks... and thus our TAW [Tree Appreciation Walks ] started.”

Shubhalaxmi Vaylure

Dr. Shubhalaxmi is an environmental conservationist, educator and an ecopreneur. She has founded Ladybird Environmental Consulting, iNaturewatch Foundation and Birdwing Publishers.

1. BNHS Encyclopedia Of Natural History

This was my source of all information when I used to work as an environmental education officer at BNHS in my early days.

2. Last Child In The Woods By Richard Louv

This book talks of how younger generations are growing up in a world disconnected with nature. I used this idea and suggested building apps that get children to go outdoors. This won me the Fulbright Scholarship for India in 2014.

3. Moths: The Fauna Of British India

I have done my PhD on moths, and this five-set volume on moths was very helpful. These volumes were written in the 18th century and were my Bible.