Diane Ackerman Reading Order

6 books (2001–2012)

Diane Ackerman edited six complete anthologies published between 2001 and 2012, blending fantasy and nonfiction perspectives across diverse themes. The series includes A Convergence of Birds, When The Wild Comes Leaping Up, Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief, Hope Beneath Our Feet, and Wonder and Other Survival Skills. Read these collections in publication order, starting with A Convergence of Birds.

Start with A Convergence of Birds, the first of 6 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	A Convergence of Birds 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	When The Wild Comes Leaping Up 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Hope Beneath Our Feet 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Wonder and Other Survival Skills 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

9 books (1976–2003)

Diane Ackerman's Collections series comprises nine volumes of poetry published between 1976 and 2003, representing a complete collection that should be read in publication order. The series begins with The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral and progresses through varied collections including Wife of Light, Lady Faustus, and Reverse Thunder, showcasing Ackerman's exploration of themes ranging from mythology and psychology to the natural world and animal perception. Spanning nearly three decades, these books document the evolution of her poetic voice across fantasy-inflected and observational verse.

Start with The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral[Poems], the first of 9 books in the Collections series.

#	Title
1	The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral[Poems] 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Wife of Light 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Lady Faustus 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Reverse Thunder: A Dramatic Poem 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	I Praise My Destroyer: Poems 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Origami Bridges: Poems of Psychoanalysis and Fire 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Senses of Animals: Poems 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Animal Sense 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

19 books (1985–2027)

Diane Ackerman's complete non-fiction series comprises 18 books published between 1985 and 2014, exploring natural history, human experience, and scientific wonder through lyrical prose. Beginning with On Extended Wings and proceeding through publication order, the series encompasses investigations into animal behavior, sensory perception, love, gardening, memoir, neuroscience, and wildlife conservation. These standalone yet thematically connected works reflect Ackerman's distinctive approach to blending scientific observation with philosophical inquiry and personal narrative. Readers should follow the publication sequence to experience the evolution of her thinking and writing across three decades.

Start with On Extended Wings, the first of 18 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	On Extended Wings 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	A Natural History of the Senses 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Moon by Whale Light and Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians and Whales 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	A Natural History of Love 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Curious Naturalist 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Monk Seal Hideaway 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	The Rarest of the Rare: Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	A Slender Thread: Rediscovering Hope at the Heart of Crisis 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Bats: Shadows in the Night 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Book of Love 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Deep Play 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Twilight of the Tenderfoot: A Western Memoir 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	The Zookeeper's Wife 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Dawn Light: Dancing with Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	One Hundred Names for Love: A Memoir 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	A Feast in Every Sense 2027Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible