This book club is open to all readers -- you're not required to be a member of the Grand Rapids Audubon Club (though we're happy to welcome you to that club, too!)

About the book:

July's book: "The Urban Naturalist: How to Make the City Your Scientific Playground" by Menno Schilthuizen

In May's book club, we went global, delving into the tale of one man's around-the-world pursuit of a record-breaking big year. In July, we'll get hyper-local and talk about opportunities for wonder and discovery in your own backyard.

About the book:

A manifesto—and a field guide—for a new dawn of natural history, practiced by community scientists in their own urban jungle.

Imagine taking your smartphone-turned-microscope to an empty lot and discovering a rare mason bee that builds its nest in empty snail shells. Or a miniature spider that hunts ants and carries their corpses around. With a team of citizen scientists, that's exactly what Menno Schilthuizen did—one instance in the evolutionary biologist's campaign to take natural science to the urban landscape where most of us live today. In this delightful book, The Urban Naturalist, Schilthuizen invites us to join him, to embark on a new age of discovery, venturing out as intrepid explorers of our own urban habitat—and maybe in the process do the natural world some good.

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About the club:
-Buy or borrow the book and complete the reading before the meeting.
-There’s no cost to participate (apart from any books you opt to purchase). And you don't need to be a club member, or a birder, to join us for the discussion! We love meeting new people.
-Book club meets 6 to 7 p.m. generally on the second Monday of every other month (January, March, May, July, September, November) except in the case of scheduling conflicts.
-Titles for the 2026 book club schedule (and past picks) are available on our website: https://www.graud.org/membershipmeetings-1
-This is a space for mutually respectful, curious and sometimes challenging conversations. Happy reading!