Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas | 1991 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 2 | The Curious Naturalist: Nature’s Everyday Mysteries | 1991 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 3 | Seasons of the Wild: A Year of Nature’s Magic and Mysteries | 1995 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 4 | The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans | 1995 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 5 | Journey of the Pink Dolphins: An Amazon Quest | 2000 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 6 | The Wild Out Your Window: Exploring Nature Near at Hand | 2002 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 7 | Search for the Golden Moon Bear: Science and Adventure in Southeast Asia | 2002 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 8 | The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood | 2006 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 9 | Spell of the Tiger: The Man-Eaters of Sundarbans | 2009 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 10 | Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur | 2010 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 11 | Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World | 2012 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 12 | The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness | 2015 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 13 | Tamed and Untamed | 2017 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 14 | How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals | 2018 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 15 | Allowed to Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries | 2019 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 16 | Peaceable Kingdom: The Special Bond between Animals and their Humans | 2021 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 17 | The Book of Turtles | 2023 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 18 | Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell | 2023 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 19 | Secrets of the Octopus | 2024 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 20 | Mysterious, Marvelous Octopus! | 2024 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
| 21 | What the Chicken Knows | 2024 | Sy Montgomery | Buy |
These are all of Sy Montgomery’s adult non-fiction books in publication order. Her writing covers a wide range of animals and natural environments, from the tigers of the Sundarbans to the pink dolphins of the Amazon to the octopuses of the New England Aquarium. Each book stands on its own, so readers can start with whatever subject draws them in.
Montgomery’s earliest books, Walking with the Great Apes and The Curious Naturalist (both 1991), established her approach of combining field reporting with personal reflection. The Good Good Pig (2006) showed her gift for memoir by telling the story of Christopher Hogwood, a runt piglet who grew into a 750-pound beloved family pet. The Soul of an Octopus (2015), her biggest commercial success, was a National Book Award finalist and brought her fascination with animal intelligence to a wide audience.
Her more recent work continues at a steady pace. Of Time and Turtles (2023) follows turtle conservation efforts, Secrets of the Octopus (2024) returns to the cephalopods she loves, and What the Chicken Knows (2024) makes the case that backyard chickens are far more interesting than most people realize. Across three decades and 21 books, Montgomery keeps finding new ways to write about the animals she encounters and what they can teach us about the world.