Wild Work: Adventures of Women Field Biologists

by Susan B. Adams, Sophie A. H. Osborn

Genres: Science

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2026

Reviews

[Michelle]

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. It is filled with amazing essays from women wildlife biologists, sharing stories from their field work experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their adventures. Their love for their work shines through in their stories. I learned a lot about animals and our environment, as well.

[Carl Nelson]

Wild Work is an excellent, thoroughly readable collection of stories from female field biologists around the world. The common thread among the stories is a deep love and respect for their work and for the species, ecosystems, and places they study. In addition to being exciting reads, the stories taught me quite a bit about the fields of study.

The collection concentrates on the experience of women in a male-dominated profession, particularly the drive to be "one of the team" and to show that they were as tough as male colleagues, often while balancing family life. Two stories in particular will remain with me for a long time: one about a biologist who reacted to an insect sting but kept working, and another about a pregnant biologist who went into labor after falling in the field.

One thing that particularly struck me was in the contributors' biographies. Many had undergraduate degrees in other, unrelated fields prior to studying biology. I hope the stories here inspire a generation of young women to pursue their interests in biology and the sciences, regardless of when they discover their calling!

The stories were well chosen and engaging, ranging from three to ten pages or so. The editing was polished and restrained, preserving the contributors' individual voices while crafting a cohesive tone throughout the volume.

Thanks to Mountaineers Books, Susan B. Adams, and Sophie A. H. Osborn for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Holly]

I received an ARC of this book and brought it along on a summer's worth of camping trips to read in the evenings on my own version of field work (trails instead of biology). I expected some good stories and definitely found those within the pages, but was additionally surprised by how much I learned about a wide variety of wildlife species and diverse fieldwork locations/subjects. There were a couple of disappointing "women scared outside for no other reason than society told them they should be," but the great stories far outweighed these outliers. I'll avoid spoilers, but the stories involving condors and wolves alone make this a fantastic read!

[Michelle]

Fascinating read and such inspiring women!!