Adult Summer Read: Author Talk with Thor Hanson

Join Thor Hanson, author of JCL's 2026 Adult Summer Read, as he speaks about his latest book, Close to Home: the wonders of nature just outside your door.

"We all live on nature's doorstep, but we often overlook it. From backyards to local parks, the natural places we see the most may well be the ones we know the least. In Close to Home, biologist Thor Hanson shows how retraining our eyes reveals hidden wonders just waiting to be discovered. In urban Los Angeles, hundreds of unknown species abound. In the Pacific Northwest, fierce yellowjackets placidly sip honeydew, unseen in the treetops. And in the soil beneath our feet, remedies for everything from breast cancer to the stench of skunks lie waiting for someone's searching shovel. Close to Home is a hands-on natural history for any local patch of Earth. It shows that we each can contribute to science and improve the health of our planet. And even more, it proves that the wonders of nature don't lie in some far-off land: they await us, close to home"

About the Author
Thor Hanson was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, where he now lives on an island with his wife and son. He caught his first salmon at age four and often collected a wide array of temporary summertime pets, from caterpillars and tadpoles to garter snakes, hermit crabs, and tree frogs. His early interest in the natural world steered him towards a career in conservation biology.  Hanson received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Redlands, his master’s from the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program, and his doctorate in a joint program through the University of Idaho and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica.

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