Join evolutionary biologist Menno Schilthuizen for an eye-opening look at how cities can become the backdrop for your next great scientific adventure.
In The Urban Naturalist, Schilthuizen shows us how to turn everyday urban spaces — like vacant lots and sidewalk cracks — into places of real discovery. Picture using your phone as a microscope and spotting a rare bee that nests in empty snail shells, or uncovering a tiny spider that collects ant bodies. These aren’t just oddities — they’re real findings from Schilthuizen and his crew of urban explorers, made up of everyday people who bring science to life right in their own neighborhoods.
This talk invites you to see your city with fresh eyes and join a growing movement of community scientists who are reshaping how we connect with nature — right outside our front doors.
Copies of The Urban Naturalist will be available onsite thanks to the MIT Press Bookstore.
MIT Press Bookstore Hosts at the MIT Museum
Date: Thu, 4/3/2025
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Place:
MIT Museum
314 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
The Urban Naturalist – A New Way to See the City
What if your next nature adventure didn’t require a forest — just a sidewalk?
In The Urban Naturalist, evolutionary biologist Menno Schilthuizen makes a compelling case for exploring the wild side of our cities. This isn’t your typical nature book. It’s part how-to guide, part rallying cry for everyday people to become urban explorers and community scientists. Armed with little more than a phone camera, a magnifying glass, and a sense of curiosity, Schilthuizen shows how even the most overlooked spaces — a vacant lot, a garden bed, a patch of sidewalk moss — can reveal rare insects, complex ecosystems, and brand-new scientific discoveries.
Drawing on his own fieldwork with citizen scientists, he invites readers to rediscover their neighborhoods as vibrant ecosystems. Whether it’s a bee that makes its nest in a snail shell or a tiny spider dragging ant bodies behind it, this book reveals that wonder is never far from reach — especially if you’re paying attention.
The Urban Naturalist is both an invitation and a guide: to look closer, to engage with the city as a living environment, and to participate in a new era of open, community-driven science. For anyone who’s ever stopped to peer into a sidewalk crack or wondered what was crawling under a leaf, this book is a doorway to discovery.
Books will be available for purchase at the event courtesy of the MIT Press Bookstore.
Praise for The Urban Naturalist: How to Make the City Your Scientific Playground
“A fascinating dive into community-science projects that will surely encourage and inspire interested readers.”
—Booklist
“In The Urban Naturalist, the Dutch ecologist Menno Schilthuizen invites us to explore the small natural oases found in every city…Mr. Schilthuizen points out that being in nature, even in a city, contributes to mental and physical health. You don’t have to find a new species of ant, snail or spider to succeed as an urban naturalist, but with the author’s advice and encouragement, that might happen too.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“I find science fascinating, but laughing is my favorite activity. Menno presents scientific facts with his absolutely irresistible humor. Reading his book is illuminating. I laughed a lot and learned even more.”
—Isabella Rossellini, actress, filmmaker, founder of Mama Farm, author of Green Porno and My Chickens and I
“With clarity, wit, and passion, Schilthuizen celebrates the surprising biodiversity found in cities and invites readers to explore, embrace, and make it their own. The Urban Naturalist is both a journey of discovery and a call to action.”
—Thor Hanson, author of Close to Home
“From a fungi DNA lab on a Brooklyn kitchen counter to the firefly ambassadors in Kuala Lumpur, Schilthuizen’s chronicles of everyday naturalists show how anyone can unleash their own inner scientist.”
—Beth Shapiro, author of How to Clone a Mammoth and Life as We Made It
“An excellent primer for would-be citizen scientists, inspiring you to explore the unexpected biodiversity lurking in every urban corner. Schilthuizen’s writing has a poetic quality that makes this a pure delight to read!”
—Carin Bondar, author of Wild Moms
About the Author & Illustrator
Menno Schilthuizen is an evolutionary biologist based at Naturalis Biodiversity Center and a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands. A passionate advocate for citizen science, he co-founded the nonprofit Taxon Foundation and co-leads Taxon Expeditions, which invites everyday people to help discover new species around the world. His work blends deep scientific expertise with a gift for storytelling that brings the natural world to life.
Jono Nussbaum is a British-born artist and designer living in Italy. Trained in fine art and design in London, his work is inspired by the textures and forms of the natural world. He brings that vision to The Urban Naturalist through vivid illustrations that invite readers to see beauty in even the smallest creatures and corners of the city.
So Many Great Bookstores in Cambridge and Great Bookstore Events!
Having MIT Press Bookstore right in Kendall Square demonstrates one of my joys of living near Cambridge.
So many smart people and fun things are all around.
For more book fun, check out a list of Bookstores in Cambridge.
