Sy Montgomery

Sy Montgomery is a published author who has been described by The New York Times as being one of the ‘finest chroniclers’ of the natural world. She was born in Frankfurt, Germany on February 7, 1958. Her father worked as a brigadier general in the US Army and her mother was a pilot and worked for the FBI.

The best place to start is the Scientists in the Field series, the earliest of Sy Montgomery's multi-book series: it opens with The Snake Scientist (1999) and runs to 55 books across 1999–2024, ending with Urban Coyotes (2024). Sy Montgomery's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Sy Montgomery has 98 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1991 and 2026. 69 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Scientists in the Field series with 55 books — and 29 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Sy Montgomery's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Scientists in the Field (1999–2024, 55 books), Best American Science and Nature Writing (2010–2021, 12 books) and The Hummingbirds' Gift (2021–2022, 2 books).

This guide splits Sy Montgomery's 98 books into 3 named series and 29 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Scientists in the Field (55 books, 1999–2024); Best American Science and Nature Writing (12 books, 2010–2021); The Hummingbirds' Gift (2 books, 2021–2022).