This must-read series by Wildlife Trust of India features 10 eminent wildlife experts who share their list of top 20 wildlife titles. This time we have Dr. M K Ranjitsinh, the man behind India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and our WTI’s emeritus board member and former Chair.

Dr. MK Ranjitsinh Jhala is an author and authority on wildlife and nature conservation from India. Dr. Ranjitsinh, a descendant of the former Wankaner royal dynasty of Saurashtra, Gujarat, joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1961. He was in charge of the initial efforts to conserve the highly endangered barasingha deer, Rucervus duvaucelii, from Central India. He also made it possible for the first hamlet to be relocated outside of a national park, opening the door for future rehabilitations. He was also one of the architects of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 while serving as the Government of India’s Deputy Secretary for Forests and Wildlife. This piece of law continues to be India’s only hope for wildlife. He also served as Chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India; Dir-Gen CAPART; Dir. and Regional Co-ordinator WWF Tiger Conservation Programme.

We asked Dr. Ranjitsinh to list the top 20 books he would recommend for anyone interested. Here’s his list of top 10 titles about wildlife in India and another 10 on global topics.

His pick of the top reads on wildlife of India:

1. With a Camera in Tigerland by F. W. Champion
2. The Highlands of Central India by J. Forsyth, (1889)
3. Stalking in the Himalaya and Northern India by C. H. Stockley (1936)
4. Wild Animals in Central India by A. A. Dunbar- Brander,(1923)
5. Man-eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett
6. Wild Life of India by E. P. Gee
7. Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India by G. P. Sanderson,(1912)
8. Butterflies of the Indian Region by M. A. Wynter- Blyth, (1957)
9. The Deer and the Tiger by G.B. Schaller, (1967)
10. Tiger by K. Sankhla (1978)

His pick of the top reads on global wildlife topics:

1. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
2. Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection with Some of Its Applications by Alfred Russell Wallace
3. Mountain Gorilla by GB Schaller
4. The Song of the Dodo, Island Biogeography in An Age Of Extinction by David Quammen
5. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
6. The Great & Small Game of Europe, Western & Northern Asia & America by R. Lydekker
7. East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Theodore & Kermit Roosevelt
8. Mountain Sheep by Valerius Geist
9. Mountain Monarchs by GB Schaller
10. Hunter by J.A. Hunter

Also read the curated lists by:

Aasheesh Pittie

Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan