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Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History
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Expected 17 Mar 26Win a free print copy of this book!
3 days and 06:56:27
10 copies available
U.S. only
An acclaimed young nature writer’s intimate exploration into the history and imperiled future of these neglected–but–crucial ecosystems.
Salt lakes are some of the world’s most extraordinary ecosystems, but nearly all of them—from the Great Salt Lake to the Aral Sea—are drying up, a harbinger of dust storms, rising sea levels, and worsening human health. In this dazzling love letter to strange and delicate waters and a moving odyssey into her own identity, Caroline Tracey takes readers across the American West and to Mexico, Argentina, and Kazakhstan to document salt lakes, their loss, and the efforts underway to save them. She explores how the lakes have reflected the fast–changing natural world through Mormon diaries, Soviet realist novels, and Australian Aboriginal paintings. And she unravels the lakes’ lessons for her own life as she finds queer love and a sense of home in an imperfect world. An unforgettable coming–of–age story and an exquisite work of nature writing, Salt Lakes is a moving call to fight for all that is fragile in our lives.
Salt lakes are some of the world’s most extraordinary ecosystems, but nearly all of them—from the Great Salt Lake to the Aral Sea—are drying up, a harbinger of dust storms, rising sea levels, and worsening human health. In this dazzling love letter to strange and delicate waters and a moving odyssey into her own identity, Caroline Tracey takes readers across the American West and to Mexico, Argentina, and Kazakhstan to document salt lakes, their loss, and the efforts underway to save them. She explores how the lakes have reflected the fast–changing natural world through Mormon diaries, Soviet realist novels, and Australian Aboriginal paintings. And she unravels the lakes’ lessons for her own life as she finds queer love and a sense of home in an imperfect world. An unforgettable coming–of–age story and an exquisite work of nature writing, Salt Lakes is a moving call to fight for all that is fragile in our lives.
272 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication March 17, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 6, 2025
Thank you to Under the Umbrella Bookstore that allowed me to read and review this as an ARC!
Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History takes you through an emotional journey of salt lakes throughout the world while the author explores her queerness. Tracey strikes a balance of discussing relevant history, nature, and her own story which makes the book interesting and informative. She further highlights the continued plight of the salt lakes due to human interference, and how to move forward towards saving these beloved lakes. This is an important read for anyone who lives near a salt lake. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys nature, especially those who have visited any of the salt lakes across the world.
Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History takes you through an emotional journey of salt lakes throughout the world while the author explores her queerness. Tracey strikes a balance of discussing relevant history, nature, and her own story which makes the book interesting and informative. She further highlights the continued plight of the salt lakes due to human interference, and how to move forward towards saving these beloved lakes. This is an important read for anyone who lives near a salt lake. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys nature, especially those who have visited any of the salt lakes across the world.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I’m always excited to read geography themed creative non-fiction. The premise of this book sounded great. I’m really glad to see others enjoyed it. However, I promised NetGalley an honest review and rating, so here it is:
This book did not resonate with me the way it did for others, and I suspect that this stems from my close proximity to the subject, having written papers on the microbiology and geochemistry of some of these lakes, and that I’ve been reading creative non-fiction since the ‘90s, and it’s easy to be overly critical of creative writing about subject matter that is deeply familiar to oneself.
My main quibble is that the book rushes through too many lakes without giving a single one sufficient coverage for the readers to develop a relationship with the lake as a character. The prototype of such a book is Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, which the author cites several times as providing inspiration for this book and from which it borrows part of its title. It’s an incredibly tall ask for a debut to outshine “Refuge”, so it’s not fair to compare the two, and yet I often found myself doing so because a memoir that integrates the natural history of salt lakes is immediately going to take readers who have been gobbling creative non-fiction for decades back to “Refuge”, in which Williams so brilliantly interwove her personal story with the ecology of the Great Salt Lake.
My other quibble is that I did not recognize an authentic connection between the personal story and the lake stories. There is a exciting new field of research on queer ecology, but the sections on each lake did not fully encapsulate their queerness and the extent to which discoveries from each lake has changed their field, instead reading more as Wikipedia synopses of each lake. There are many more fascinating stories to pull from each lake (Ronald Oremland’s self-published memoirs contain many stories of studying Sierra Nevada lakes, including Mono Lake, though sadly the arsenic-life story has left an infamous stain on that research…).
Moral of the story: if this book inspires the next generation to find a meaningful connection with these fascinating ecosystems, it has done its job. I hope other readers enjoy it and I hope the author keeps writing.
This book did not resonate with me the way it did for others, and I suspect that this stems from my close proximity to the subject, having written papers on the microbiology and geochemistry of some of these lakes, and that I’ve been reading creative non-fiction since the ‘90s, and it’s easy to be overly critical of creative writing about subject matter that is deeply familiar to oneself.
My main quibble is that the book rushes through too many lakes without giving a single one sufficient coverage for the readers to develop a relationship with the lake as a character. The prototype of such a book is Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, which the author cites several times as providing inspiration for this book and from which it borrows part of its title. It’s an incredibly tall ask for a debut to outshine “Refuge”, so it’s not fair to compare the two, and yet I often found myself doing so because a memoir that integrates the natural history of salt lakes is immediately going to take readers who have been gobbling creative non-fiction for decades back to “Refuge”, in which Williams so brilliantly interwove her personal story with the ecology of the Great Salt Lake.
My other quibble is that I did not recognize an authentic connection between the personal story and the lake stories. There is a exciting new field of research on queer ecology, but the sections on each lake did not fully encapsulate their queerness and the extent to which discoveries from each lake has changed their field, instead reading more as Wikipedia synopses of each lake. There are many more fascinating stories to pull from each lake (Ronald Oremland’s self-published memoirs contain many stories of studying Sierra Nevada lakes, including Mono Lake, though sadly the arsenic-life story has left an infamous stain on that research…).
Moral of the story: if this book inspires the next generation to find a meaningful connection with these fascinating ecosystems, it has done its job. I hope other readers enjoy it and I hope the author keeps writing.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book is a fascinating journey around the world's great and small salt lakes, exploring their history, their current state, and plans for their future. The subtitle, "An Unnatural History," gives a clue to one of the book's main topics - how human activity over time has degraded, and in some cases obliterated, these fragile ecosystems based on the belief that if water isn't being used for human consumption, it's basically worthless. Fortunately, there are plans afoot to restore at least some of the lakes to a level where wildlife will be able to return. The legal battles involved in some of these initiatives are quite fascinating.
The stories of the lakes are interleaved with episodes from the author's own life as she explores her own relationship with nature and with other people. She shows a real affinity for the salt-lake ecosystem and the way it's been undervalued and misunderstood for so long.
The book has extensive source notes and bibliography for anyone wanting to explore further. I'm basing this review on a text-only pre=publication version; hopefully, the published book will contain photos of some of these fascinating lakes and the birds and insects they support.
The stories of the lakes are interleaved with episodes from the author's own life as she explores her own relationship with nature and with other people. She shows a real affinity for the salt-lake ecosystem and the way it's been undervalued and misunderstood for so long.
The book has extensive source notes and bibliography for anyone wanting to explore further. I'm basing this review on a text-only pre=publication version; hopefully, the published book will contain photos of some of these fascinating lakes and the birds and insects they support.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Salt Lakes is a book that weaves together memoir, history, and geography (although I wanted much more geography!)
Like the author, I have grown up in the Mountain West, so this topic is very important to me, personally.
I really appreciated reading the history of each lake, especially reading about how the indigenous people took care of these lakes before the white settlers arrived.
Tracey is a talented writer and wrote about her experience with both Salt Lakes and her queerness beautifully.
I wish that the geography was a larger focus in this book. I read that Tracey has a PhD in geography, and she clearly knows her stuff--but I wanted a bit more explainers for folks who don't (me). I also wanted more time with each lake. As soon as I felt like I was excited to learn more about a lake we were on to the next.
I would recommend this one if you enjoy books that weave personal memoir with nature writing.
Like the author, I have grown up in the Mountain West, so this topic is very important to me, personally.
I really appreciated reading the history of each lake, especially reading about how the indigenous people took care of these lakes before the white settlers arrived.
Tracey is a talented writer and wrote about her experience with both Salt Lakes and her queerness beautifully.
I wish that the geography was a larger focus in this book. I read that Tracey has a PhD in geography, and she clearly knows her stuff--but I wanted a bit more explainers for folks who don't (me). I also wanted more time with each lake. As soon as I felt like I was excited to learn more about a lake we were on to the next.
I would recommend this one if you enjoy books that weave personal memoir with nature writing.
September 22, 2025
Had a chance to blurb an advance copy of this book; here's what I wrote:
"Salt Lakes is a perceptive, poetic ode to one of our planet's most vital, and most overlooked, ecosystems. Caroline Tracey plumbs law, science, and literature in a debut as gorgeous and vibrant as the lakes she loves."
"Salt Lakes is a perceptive, poetic ode to one of our planet's most vital, and most overlooked, ecosystems. Caroline Tracey plumbs law, science, and literature in a debut as gorgeous and vibrant as the lakes she loves."
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews