Spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia, which became a model for all such works written subsequently.

His "Naturalis Historia" has been called one of the most influential books ever written in the Latin language.

Pliny was admiral of the fleet near Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted, and he died there trying to help refugees.