Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on
bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Land of Little Rain
by Mary Austin
This is a 1904 classic about the Eastern Sierra.
Sierra Nevada Natural History
by David Lukas, Tracy I. Storer, Robert L. Usinger
First published forty years ago, this handbook has become an enduring natural history classic, used by thousands to learn more about virtually every aspect of this spectacular mountain range--from its superb flora and fauna to its rugged topography. Comprehensive yet concise and portable, the book describes hundreds of species: trees and shrubs, flowering plants and ferns, fungi and lichens, insects and fish, amphibians and reptiles, and birds and mammals.
Mountains of California
by John Muir
Enjoy these lyrical 1894 vignettes by John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club.
Basin and Range
by John McPhee
This is a complex but fascinating explanation of basin-range geology.
Men to Match My Mountains
by Irving Stone
An engaging history of the West
Farewell to Manzanar
by Jeanne Wakatsuki
This is a moving account of a family interned in Manzanar during WW II.
John Muir, Son of the Wilderness
by Linnie Marsh Wolfe
Pulitizer Prize-winning biography of the great naturalist, John Muir
Water and Power
by William L. Kahrl
The author covers the politics, personalities, construction, opposition, and events leading up to the present situation in the Owens Valley.
Cadillac Desert
by Marc Reisner
In this stunning work of history and investigative journalism, Reisner tells the story of conflicts over water policy in the West and the resulting damage to the land, wildlife and Indians.
Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley
by Robert P. Sharp
This volume provides an on-the-ground look at the processes sculpting the terrain of this region of extremes. Illustrated with photographs, maps, and diagrams, each geological vignette weaves the tale of a particular scene, feature, or relationship in the landscape.