Favorite Books

[ski3pin]

I'd like to suggest a place to post our favorite books having to do with wandering the west. There have been mention of great reads from time to time in various posts. It would be nice to have them in a central location.

I'd like to start the list with a few of my favorites.

For exploring the Death Valley area:

Hiking Death Valley by Michel Digconnet

Hiking Western Death Valley National Park by Michel Digconnet

Death Valley and the Amargosa: A Land of Illusion by Richard E.Lingenfelter. This a great overall history of the area and one of my favorites. I'm on my third read.

These Canyons Are Full Of Ghosts by Emmett C. Harder. This is a fun read of stories from the Striped Butte area. Thanks to Gene and Stew for suggesting this one!

Death Valley In '49, The Autobiography of a Pioneer by William L. Manly. Thanks to Stew for the recommendation on this one. I have really enjoyed this one!

For just great reads on geology and weaving in local stories, nothing beats, in my view, John McPhee. For the areas we like to explore, the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains here are two favorites:

Basin and Range by John McPhee

Rising From the Plains by John McPhee

If you are interested in the California Overland Trail and the historic markers you can find along it, Trails West is the organization of volunteers who have researched and placed them. Guides for their location and history are available here:

http://emigranttrailswest.org/trail-guides-for-purchase/

Edit on 24 Jan. 2013:

To make this topic more useable to all of us I created a spreadsheet and entered everyone's suggestions. Janet H., on the tech admin team here converted it into a Google document.

WTW Favorite Book List

The classifications and the placement of the suggested books into the classes I choose was my decision. Please just ask for an edit if I've screwed up. I also added a column with the specific post the book is mentioned in so you can read the comments on "why" its on the list. I believe this is sortable at the top of the columns.

I hope this makes this information more accessible. Somebody have a better idea? I like better ideas because I usually come up with the hardest way to do a task.

Most of the titles are linked to Amazon only because its an easy way to get additional information. This is not an endorsement or promotion.

 

[MarkBC]

Great idea, ski3pin! Surprised this hasn't been started earlier (or has it?)...

I heartily endorse your McPhee Basin & Range choice (an absolute classic), and I also suggest his Assembling California.

Off the top of my head, I'll add (reserving the right to add more later

) these non-fiction/reference choices:

Geology of the Great Basin, by Bill Fiero
The Sagebrush Ocean, A Natural History of the Great Basin, by Stephen Trimble -- another absolute classic among GB fans
Sierra East: Edge of the Great Basin, edited by Genny Smith -- a comprehensive natural history of Sierra east-side
Hiking the Great Basin, by John Hart -- this book guided me to some of my early-favorite hikes in the GB: Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah

Notice a theme in my choices...?

 

[BSS]

Well, I guess the benchmark map books go without saying.

I'll add
Touring California and Nevada Hot Springs

Day Trips With a Splash (other regional guides exist in this series as well)

Backcountry Skiing California's Eastern Sierra

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Great idea, ski3pin! Surprised this hasn't been started earlier (or has it?)...

I heartily endorse your McPhee Basin & Range choice (an absolute classic), and I also suggest his Assembling California.

Off the top of my head, I'll add (reserving the right to add more later

) these non-fiction/reference choices:

Geology of the Great Basin, by Bill Fiero
The Sagebrush Ocean, A Natural History of the Great Basin, by Stephen Trimble -- another absolute classic among GB fans
Sierra East: Edge of the Great Basin, edited by Genny Smith -- a comprehensive natural history of Sierra east-side
Hiking the Great Basin, by John Hart -- this book guided me to some of my early-favorite hikes in the GB: Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah

Notice a theme in my choices...?

I'll 2x all of the above except Sierra East, which I have not read. McPhee's book on Alaska in the 1970s, Coming into the Country, is also a good read.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Death Valley In '49, The Autobiography of a Pioneer by William L. Manly. Thanks to Stew for the recommendation on this one. I have really enjoyed this one!



I'm glad you liked Manly's book, 3pin.

Anybody interested in following Manly's trip through the Panamint Mountains, Butte Valley, and Panamint Valley should also find a copy of Leroy Johnson's Death Valley in '49.

I've spent many miles in trucks and on foot looking for the likely route Manly used in 1849-50 to leave and return to Death Valley. You could too!

 

[SunMan]

Great resource for Death Valley backroad travel and trip planning...

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Valley-SUV-trails-four-wheeling/dp/0970711506/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294689385&sr=1-1-fkmr2

 

[brett13]

I'll be the first to stray from Death Valley:

Ed Abbey's Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang. Solitaire is one of the great all-time outdoorsy books. Both pertain to SE UT.

Any of the Massey 4WD Adventure Guides like this one

If you want stories about NM, I'd suggest To Possess The Land by Frank Waters and The Great Taos Bank Robbery by Tony Hillerman.

Benchmark and National Geographic maps.

 

[MarkBC]

Wallace Stegner!
"The Dean of Western Writers"...though not necessarily a writer of "westerns".

OK, specifically, there's this non-fiction that I enjoyed:
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
...It includes an account of Powell's exploration of the Grand Canyon as well as much more about Powell-and-the-West.

And then there's this Pulitzer Prize winning novel set in the 1800's and modern West:
Angle of Repose
...It seemed slow to me at first -- I guess it is -- but I'm so glad I kept at it; brilliant and very satisfying!

Much more, too.

 

[MarkBC]

I'm interested in how/why places got their names, so to me that relates to Western travel -- a good kind of reference companion to take along on trips:

Oregon Geographic Names, by Lewis McArthur
...I'm most-familiar with this Oregon classic (I know lots of people here who have it), since I live in Oregon -- a great browsing read!

Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary
...I own this one, but not for very long and haven't browsed it as much as I'd like...I leave it in the truck most of the time.

California Place Names
...I bought a copy of this for my father (living in California), and only recently bought one for myself...more interesting browsing.

 

[ski3pin]

Great stuff! I see our library growing here. Let's keep it up! And Brett, thanks for the reminder about the Great Taos Bank Robbery; a recent read that I thoroughly enjoyed!.

 

[highz]

The "Roadside Geology of <your state here>" series

"A Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold

"The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America" by D. A. Sibley

Anything by John Muir. I carry his writings on my iPod Touch. Got 'em from Project Gutenberg, I think.

 

[Cort]

Since several people have mentioned John McPhee I would recommend picking up his entire collection, Annals of the Former World, which includes Basin and Range, In Suspect Terrain, Rising from the Plains, Assembling California,and Crossing the Craton.

Another Good one is History of the Sierra Nevadaby Francis P. Farquhar.

Sand County Almanac is a must read in my opinion as is Cadillac Desert

Cort

 

[MarkBC]

Anything by John Muir.

Yes!
I read his "The Mountains of California" when I was in high school. I remember one part where he talks about climbing up into a tall tree (selecting one not near any weak trees) during a wind storm to feel it swaying back and forth.
Wow! -- what a guy!

a must read in my opinion as is Cadillac Desert

Yes -- another classic!

 

[Lighthawk]

This is a great idea, Ski. Maybe we could get our uber-webmaster to think about some sort of index, similar to theplaces part of WTW. I continue to be impressed with the intellect and inquisitive nature of WTWers.

My library has many of those already mentioned:
Muir The Mountains of California, Travels in Alaska
Farquhar, History of the Sierra Nevada (+1)
J.W. Powell, The Exploration of the Colorado River and it's Canyons
McPhee, Basin & Range (+2), Assembling California (+1), Rising from the Plains, Founding Fish
Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
Abbey, Desert Solitaire (read first time while visiting Moab in the mid-eighties)
Ed Buryn, Vagabonding in America

The last book, Vagabonding got me into hitch hiking, then bike touring, finally graduated to a Westfalia and life on the road, but ultimately into owning a FWC

 

[Lighthawk]

Yes!
I read his "The Mountains of California" when I was in high school. I remember one part where he talks about climbing up into a tall tree (selecting one not near any weak trees) during a wind storm to feel it swaying back and forth.
Wow! -- what a guy!


Yes -- another classic!

I loved the story by Muir how he took a bunch of artists up to Tuolumne Mdws. then struck off to climb Mt. Ritter. He stuck a crust of bread under his belt and took off cross-country. I think it took him three days round trip (15-20 miles each way). I've repeated the third class route where he almost fell ("surely I must fall . . .") and it was a bold line.

 

[MarkBC]

This is a great idea, Ski. Maybe we could get our uber-webmaster to think about some sort of index, similar to theplaces part of WTW.

Yes!
Maybe sticky this thread, so people can see the comments about the books suggested, but also make a list created by extracting the suggested books from the thread.
DD said he was going to do some website work anyway...

I loved the story by Muir how he took a bunch of artists up to Tuolumne Mdws. then struck off to climb Mt. Ritter. He stuck a crust of bread under his belt and took off cross-country. I think it took him three days round trip (15-20 miles each way). I've repeated the third class route where he almost fell ("surely I must fall . . .") and it was a bold line.


Yeah, I remember that part too, now that you mention it. Alpine climbing with a blanket and a loaf of bread...! What a guy!

 

[ski3pin]

Sand County Almanac is a must read in my opinion as is Cadillac Desert

Cort


Cort, thank you for the reminder, I have been thinking it was time to reread both of these!

 

[Cort]

well actually Highz reminded me about Sand County Almanac.....but its still a must read.

Here's a few of the guide book genre

The High Sierra, Peaks Passes and Trails, R.J. Secor (The Mountaineers) -- I'm sure many year are intimately familiar with this.
Sierra High Route, Traversing Timberline Country, Steve Roper (The Mountaineers)

Cort

 

[brett13]

Yeah, I remember that part too, now that you mention it. Alpine climbing with a blanket and a loaf of bread...! What a guy![/size]

That reminds me of a part in Abbey's Desert Solitaire where he high tails it out of Moab into the La Sals to beat the heat; Runs his pickup as far up Mount Tukuhnikivatz as it will go; fries bacon in a pan on the fire for a meal; sleeps under the stars then climbs the mountain on a breakfast of bacon the next day. What's not to love about a guy that lives on bacon, sleeps in bear country smelling like bacon, and does it all to get away from people and into nature?

 

[SunMan]

Thanks folks, just when I was making headway on my Amazon wishlist this thread comes along!

A handful of my travel related favorites:

Berger, Almost an Island: Travels in Baja California
Steinbeck, Log From the Sea Of Cortez (+2)
Mackinstosh, Into A Desert Place: A 3000 Mile Walk Around the Coast of Baja California
Moitessier, A Sea Vagabonds World: Boats and Sails Distant Shores Islands and Lagoons
de Saint-Exupery, Wind Sand Stars
Simon, Jupiter's Travels: Four Years Around the World on a Motorcycle
Kerouac, Lonesome Traveler